In the Oct. 4 issue of The New Yorker, Evan Osnos has a fascinating piece (sub. req.) on the uncertainties surrounding the current Dalai Lama's succession---the only contemporary geopolitical issue, he remarks, that hangs on a matter of reincarnation. In the course of the article, Osnos also delivers an excellent overview of the Dalai Lama's fraught role as the de facto leader of the Tibetan autonomy movement.
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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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“Niqabitches” take on Paris
by Aaron WeinsteinFrench students protest burka ban by hiding face, showing legs.
October 12, 2010
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Same-Sex Marriage? Well, the data say. . .
by Penny EdgellRecent poll data shows increasing support for same-sex marriage in the U.S., especially among White Catholics and mainstream Protestants. When and how can we use polls to gain insight about social policy and public debate? How much support is "enough" to change the way our institutions operate? And what is the role of progressive religious mobilization in changing attitudes on these kinds of "values" issues?
October 13, 2010
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Hinduism, prosperity, and India’s rising middle class
by Grace YukichThe tendency in recent years of some U.S. evangelical and Pentecostal Christian preachers to celebrate immense wealth, rather than critique it---what is known as the "prosperity gospel"---is not unique to those forms of Christianity or to the United States. According an article by Mary Fitzgerald in The Irish Times, Meera Nanda's new book, The God Market, chronicles a similar movement emerging in India.
October 13, 2010
events
Contending Modernities
by Jessica PolebaumNovember 18-19, 2010, will mark the kickoff of Contending Modernities, "a multi-year, interdisciplinary research, public education, and peacebuilding initiative," based primarily out of the University of Notre Dame's Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies. Led by Scott Appleby, co-chair of the SSRC's Advisory Committee on Religion and International Affairs, the initiative will explore the varieties of relationships between religious and secular institutions and actors throughout the world.
October 14, 2010
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Secularism and sociology
by Jessica PolebaumThe latest edition of the Canadian Journal of Sociology features a review by David Lyon of Varieties of Secularism in a Secular Age, edited by Michael Warner, Jonathan VanAntwerpen, and Craig Calhoun (HUP, 2010).
October 15, 2010
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José Casanova’s Beijing lectures on the sociology of religion
by Charles GelmanGeorgetown University's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs has made available the lecture notes from José Casanova's talks on the sociology of religion from the seventh Summer Institute for the Scientific Study of Religion in Beijing, which will eventually be published as a book.
October 18, 2010
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“Christians in a secular age”
by Charles GelmanThe October issue of New Blackfriars---the journal of the English Province of The Order of Preachers---focuses on Charles Taylor's A Secular Age, each essay featuring a response from Taylor himself.
October 18, 2010
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Karen Armstrong discusses the Charter for Compassion
by Sam HanYesterday, religion scholar Karen Armstrong appeared on WNYC, the NPR-affiliate in New York City, to discuss, among other things, a project she is spearheading called "Charter for Compassion." The project is funded in part by the TED prize that was awarded to Armstrong in 2008.
October 19, 2010
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DOJ: Islam is a religion
by Charles GelmanYesterday, the Department of Justice filed an amicus brief stating its conviction that Islam is indeed a religion, contra the plaintiffs in the ongoing lawsuit over the construction of a new Islamic center and mosque in Murfreesboro, TN, reported Talking Points Memo.
October 19, 2010