Our rabbinical college, RRC, launched a new website this week, MostJewish.com. In addition to a light hearted game exploring Jewish identity, the website also includes a blog with room for more probing explorations. The editor of the blog, Rabbi Deborah Glanzberg-Krainin, launched the conversation with a post on being a Jew at Christmas. A wonderful [...]
Archive for the ‘Religion in America’ Category
Young American Muslims Tell Their Story on YouTube
Posted in Abrahamic Engagement, Religion in America, tagged American Muslims, Center for American Progress, Kareem Salama on March 12, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Recently, I came across two videos on YouTube, each designed to let young American Muslims have their chance to tell their truths—to present images different from the ones that too often fill the popular imagination. Are these videos needed? According to a Gallup Center for Muslim Studies report released in February, indeed they are. More [...]
What’s the big deal?
Posted in Jewish- Muslim Engagement, Religion in America, tagged jewish muslim dialogue on March 3, 2010 | 2 Comments »
In this article, Ira Rivkin raises an interesting question. The New York Times wants us to see the story of the friendship of two Princeton undergrads–a Palestinian and a Jew–as a big deal, worthy of a news item. But, Rivkin points out, doesn’t that just perpetuate the stereotype of emnity the story purports to challenge? [...]
The Muslim Call to Prayer at Harvard? A Jewish Response
Posted in Jewish- Muslim Engagement, Religion in America, tagged ahan, harvard, leon wieseltier, pluralism, public prayer on February 14, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Back in 2008, a controversy developed at Harvard University regarding the right of Muslims to sound the Arabic adhan(call to prayer) in a public space. Three graduate students published an op ed in the Harvard Crimson claiming that, unlike church bells or a menorah, these sounds booming forth in the center of the campus were [...]
People who hate Jews…
Posted in Jewish- Muslim Engagement, Religion in America, tagged antisemitism, Eboo Patel, Gallup Poll, Islamaphobia, jewish muslim relations on January 26, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
….also hate Muslims. According to a recent article by Eboo Patel, a Gallup poll says as much, although it did not ask the necessary questions to establish that the reverse is also true, that people who hate Muslims also hate Jews. You can check out the Gallup poll for yourself here. Patel concludes that we [...]
“It is by the grace of God that I am here”: Future Bob Jones University Student at Interfaith Gathering
Posted in Religion in America, Youth, tagged david saperstein, Fundamentalist Christian, ifyc, interfaith youth on January 12, 2010 | 2 Comments »
One of the most interesting moments for me at the Interfaith Youth Core Conference in Chicago was hearing a high school student, Levi Petrone, raise a question from the audience for a speaker, Rabbi David Saperstein. Levi said (as I recall), “I am a Fundamental(sic) Christian. Is there room for me in the interfaith movement?” [...]
Twittering in Church: What do you think?
Posted in new media, Religion in America, tagged tweeting in church, twitter on January 5, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Read about Pastor John Voelz of Jackson, Michigan here. Last year, Voelz was tweeting at a conference outside Nashville about ways to make the church experience more creative — ways to “make it not suck” — when suddenly it hit him: Twitter! There’s a time and place for technology, and most houses of worship still say it’s not [...]
