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PFBC – Beginnings

The Progressive Faith Blog Con started last night, and what a good beginning it was. Thurman Hart of Xpatriated Texan gave us some powerful opening remarks. Go read. We began with a Jewish prayer service, led by the Velveteen Rabbi herself, Rachel Barenblat. It was pleasure to finally get to meet her. The service was full of taqwa – God consciousness. It was not just about the prayer, but about praying to remember God outside of the liturgical setting, to know that God is, and always should be, with us. Download and read her prayer book. We sat down for…

The Biggest Muslim Capitals in America – The Daily Beast

The Pew numbers are so wrong, that I am amazed they are still being used. We know that there are over 800,000 Muslims in NYC alone, which would mean 1/2 of the US Muslim population is in NYC according to Pew’s numbers. Other than that, the slideshow that goes with the article is amazing. The Biggest Muslim Capitals in America – The Daily Beast. “I think Muslims view the U.S. as a beacon of freedom,” says Farhana Khera, president and executive director of Muslim Advocates, an advocacy organization. According to Pew, two-thirds of the Muslim population was born outside the…

Grass Roots Development May Hold Promise in the Muslim World

I would actually hope that it holds promise for everyone: There is, Khan averred, a “dominant player fallacy” or the tendency to place “too much reliance in national governments and other institutions which may have relatively superficial connections to life at the grass-roots level.” Thus, “urban-based outsiders often look at these situations from the perspective of the city center looking out to a distant countryside, searching for quick and convenient levers of influence.” The secret, then, is to work “from the bottom up” and not from the top down, as is so often the case. As he told the dinner…