Last night on Twitter I saw Donald Trump, Jr.’s tweet about Syrian refugees and Skittles. This image says it all. Let's end the politically correct agenda that doesn't put America first. #trump2016 pic.twitter.com/9fHwog7ssN — Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) September 19, 2016 It struck me as a stupid and crass thing to say, and I watched … Continue reading Skittles, Syrians, and Accidental Genius
Tag: Islam
Here are some things I read today that interested me. Do Christians And Muslims Worship The Same God? – Yes. Next question? (For more about this, see my link round-up for December 17th.) NPR 12 Days of Christmas Songs: ‘Christmas Time Is Here’ Is A Hymn for the Ages – As part of their “12 … Continue reading Link Round-Up: December 21
Not a lot of links today. Star wars, religious violence, and how to make a new emoji – The BBC World Service’s On Background program takes an in-depth look at three or four big news stories during the week, and this episode interested me not for its Star Wars content but for its interview with … Continue reading Link Round-Up: December 19
Last night, after work, I saw Star Wars: The Force Awakens with my coworkers thanks for an end-of-year work function. Here are my non-spoilery thoughts, posted on social media last night and this morning. First, Facebook: My non-spoilery reaction to the new Star Wars movie — I was entertained, but it’s best to have tempered … Continue reading Link Round-Up: December 18
We start today’s link round-up with something I wrote on Facebook this morning. It relates to two of today’s links, and I’ll link a third article in this: Christians and Muslims worship the same god. This isn’t and shouldn’t be a controversial statement. As a matter of history, it’s as much of a fact as … Continue reading Link Round-Up: December 17
Putting on my historian hat for the moment. In Birmingham, fragments of a Qur’an dating to the 7th century have been discovered in a collection at the university there, making this one of the oldest known Qur’ans in existence. (The headline says “oldest,” but the article is not as definitive.) The Carbon-14 dating may put … Continue reading An Ancient Qur’an and Early Islam
Some random links that caught my fancy today. Islamic clerics in the United Arab Emirites have issued a fatwa against humans traveling to Mars. The reason? They consider it a suicide mission, and the Qu’ran prohibits suicide, therefore anyone who travels to Mars is committing suicide. A cellist wants HBO to rerecord the Game of … Continue reading Link Roundup
Wasn’t it P.T. Barnum who said that “You’ll never go broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public?” That’s how I felt this morning, when I heard NPR’s story on a just-released Pew Research poll that indicates that a growing percentage of Americans — now 1 in 5 — believe that President Obama is, in … Continue reading On Barack Obama’s Religion
I’m thinking of converting to Islam, just to annoy a Republican. I’ve watched the news coverage the past month of the “controversy” over the Cordoba House project in New York City where a 13-story Burlington Coat Factory building two blocks from where the World Trade Center stood will be renovated into an Islamic community center. … Continue reading On The Cordoba House Project
Today is “Everybody Draw Muhammad Day.” The day was declared in the aftermath of Comedy Central’s censoring of a recent South Park. Muhammad, who had appeared in 2001 in the episode “Super Best Friends” was depicted wearing a bear suit; Sunni Muslims find depictions of the Prophet offensive, and editorial cartoons in Denmark resulted in … Continue reading On Draw Muhammad Day
This, to the left, is the Prophet Muhammad. He appeared in the 2001 episode of South Park, “Super Best Friends.” He could shoot fire from his hands, and he battled evil alongside fellow religious icons Buddha, Krishna, and Joseph Smith. This, to the right, is also the Prophet Muhammad. He’s wearing a bear suit, like … Continue reading On South Park, the Prophet Muhammad, and Censorship
I mentioned on Thursday that I had received that day in the mail a DVD — Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West. Obsession is, according to Wikipedia, “a documentary movie about Islamist teachings and goals” that “compares the threat of radical Islamism with that of Nazism before World War II, and draws parallels between … Continue reading On the Obsession DVD