Osama bin Laden and the Dalai Lama

Here's a puzzling finding from the recent Gallup Poll on the attitudes of Americans towards different religions. Only two percent of Americans say they have a great deal of knowledge about Buddhism, and 14 percent report feeling some prejudice towards Buddhists. Meanwhile, only three percent of Americans claim they have a great deal of knowledge about Islam, and yet 43 percent claim some prejudice towards Muslims. How is it that a little knowledge about Buddhism...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

An iPhone app for the modern Muslim

My friend Reza Aslan always has his finger on the pulse of innovation. In 2005, he recognized the importance of people having an appreciative understanding of the history of Islam and wrote what I think is the most lyrical narrative of the religion I have read in No God but God. Last year he published a book, How to Win a Cosmic War, on how to not cede the power of symbolism to terrorists. This...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Hating Muslims, hating Jews

Newsflash: People who hate Jews also hate Muslims. Anti-semitism is linked to Islamophobia. If you are spreading the former, you will reap the latter. And while the recent Gallup Poll didn't report directly on this, my guess is if you are spreading the latter, you will reap the former. That bias is hateful to God is an ancient religious teaching. Take the Qur'anic idea that all human beings have the breath of God, or the...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.