Mideast madness
Islam | Provoked or premeditated, the latest round of uprisings put the United States in its sights
by Mindy Belz
Protests outside the U.S. consulate in Alexandria on Friday and Saturday did not keep worshippers away from St. Mark's Anglican Church on Sunday. "I preached on 'how to live in peace in a multi-religious society,'" said Emad Mikhail. "I used the model of Daniel and his friends. They held fast to their beliefs and spoke about their God. But they always did so respectfully and without insulting the Babylonians."
Al-Qaeda calls for more attacks on embassies
by Wire Reports
CAIRO (AP)—Al-Qaida's branch in Yemen has praised the killing of the U.S. ambassador in Libya and called for more attacks to expel American embassies from Muslim nations.
The statement, posted Saturday on Islamic militant websites, suggested al-Qaeda was trying to co-opt the wave of angry protests in the Muslim world over a film produced in the United States denigrating the Prophet Muhammad.
Islam | Violence continues in the Middle East and North Africa over a shallow film and its shadowy filmmaker
Violence directed at the United States over a video clip mocking Islam spread into a fourth day, undiminished on Friday, the Muslim holy day.
Wilders' side
Islam | Controversial Dutch politician brings his anti-Islam message to Britain and America
Emily Belz | 10/23/09, 04:18 am
Right-wing Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders has a shock of blond hair and words that shock to go with it. "Where Islam sets roots, freedom dies," he said in comments at Temple University in Philadelphia on Oct. 20-his first speech to an American university. He added that Muslims should not be allowed to immigrate and that Muslim women should pay an excise tax for wearing a hijab, which he has termed a "head rag tax."
Saudi studies
Islam | Twenty-five years after a Christian school was denied expansion the D.C.
Emily Belz | 7/14/09, 04:17 pm
FAIRFAX, VA.-The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors usually plods through requests for extra left hand turning lanes or parking restrictions. But Monday police officers had to keep peace in the board's packed public hearing, and reinforcements circled outside the building on bicycles.
Common word game
Islam | An effort for Muslim-Christian harmony says both religions can unite around a love of God-but which God?
Mark Bergin | 12/08/07, 12:00 am
One year ago Pope Benedict XVI quoted a 14th-century emperor: "Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman." The pope did not endorse the quote, but without regard to context or intent, Islamic communities promptly erupted in violence, burning churches and murdering Christians on the street.
Islam | Islamic group presses U.S.
Mark Bergin | 8/11/07, 12:00 am
More than 100 Somalis quit their jobs this past May at a Nebraska meatpacking plant due to conflicts between their work schedules and the daily requirements of Islamic prayer. A week later, about 70 of those workers returned to the Swift & Co. plant in Grand Island determined to seek accommodation. Instead, they got the same message as before: no walking off the production line, except for standard breaks.
Mosque-erade
Islam | Floridians sue to block construction of an Islamic center they say has terrorist ties
For more than two decades, the Islamic Center of South Florida (ICOSF) has operated quietly in an upscale area of Pompano Beach, just east of Interstate 95. But last year when the religious center announced plans to move two miles northwest across the freeway into a low-income, mostly African-American neighborhood, community protest broke out.
Islam | Gen.
Mindy Belz | 6/09/07, 12:00 am
In Karachi a pastor and his wife fled the city after rioters killed 49 people in one day. Another pastor in the port city, Pakistan's largest, was poisoned, reportedly by a man pretending to be a new convert to Christianity, who dumped him on a roadside for dead (he survived).
Islam | Turkey's upcoming election will be a test for democracy in the Muslim world
Jill Nelson | 6/09/07, 12:00 am
When Osama bin Laden aired his grievances in a taped speech after 9/11, he confused many by his reference to an 80-year-old catastrophe. Historians knew he was talking about the end of the Muslim Ottoman Empire's reign and the beginning of Western dominance. It also marked the birth of the only Muslim nation in history with a secular government: Turkey.