Related Posts

Ikea is …

Sexist. or Islamophobic. I don’t know. Apparently Ikea won’t put images of women assembling furniture in its instructions because it might offend Muslims. Really. Smart money says they never thought about it and needed a way to cover their rears. Muslims are good for things after all. I personally would not be offended. I think it would encouragement for my wife to try putting the stuff together. Right now all I hear is that “Ikea shows a man doing it, so you need to do it.” I’m actually offended they don’t show women. I’m also offended that they only show…

On Being a Conservative-Liberal Muslim (or why the progressive label is bad)

Several things began to come together in my thinking at the MLT Conference in Copenhagen. To be clear, it was not a result of the planning of the MLT, but a series of amorphous thoughts that started to click from meeting people at the conference. With the Progressive Faith Blog Con coming straight after, these ideas began gaining more clarity. Coincidentally, both the good folks at Progressive Islam (1, 2, 3) and Von Aurum published pieces that further moved my thoughts forward. I had been planning on this post for some time, but as the adage goes “Man proposes, God…

Eboo Patel on Mumbai

My friend Eboo writes a piece for NPR on how to reach out to Jews during this most recent Eid al-Adha. I appreciate the sentiment, my daughter and his son are about the same age, and I think it is an important way to bridge the gap. Where I disagree is that this is an opportunity for inter-faith dialogue. In so far as religions share certain basic principles we can reach out, but the loss and horror of Mumbai is far more primal. His story highlights the more basic, human losses we share and support we need. It’s not about…