Israeli Girl, 8, at Center of Tension Over Religious Extremism
By ISABEL KERSHNER
Published: December 27, 2011
BEIT SHEMESH, Israel — The latest battleground in Israel’s struggle over religious extremism covers little more than a square mile of this Jewish city situated between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and it has the unexpected public face of a blond, bespectacled second-grade girl.
She is Naama Margolese, 8, the daughter of American immigrants who are observant modern Orthodox Jews. An Israeli weekend television program told the story of how Naama had become terrified of walking to her elementary school here after ultra-Orthodox men spit on her, insulted her and called her a prostitute because her modest dress did not adhere exactly to their more rigorous dress code.
Focusing on the Jewish Story of the New Testament
By MARK OPPENHEIMER
Published: November 25, 2011
SAN FRANCISCO — Growing up Jewish in North Dartmouth, Mass., Amy-Jill Levine loved Christianity.
Her neighborhood “was almost entirely Portuguese and Roman Catholic,” Dr. Levine said last Sunday at her book party here during the annual American Academy of Religion conference. “My introduction to Christianity was ethnic Roman Catholicism, and I loved it. I used to practice giving communion to Barbie. Church was like the synagogue: guys in robes speaking languages I didn’t understand. My favorite movie was ‘The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima.’ ”
Christianity might have stayed just a fascination, but for an unfortunate episode in second grade: “When I was 7 years old, one girl said to me on the school bus, ‘You killed our Lord.’ I couldn’t fathom how this religion that was so beautiful was saying such a dreadful thing.”
Read more at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/26/us/a-jewish-edition-of-the-new-testament-beliefs.html?ref=religionandbelief
African-American Atheists
By EMILY BRENNAN
Published: November 25, 2011
RONNELLE ADAMS came out to his mother twice, first about his homosexuality, then about his atheism.
“My mother is very devout,” said Mr. Adams, 30, a Washington resident who has published an atheist children’s book, “Aching and Praying,” but who in high school considered becoming a Baptist preacher. “She started telling me her issues with homosexuality, which were, of course, Biblical,” he said. “ ‘I just don’t care what the Bible says about that,’ I told her, and she asked why. ‘I don’t believe that stuff anymore.’ It got silent. She was distraught. She told me she was more bothered by that than the revelation I was gay.”
Read more at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/fashion/african-american-atheists.html?_r=1&ref=religionandbelief
'Islamic' Culture: A Groundless Myth
By SOUREN MELIKIAN
Published: November 4, 2011
LONDON — Political bias often leads to absurd categorization. Even so, few among the arbitrary constructs adopted by the West as a result of 19th-century colonial attitudes can beat the meaningless concept of “Islamic art.”
Read more at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/05/arts/05iht-rartmelikian05.html?ref=religionandbelief
Eid al Adha
Eid Al Adha: a time for prayer, a time for family
People across the country visited mosques, relatives' houses or the beach yesterday to mark the arrival of Eid Al Adha.
Thousands of worshippers attended prayers at Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Zayed Mosque as early as 5.15am.
Read more at http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/eid-al-adha-a-time-for-prayer-a-time-for-family
At Front of Brooklyn Bus, a Clash of Religious and Women’s Rights
By CHRISTINE HAUGHNEY
Published: October 19, 2011
It does not take long to recognize that the B110 bus in Brooklyn is not like others in the city.
The exterior colors are different: red, white and blue. The price for a single ride is the same, $2.50, but MetroCards are not accepted. The bus does not run Friday night or most of Saturday.
But the most obvious sign that the B110 is different was demonstrated Wednesday by Gitty Green, a 30-year-old mother who boarded the bus on Wednesday with her three children and a stroller and headed straight to the back.
As her two older sons perched on the seats behind her, she looked ahead at the men seated in front, mostly Hasidic Jews in wide-brimmed hats, and said, because her religion dictates the separation of the sexes, she never wondered what it would be like to sit with them.
Read more at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/20/nyregion/bus-segregation-of-jewish-women-prompts-review.html?ref=religionandbelief