This is the story of Christianity in ancient Najran, in Yemen, as found in Ibn Ishaq’s Life of the Messenger of Allah. I quote almost the entirety of it in the above essay, so I figured I would put it up in its original form, as it does not appear to be easily available online [...]
Tag Archives: Christianity
Faymiyun, the Holy Man of Arabia.
24-Oct-12I was born Catholic, and I remain so, but I do not believe I became a real Christian until four years ago, when I had what we may as well call my conversion. It happened as follows. Some young men have difficulty measuring up to their fathers. My brother and I have had something of [...]
Sigh. Christians.
05-Apr-12Andrew Sullivan has been thinking about Christianity lately – what’s happening to it on a large scale. I don’t think he’s doing a great job expressing himself on this topic, and I think he is aware of this. I think he’s fighting the good fight, but something about it is daunting and indeed depressing. For [...]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IAhDGYlpqY Language changes, and words take on new meanings in time, but this is an example of a meaning-shift a bit bewildering to me. I’ve seen it enough so I should be fine with it; but the word “religion” is being used to mean “everything I dislike about religion” or “bad religion.” Here in this [...]
Bertrand Russell’s Atheist Essays.
14-Sep-11There is a fine little collection of essays about atheism by Bertrand Russell, entitled Why I Am Not A Christian, which I read on subway rides about the city the past week. It is light reading, and his mature essays are in a lucid style which offers no difficulties (some of his earlier essays, such [...]
Of Gods and Men.
01-Apr-11I saw the movie Of Gods and Men two nights ago at the excellent little art-house movie theater in Kew Gardens. The movie was not perfect – poorly paced, occasionally indulgent, not quite as intelligent as it might have been – but it was very good, and it affected me. It depicted the monastic life beautifully [...]
I’ve been impressed recently by the intelligence, articulateness, and unapologetically rakish character of Christopher Hitchens, and curiosity about and respect for the man prompted me to take a look at the fashionable atheist books of the day, beginning with his God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. As is always the case with modern [...]
An extraordinary talk by Brene Brown on vulnerability. I’ve recently had a spate of conversations with people about why I would describe myself as religious – they themselves find religion unnecessary at best, and know that there many things about religion that I object to. And here is seemingly a good example of religion [...]
Establishment Christianity.
21-Dec-10Astonishing statement by a U.S. servicemember on DADT, reported to me by a friend: “This is the first time my government and my religion are in conflict.” What an indictment of establishment Christianity. On the normal processes of military operation – killing, torture, violence – a soldier can see his Church as favorable or irrelevant. [...]
Bibles and Evangelicals.
01-Mar-11I’ve written recently about the need to destroy Biblical literalism; and here is an obituary of one minister who worked on precisely this. The reporting appears to be unaware of the actual issues involved, but Gomes’ words themselves are salutary: “The Bible alone is the most dangerous thing I can think of,” he told The [...]