A special report from the BBC News Magazine takes worries about the Large Hadron Collider as an opportunity to reflect on the history of the end of the world.
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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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Negotiating identity and community after September 11
by Ruth BraunsteinIn her contribution to the SSRC's web forum following the attacks of September 11, 2001, Kay Deaux wrote.
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There is more than one kind of Occidentalist
by Ruth BraunsteinAkeel Bilgrami responds to his critics at 3 Quarks Daily.
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September 11 and the struggle for Islam
by Jonathan VanAntwerpenIn his contribution to a web forum organized by the SSRC immediately following the attacks of September 11, 2001, Robert W. Hefner wrote.
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A religious war?
by Jonathan VanAntwerpenToday at The Daily Dish, Andrew Sullivan writes: 9/11 was a call, in my mind, to defend the Enlightenment from the nihilistic forces of murderous theocratic fanaticism.
books
The politics of secularism in international relations
by Laura DuaneFrom an interview with Elizabeth Shakman Hurd on her book, The Politics of Secularism in International Relations.
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The religious undercurrents of Muslim economic grievances
by Ruth BraunsteinIn his contribution to a web forum organized by the SSRC immediately following the attacks of September 11, 2001, Timur Kuran wrote.
books
Among the unbelievers
by Jonathan VanAntwerpenGregor McLennan reviews Charles Taylor's A Secular Age, in the New Left Review (subscription required).
events
Saad Eddin Ibrahim to speak at NYU
by Ruth BraunsteinSaad Eddin Ibrahim, the Egyptian-American sociologist and human rights activist, cannot return to his home in Egypt, for fear of arrest and imprisonment. In the meantime, Ibrahim has been traveling extensively to promote his vision of democracy and human rights. One of his next stops is New York University, where he will discuss Secularism, Religion, and Human Rights with SSRC President Craig Calhoun. [...]
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Introducing The Immanent Frame
by Jonathan VanAntwerpenOn the shelves for only a handful of weeks, Charles Taylor's A Secular Age is already receiving at least some of the attention it well deserves. The book has been reviewed in the pages of The Economist and The Wall Street Journal, and two short excerpts were recently published in Commonweal. Taylor's massive tome---it's just shy of 880 pages long---was even held aloft and glossed earlier this month by a young denizen of youtube. [...]