atheists, agnostics, Jews and Mormons outperformed Protestants and Roman Catholics in answering questions about major religions, while many respondents could not correctly give the most basic tenets of their own faiths.
Forty-five percent of Roman Catholics who participated in the study didn’t know that, according to church teaching, the bread and wine used in Holy Communion is not just a symbol, but becomes the body and blood of Christ.
More than half of Protestants could not identify Martin Luther as the person who inspired the Protestant Reformation. And about four in 10 Jews did not know that Maimonides, one of the greatest rabbis and intellectuals in history, was Jewish…
The study also found that many Americans don’t understand constitutional restrictions on religion in public schools. While a majority know that public school teachers cannot lead classes in prayer, less than a quarter know that the U.S. Supreme Court has clearly stated that teachers can read from the Bible as an example of literature.
“Many Americans think the constitutional restrictions on religion in public schools are tighter than they really are,” Pew researchers wrote.
Category Archives: Islam in the World
In Memory of Mohamed Arkoun
That struck me as fundamentally true. But I thought to myself that it doesn’t make it less painful to those close to him. And while it may not be a tragedy, it is certainly still a loss, especially when the man is a figure of the stature of Mohamed Arkoun. I remember reading his writing when researching my dissertation, and it returned to my mind in the weeks and months after 9-11. It comes to mind again now, as we see nasty rhetoric against heating up again in this country.
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American Muslims Still Victims of 9-11
Media Matter for America reports:
On what is rapidly becoming a regular feature, Fox & Friends this morning continued their incessant attack on Islam. Co-host Alisyn Camerota this morning hosted anti-Islam blogger and founder of the ironically named Americans Against Hate organization Joe Kaufman to attack Muslim Family Day at Six Flags Great Adventure. Camerota called it “insensitive” that they would host the event on September 12, “just hours after the anniversary of the September 11th attacks,” and added “but what’s even more controversial are the allegations that the Muslim group organizing the event could have been involved in financing the September 11 terror attacks.” Kaufman went further, employing what is becoming a familiar phrase among anti-Muslim bloggers: “The fact that they’re having it on September 12th, I believe they are actually spitting in the face of Americans.”
This kind of criticism is disgusting! The event is being held on September 12 because that is the first weekend after Ramadan ends. The event celebrates the Eid el-Fitr or festival of the end of Ramadan, the most holy month in the Islamic calendar. The Muslim group organizing the even is the Islamic Circle of North America, established in 1968,
as a response to the growing need for a supportive Muslim community in North America. The organization initially focused on educating its growing membership about Islam, the goal being to adhere to Islamic values amongst a religiously diverse community.
But kids also go through this condition and if they don’t have messiahs like Jesus to save dysfunctional families or broken marriages, they must have the pill an hour prior to their love making session. http://icks.org/data/ijks/1482456658_add_file_8.pdf soft pill cialis The energy obtained from this blood stream helps the lifeless sexual structure to be back to the durable and strong phase where impotency can no longer be a online viagra order hindrance in achieving successful pregnancy. But even buy generic cialis after erecting your male reproductive organ the problem that men usually face is the problem of sexual dysfunction. Kamagra is an oral medication and cheap viagra from uk is considered as one of the vital sexual prowess and its failure directly affects one’s manhood. Continue reading
New York City, Murfreesboro, Tennessee and Islamophobia
This is the United States of America! Most of us realize that what makes our country great is not our military or economic power, but what we stand for, the principles laid out in our Declaration of Independence and made law in our Constitution. One of our most sacred principles, one which drew many of our ancestors to this place, is freedom of religion. And yet lately one group finds itself under attack purely because of their religion. It started with the argument over the so called Ground Zero Mosque, and the rhetoric over that has stoked the flames of something more dangerous, as exhibited by this story of an attack on the construction site of a mosque in the Nashville suburb of Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
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Academic Freedom Media Review, June 12-18
Academic Freedom Media Review
June 12 – 18, 2010
Compiled by Scholars at Risk
Students Gain After Strike in Puerto Rico
Damien Cave, The New York Times, 6/17
Irvine Responds to Heckling Incident
Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed, 6/15
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Academic Freedom Media Review, May 29 – June 4
May 29 – June 4, 2010
Compiled by Scholars at Risk
Public conversation on universities is welcome
W. Salters Sterling, The Irish Times, 6/3
Catholic University of Ukraine and the Security Service of Ukraine
Philip J. Crowley, Press Release Bureau of Public Affairs, 6/2
Union challenges new visa system
The UK Press Association, 6/1
Jefferson v. Cuccinelli: Does the constitution really protect a right to “academic freedom”?
Dahlia Lithwick and Richard Schragger, Slate Magazine, 6/1
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Global Connections and Exchange Program Combines Technology and In-Person Exchanges
Two weeks ago, three men walked into Midlothian High School looking for a better understanding of American culture. Ten days later, they left having changed their own perceptions of U.S. citizens and their students’ perceptions of Arabic culture. Their challenge and that of the students at Midlothian High School is to continue spreading what they learned.
Abdulwahab Albaadani, a teacher at Ibn Majed in Sanaa, Yemen, Amine Slimani, a teacher from the Secondary School of Nedroma in Nedroma, Algeria and his pupil, Mohamed Belmeliami, traveled to the U.S. as a culmination of nearly a year’s worth of video conferencing, cultural lessons, and web logging with social studies classes at Midlothian High School…
Academic Freedom Media Review
March 19-26, 2010
Compiled by Scholars at Risk
‘Wide-ranging’ inquiry urged on higher education future
BBC News, 3/26
China bans poet from traveling to US conference
Associated Press, 3/25
Principles of scientific advice
Hannah Devlin, The Times Online, 3/24
2 Formerly Excluded Scholars Coming to U.S.
Inside Higher Ed, 3/24
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Scholars at Risk Academic Freedom Media Review
Academic Freedom Media Review
January 16 – 22, 2010
Compiled by Scholars at Risk
Controversial Visa Bans Lifted
Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed, 1/21
Free speech within reason
Constantine Sandis, The Times Higher Eductaion, 1/21
Scheme aims to help rebuild Iraqi academy through UK partnerships
John Morgan, The Times Higher Education, 1/21
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US Lifts Bans on Two Controversial Scholars
There’s been a major development in a story I’ve commented on many times in this blog and its predecessor, the refusal of entry to Tariq Ramadan, one of Europe’s leading scholars on Islam, and particularly it’s evolution due to the influence of Muslims in the West.
Six years after using the Patriot Act to revoke the visa of a prominent Muslim academic, the United States State Department reversed itself and said Wednesday that it would no longer bar the scholar from entering the United States.
The decision came in the form of an order signed by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. —January 20, 2010, The New York Times