Robert P. George to Saudi Arabia: Whip Me Instead of Raif Badawi
Offering to take 100 lashes each, 7 of 9 USCIRF commissioners ‘would rather share in’ blogger’s punishment than ‘watch him being cruelly tortured.’
Following Saudi Arabia’s decision to flog a dissident blogger 50 times on a weekly basis for the next five months, seven of the nine members of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) have asked the Muslim nation to whip them instead.
“Compassion, a virtue honored in Islam as well as in Christianity, Judaism, and other faiths, is defined as ‘suffering with another,’” wrote vice-chair Robert P. George and his colleagues in a letter addressed to Adel bin Ahmed Al Jubeir, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States. “We are persons of different faiths, yet we are united in a sense of obligation to condemn and resist injustice and to suffer with its victims, if need be.”
In May 2014, the Saudi Arabian government sentenced Muslim blogger Raif Badawi, 31, to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for operating Free Saudi Liberals, a website which sought to encourage debate on religious and political matters. On Thursday, for the second week in a row, a medical commission postponed his scheduled Friday flogging on health grounds.
“If your government will not remit the punishment of Raif Badawi, we respectfully ask that you permit each of us to take 100 of the lashes that would be given to him,” the commissioners stated. “We would rather share in his victimization than stand by and watch him being cruelly tortured. If your government does not see fit to stop this from happening, we are prepared to present ourselves to receive our share of Mr. Badawi’s unjust punishment.” [Full letter below.]
George, a Princeton University professor, posted a copy of the letter to his Facebook page. The letter has not been published on USCIRF’s …
Tending the ‘Stolen’ Sheep in Latin America’s Booming Bible Belt
Catholics may be fast converting to Protestantism, but beliefs and maturity vary.
For most of the past century, almost all (more than 90%) of Latin Americans were Catholics. But decades of attrition have resulted in a record 1 in 5 Latinos now identi…
Roll Tide and Read Your Bible: Alabama Ranks No. 1 for Scripture Lovers
Southern states dominate annual list of Bible-minded cities.
The Bible Belt lived up to its name as Southern locales topped the American Bible Society (ABS) and Barna Group’s annual list of Bible-minded cities, with Birmingham, Alabama, earning the No. 1 spot.
The rankings, based on a city’s Bible reading habits and beliefs, come from a decade of interviews with more than 63,000 adults in the country’s 100 largest metropolitan areas. While the study crowned a new winner (Chattanooga ranked first last year), many demographic trends stayed the same, notes ABS:
As in past years, the Bible Belt performed strongly in the 2015 rankings, while East Coast cities once again brought up the rear of the list. Small cities also generally performed better than did large cities. Just one of the top 10 Bible-minded cities ranks in the top 25 media markets.
The top-ranking Birmingham/Anniston/Tuscaloosa market had the highest proportion of respondants saying they’d read the Bible in the past week and strongly believe in the accuracy of Scripture. It’s home more than a dozen megachurches, including the 4,500-member Church at Brook Hills, led for several years by David Platt. The evangelical Samford University is also located in Birmingham.
Of course, the area is best known for the Tuscaloosa-based University of Alabama and its popular football program, Crimson Tide. (Thom S. Rainer, president and CEO of LifeWay, is among its notable alumni.)
Tennessee cities took the No. 2 and No. 3 spots, followed by Lynchburg, Virginia—where Liberty University is located.
Here’s the full list of the top 10 most Bible-minded cities:
10. Little Rock, Arkansas
9. Greenville/Spartanburg, South Carolina/ Asheville
8. Charlotte, North Carolina
7. Jackson, Mississippi
6. …
Roll Tide and Read Your Bible: Alabama Ranks No. 1 for Scripture Lovers
Southern states dominate annual list of Bible-minded cities.
The Bible Belt lived up to its name as Southern locales topped the American Bible Society (ABS) and Barna Group’s annual list of Bible-minded cities, with Birmingham, Alabama, earning the No. 1 spot.
The rankings, based on a city’s Bible reading habits and beliefs, come from a decade of interviews with more than 63,000 adults in the country’s 100 largest metropolitan areas. While the study crowned a new winner (Chattanooga ranked first last year), many demographic trends stayed the same, notes ABS:
As in past years, the Bible Belt performed strongly in the 2015 rankings, while East Coast cities once again brought up the rear of the list. Small cities also generally performed better than did large cities. Just one of the top 10 Bible-minded cities ranks in the top 25 media markets.
The top-ranking Birmingham/Anniston/Tuscaloosa market had the highest proportion of respondants saying they’d read the Bible in the past week and strongly believe in the accuracy of Scripture. It’s home more than a dozen megachurches, including the 4,500-member Church at Brook Hills, led for several years by David Platt. The evangelical Samford University is also located in Birmingham.
Of course, the area is best known for the Tuscaloosa-based University of Alabama and its popular football program, Crimson Tide. (Thom S. Rainer, president and CEO of LifeWay, is among its notable alumni.)
Tennessee cities took the No. 2 and No. 3 spots, followed by Lynchburg, Virginia—where Liberty University is located.
Here’s the full list of the top 10 most Bible-minded cities:
10. Little Rock, Arkansas
9. Greenville/Spartanburg, South Carolina/ Asheville
8. Charlotte, North Carolina
7. Jackson, Mississippi
6. …
Duke vs. Franklin Graham: Which Christian Spaces Are Off-Limits to Muslim Worship?
Call-to-prayer controversy at university chapel prompts debate over sharing sacred space.
Duke University’s reversal of today’s plan to broadcast the Muslim call to prayer from its historic chapel tower has reinvigorated a debate over shared worship space.
The Durham, North Carolina-based school had authorized Muslim students to recite the three-minute chant from Duke Chapel on Friday, the weekly day of assembly in Islam, but rescinded the decision this week, following criticism and citing a “serious and credible security threat.”
Franklin Graham, whose ministries (Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association) are headquartered in North Carolina, attacked the university’s decision and condemned the use of a Christian space by members of another faith.
“It’s wrong because it’s a different god,” Graham said. “Using the bell tower, that signifies worship of Jesus Christ. Using (it) as a minaret is wrong.”
Muslim students had gathered for jummah prayers in the chapel’s basement for years, according to CNN reports. The chapel’s website describes it as “a Christian church of uniquely interdenominational character and purpose,” welcoming people of “all faiths and circumstances.”
However, the dean of Duke Divinity School, Richard Hays, raised concerns about the use of the chapel for the Muslim call to prayer if it’s seen as a Christian church (given its history and iconography), rather than a neutral space on campus.
“There are serious questions…about the wisdom and propriety of allowing Duke chapel to be used for this purpose,” he said in a statement. “Despite some common beliefs and traditions, Christianity and Islam stand in significant theological tension …
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