In I-Totally-Didn’t-See-That-Coming news, The National has an interview with one of rapper Tupac‘s former crew members, Napoleon, who apparently converted to Islam, changed his name, gave up rap and now lives in Saudi Arabia.
In “Is-That-A-Thing?” news, Killing the Buddha offers some commentary on whether video games – especially games like Chain World – can count as religions.
“That’s an area I’m very familiar with. I’ve had long talks about religion and games with both Eric Zimmerman and Jane McGonigal-the man who constructed the Games Development Conference challenge and the ostensible fourth player of Chain World, as of this writing. On the other side of the divide, I’ve worked with spiritual communities, and earlier this year created a game-based church service for Union Theolgical Seminary. I’ve spoken at many games and ideas conferences about the long history of games in religion.
So, unsurprisingly, I’ve had many people ask me-is Chain World really a religion?”
In Well-That-Got-Awkward news, CNN explains how presidential candidate Michele Bachmann dealt with a tricky question about the role of wives in yesterday’s presidential debate:
“Thursday night in the Fox News GOP debate in Ames, Iowa, congresswoman Michele Bachmann, R-Minnesota, was asked by columnist Byron York whether she would be “submissive to her husband” if she were elected president.
Before the congresswoman had a chance to answer, a chorus of boos rang down from the audience.
“Thank you for that question, Byron,” Bachmann responded with a wry smile. “Marcus and I will be married for 33 years this September 10. I’m in love with him. I’m so proud of him. What submission means to us, it means respect. I respect my husband. He’s a wonderful godly man and great father.”
In “They-Can-Do-That?” news, Religion Dispatches explains that the United Nations has decided you can blaspheme all you want, now matter what anybody says:
“Having followed the debates on religion and freedom of expression at the United Nations over the last several years, I have become accustomed to passing on bad news, such as a decade of resolutions by the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly “combating the defamation of religions.” Now that there is some good news, almost no one has noticed.
Late last month, the UN issued a new statement on the extent of freedom of speech under international law. It says that laws restricting blasphemy as such are incompatible with universal human rights standards.”
And in I’m-Going-To-Miss-Summer news, the New York Times has a piece on “a summer camp for Jews of color.”
“In all its ordinariness, as a standard part of liturgy, the assertion could hardly have been bolder, coming as it did from Amalia Cymrot-Wu and her camp buddy Maya Campbell. Maya is the daughter of an interracial black-white marriage, Amalia the product of Brazilian and Chinese bloodlines, and they were matter-of-factly proclaiming their place among the Jewish people.
Such is the mission of Camp Be’chol Lashon (‘In Every Tongue’) here in the hills of Marin County about 35 miles north of San Francisco. For the past two years, it has provided the commonplaces of Jewish summer camp, right down to poison oak and bug juice, to an emerging population of Jews of color.”
Finally, Friday’s Tweet of the Day comes from the Buddhist magazine Tricycle, offering a little reminder to those who think they can sneak past karma…
@tricyclemag – You can’t outsmart karma. -Lama Yeshe
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