#PopeInNYC Photos

Here’s a link from the New York Review of Books on current books trying to frame the current debates in the Muslim (mostly Arab) world. I give credit to the author for attempting to make sense of such a broad topic. For such a short piece, I think he does a good job. However, the piece is too short for a real understanding of the issue for non-specialists. Still, a read worth noting. Update: Found another good summary of some of the issues involved in Islamism.

Islamoyankee gave me the opening by speaking of urbanism, so I am going to commence by walking through the door of architecture. It is probably apparent to those who have read my previous postings that I am not a scholar of Islam. I am infact an architect by training and an project administrator by profession. It is through my affiliation with architecture that my understanding of the problems that afflict and affect the Muslim world are framed. I would like to share with you some readings on architecture that may also help the reader understand the current crisis in the…

The below excerpt from the following article, where President Bush addressed Evangelical groups on National Prayer Day was quite surprising to me. It’s appears to be a major departure from some of his previous rhetoric. In fact, the article itself points to how this is fairly out of character. I must say that in a vacuum, devoid of the context of this administration, I very much like this quote. For me, it seems to hearken back to the Idea of America, which I love so much. I understand that people have different views of what Justice is, but nevertheless, I…