SIDEBAR: Muslims embracing atheism often face a lonely journey
(RNS) Muslims who abandon their faith often face challenges not faced by those who leave other religions. Divorce and disowning are common, as is the threat of physical violence.
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One woman’s journey out of faith, family and fear
(RNS) A young woman stood outside a Greyhound bus with a ticket in her hand and a backpack over her shoulder. She was guilty of two offenses: rejecting her father’s choice of husband and renouncing her family’s Islamic faith. Deciding whether to boarding that bus, she said later, would be the hardest thing she had done in her 18 years.
Fighting threatens Islamic artifacts in troubled Timbuktu
(RNS) Fighting in the Muslim country of Mali in northern Africa has delayed the American tour of a unique exhibit featuring centuries-old texts and artifacts from Timbuktu, an ancient center of Islamic learning.
Singing on “Idol,” and facing the wrath of religious traditionalists
(RNS) The biggest worry for “American Idol” contestants is whether the judges will let them sing on the next show. For some singers on Idol-type programs abroad, it’s that religious extremists will kill them.
UPDATE: Did SNL cross a line in “DJesus Uncrossed” skit?
(RNS) The line between satire and stupidity is notoriously blurry. On Saturday, “Saturday Night Live” ran a skit call “DJesus Uncrossed,” a spoof on Quentin Tarantino’s revenge flick “Django Unchained.”
COMMENTARY: Joseph Ratzinger, the last of the traditional popes
(RNS) Joseph Ratzinger perhaps will be best remembered as a quiet theologian and intellectual. But he was not, as some critics charge, a “transitional” pope.
Religion & Ethics Newsweekly Video: Timbuktu Mali Manuscripts
The fabled Saharan city of Timbuktu has been designated a world heritage site, largely because of its priceless collection of Islamic manuscripts dating back to the 13th century. The international community was outraged by reports that the departing militants had ransacked a major library and torched it, destroying some of the documents. Outside experts spent [...]
Muslim views of the Apocalypse
(RNS) Muslim and Christian views of the Apocalypse are remarkably similar, albeit with a different ending.
How the “Islamic Antichrist” reflects our era’s anxieties
Every age needs an Antichrist. For Protestant reformers, it was the papacy. For Cold War Christians, it was the Soviets. Now, a growing group of evangelicals say the Antichrist will be Muslim.
Chicago is ground zero in U.S. Muslim renaissance
CHICAGO (RNS) At the corner of West 63rd Street and South Fairfield, there are all the predictable signs of decline: vacant businesses, empty lots, spikes in violence. But this nondescript intersection is also the site of a renaissance in American Islam, where new Muslim institutions are emerging at an unprecedented rate.
