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The gender question in the field of religion cannot be separated from the political and cultural progress of humankind. Regardless of whether one is a believer in the Abrahamic or World religions or not, the fact remains that the primacy of men over religious and political affairs of humankind conspired to keep men at the top.
In addressing the presidential campaign and the question of religion, it is dangerous and unwise for all of us to drag the presidential candidates into this orbit. There are five points to remember in dealing with this question.
A number of questions can be raised about the National Prayer Breakfast and its relevance to the American experience and the American dream of being a better society and a God-loving community of believers.
The Mormons provide an example to any minority American religious group how to withstand suffering and how best to cultivate the challenges and threats of the past into future benefits and advantages.
Rev. Jerry Falwell, who was born on August 11, 1933, passed away on May 15 2007. He led services at Thomas Road Baptist Church, a megachurch in Lynchburg, Virginia. He changed affiliations from the more traditional Baptist Bible Fellowship International to the mainly conservative Southern Baptist Convention. He ended his self-identification with fundamentalism in favor of evangelicalism.
He will enter the history books as a religious and political force that sought to affect the direction of American religious and political history. Through his religious and social maneuvers as well as his political rhetoric, he helped create in American life a new way of getting traditional Christians, who heretofore were to a certain degree allergic to political matters, more receptive to the callings of his caravan. In doing so he thought and believed American life and thought would reverse the secularizing tendencies. Caught in the web of the Cold War and the culture war in his own country, he tried to exercise political influence among the politicians and spiritual magnetisms among the rank and file Christians of American society.
When we listen to the Democratic or Republican presidential candidates we should take many things into account when matters on religion are discussed. In the interest of time and space let me identify a few points to remember when one looks at a candidate for the presidency.
The first and most important question to me is the candidate's vision of the country. This is to say, one must pay attention to how the human condition is looked at in light of the historical and sociological map of the candidate and the manner in which he defines and perceives American life. Here, belief in God is one thing but practice of one's faith could become the other significant factor that locates you somewhere in the minds of the voters.
I think bio-sociologist E.O. Wilson was correct and cautious in his assertion that: "An alliance between science and religion, forged in an atmosphere of mutual respect, may be the only way to protect life on earth." There are several reasons for supporting this statement.
In responding to the question about my memories on the day Dr. Martin Luther King was killed in Memphis, Tennessee, I have several things to say.
It was a morose day, a day of anger, shame and fear about his efforts to change American society. It was a day I will continue to describe as a moment when clouds of frustration, fear and anger had taken over the sky and limited the hopes and dreams of many riding on the same train as the Man from Georgia.I was then a junior at Hampton Institute which is now called Hampton University. I was in that semester actively involved in student politics on campus and in that particular month Theodos Holland and I were elected President and Vice President of the Student Government. These were the days of student agitation and we had a student body with many colleagues caught in the web of the Civil Rights Struggle.
What Islam Really Says About Violence, Rights and Other Religions
Gomaa, Fadlallah, Mubarak, Khan, Siddiqi, Ellison, others | On Faith
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