The question of the week at The Guardian's Belief page is, "Do Animals Have Souls?" Musab Bora offers a Muslim perspective.
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Announcements, events, and opportunities related to topics of interest to TIF readers are posted here. Additionally you may find round-ups of news items and brief commentary on current events.
For a listing of all of the events announcements, click here.
For a listing of announcements regarding books, click here.
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Earthquake theodicy
by Nathan SchneiderIn The New York Times, James Wood suggests that the theological consequences of President Obama's comments about the Haiti earthquake may be as troubling as those of Pat Robertson.
January 25, 2010
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Haiti and religion
by John SchmalzbauerAcross the religion blogosphere, some of the most visible discussions of the Haitian earthquake have focused on two topics: Vodou and Pat Robertson. Yet, these two themes barely scratch the surface of the Haiti-and-religion storylines circulating in cyberspace.
January 26, 2010
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Clearing Tariq Ramadan’s name
by Nathan SchneiderSheldon Chad at The Guardian reports on the Obama administration's recent decision to revoke its ban against Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan, who said in response that his name "has been definitely cleared."
January 26, 2010
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Derrida and religion
by Charles GelmanOn March 26-27 Harvard University will host "Derrida and Religion," an interdisciplinary conference addressing Derrida's various engagements with the religious, through such themes as sacrifice, naming, radical alterity, and the messianic.
January 26, 2010
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Pope: blog for God
by Nathan SchneiderPhilip Pullella of Reuters reports that, for the Catholic Church's World Day of Communications, Pope Benedict XVI encouraged clergy to take up the challenge of new media.
January 26, 2010
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Nussbaum on sexual orientation and religion
by Nathan SchneiderAt the OUPblog, Martha Nussbaum suggests a Constitutional parallel between religion and sexual orientation.
January 27, 2010
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Presidents as saviors
by Jessica PolebaumAt The Washington Post's On Faith page, Sally Quinn and Jon Meacham ask a series of respondents whether the American people view their presidents as spiritual leaders and, further, whether they should. Reverend Janet Edwards answers in the affirmative on both counts.
January 28, 2010
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The strange case of Texas’s textbooks
by Daniel VacaAt Washington Monthly, Mariah Blake comments on the ongoing controversy over Texas's once-in-a-decade revision of its textbook standards. With standards for such subjects as English and science already revised, the current debate centers on Texas's social studies standards. As Blake notes, textbook battles are "nothing new, especially in Texas." But the current situation is unique in two ways.
January 29, 2010
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Religion and the U.S. Census
by Ruth BraunsteinThe Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life has released "A Brief History of Religion and the U.S. Census," which reviews debates during the last century over whether questions about religion should be included in the census or whether such questions would "infringe upon the traditional separation of church and state."
January 29, 2010