The popular push to ban the burqa in France lacks clear legality, reports The Associated Press.
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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.
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Can greed be good?
by John D. BoyIn the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's new Religion and Ethics section, renowned American theologian Stanley Hauerwas asks, "Can greed be good?"—a question obviously prompted by the ongoing economic crisis. Hauerwas argues that greed is more than just an (individual) desire to be rich. Instead, it has to be understood in the context of wider economic relations. Greed can appear a virtue only in an economic system that is premised upon unlimited economic growth.
July 13, 2010
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Veiled threats?
by Ruth BraunsteinAt the New York Times philosophy forum, The Stone, Martha Nussbaum asks how philosophical and legal scholarship can help us understand recent controversies concerning the right of Muslim women to wear headscarves and burqas in public.
July 13, 2010
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Teaneck, NJ, selects Muslim mayor
by Jake AlterTeaneck, NJ, "the first community in the nation with a white majority to voluntarily desegregate its public schools" in the 1960s, selected a Muslim to serve as mayor of its diverse town, The New York Times reported last week.
July 14, 2010
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The battle over Islamic Azad University
by Jake AlterA university campus has become the ground for a political battle between conservatives and moderates in Iran. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has pushed to take over Islamic Azad University, a private university, after it became a haven for political involvement in the Green Movement. This action seems to be directed at former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, founder and chairman of the board of Azad, who "all but allied himself with the Green movement" this past year.
July 14, 2010
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Holocaust survivor dances, controversy ensues
by Amanda Kaplan"Dancing Auschwitz" has reappeared on the internet not a year after its release in December of 2009, catching the attention of The Atlantic and New York Magazine for starters. Unfortunately, it "has resurfaced at the center of a trans-Atlantic controversy," Haaretz reports.
July 14, 2010
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The Son of Sam’s evangelical following
by Jake AlterThe 'Son of Sam' serial killer, David Berkowitz, has developed a large following after becoming a born-again Christian 23 years ago. Berkowitz's 'followers' are predominantly evangelical Christians as many have become inspired by his apparent spiritual makeover, The New York Times reports.
July 14, 2010
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Comparative Studies in Society and History takes on the secular
by Jake AlterThe most recent edition of Comparative Studies in Society and History (CSSH) focuses on questions of secularity and secularism in the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia.
July 15, 2010
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Meta meta meta
by Jessica PolebaumTonight on Big Brother 12, the implosion of the secular age!
July 15, 2010
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Teaching Catholicism and sexual morality
by David WalkerThe dismissal of Kenneth Howell, a University of Illinois adjunct professor of Catholic history and thought, has generated much discussion and commentary in the last week, most of it focusing upon the appropriateness, tone, and argumentative validity of an email that he sent to students prior to their Spring semester exam.
July 15, 2010