If you’re looking for a sure bet, here’s one: until this fall, the vast majority of US Catholics had never heard of Archbishop John Hughes. Then, in September, the Archbishop of New York, Timothy Dolan published an article…
Four New York Muslims take the anniversary of 9/11 to reflect on piety and patriotism, on sharing classrooms and rituals of community life, on the courage and goodness of New Yorkers, and on the horrific event that has shaped a generation of American Muslim life.
If Eid ul-Fitr falls on the anniversary of 9/11, it will be an especially difficult task for a Muslim in New York. How do I, as an American and a Muslim, deal with what people claiming my religion did to us—New Yorkers, Americans, human beings?
The debate has focused on the new Muslim community center’s location in lower Manhattan, but the opposition (who refer to it as the ‘Ground Zero Mosque’) is driven by a deeper, reflexive antagonism. They stand against what proponents of the center are setting out to create: a space for American Islam.
A new book by an iconic rapper, the Wu Tang Clan’s RZA, told in the voice of a street sage, tells the story of his ascent from the mean streets of Brooklyn to the pinnacle of success, and shows him to be the quintessential postmodern American spiritual seeker.
Did Williamsburg’s Hasidic community have Mayor Bloomberg close a major bike lane simply because they were offended by the immodestly clothed hipsters biking through their neighborhood, as most of the press has reported? Was a topless protest the best way to respond?
Performance artist or man of God? Agitator or politician? The Church of Life After Shopping’s Reverend Billy has a choir and a congregation like a preacher—does he have to be a “real” clergyman to minister to the masses?
Progressive religion, especially in its interfaith aspects, must help in meeting the challenges of AIDS; but we need to take seriously the questions that secularists raise about the risks and problems associated with these efforts.
