February 17, 2009 – islamicate

You Should be reading

islamoyankeeFebruary 17, 2009

Talk Islam and Muslimah Media Watch. Both are group blogs and both do a bang-up job of covering some of the more neglected issues relating to Muslims in the MSM. (I cross-post at TI.) TI’s posts tend to be shorter, but the discussions are really where the juice of the site is. You really see the diversity of the community in play. MMW deals with issues relating to women, and they have some great analytic minds at work. Next revision of islamicate will have their feeds on display.

Conferences Inter-faith

Forensic Scriptures Conference

islamoyankeeFebruary 17, 2009

I’ll be speaking at a conference in May 2009 at Riverside Church in NY. The event is called “Forensic Scriptures: What the Qur’an Reveals about the Bible.” If you are in the area and would like to attend, you can enter “Friend of Hussein Rashid” under the “position” field to receive a $100 discount on the registration page. Make sure you also check the “affiliate” price.

Inter-faith Politics

Quote: Religion in the American Public Sphere

islamoyankeeFebruary 17, 2009

What would happen if religious ideas were subjected to such a debate? I want to conclude with some speculations. A robust, critical discussion of religious ideas might encourage popular faiths more consistent with modern standards of plausibility, more conscious of the historicity of all faiths, and more resistant to the manipulation of politicians belonging to any party. The long moratorium on sustained, public scrutiny of religious ideas has created a vacuum in which easy god-talk flourishes. Religion has no monopoly on foolishness and ignorance, but our convention of giving religious ideas a “pass” has made religion a privileged domain for wackiness…

Video

New Hajj Documentary

islamoyankeeFebruary 17, 2009

The NYT tells me so. Seems very good, but is currently unavailable for purchase. Teaser from the NYT is “The Long, Dusty Trek Toward Tolerance.” This is true. Non-Muslims have a long way to go. Good for the Times for noting the problem here.