Posts filed under “Uncategorized”

Happy Blog Anniversary!

I started blogging 6 years ago today.  I’ve blogged for a lot of different reasons, but the desire to share and connect with other people, to be part of a larger conversation, has always been a part of it (though sometimes I’ve really identified with Jamie here and felt like quitting).  I count many of […]

Just one reason we shouldn’t be nation-building

From Karen Armstrong’s A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam: Politics is not extrinsic to a Muslim’s personal religious life, as in Christianity, which mistrusts mundane success.  Muslims regard themselves as committed to implemented a just society in accord with God’s will.  The ummah has sacramental importance, as a “sign” that God […]

January Migraine Data

Several weeks ago I posted barometric pressure trends from December along with whether or not I was sick that day.  Unfortunately, I didn’t do a good job recording barometric pressure on days that I wasn’t sick.  I did a better job in January. If you’re new to this blog, I have frequent migraines that I […]

Religious tolerance under Arab imperialism

From Karen Armstrong’s A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam: Nobody in the new empire was forced to accept the Islamic faith; indeed, for a century after Muhammad’s death, conversion was not encouraged and, in about 700, was actually forbidden by law: Muslims believed that Islam was for the Arabs as […]

Monotheism doesn’t necessarily mean sending all non-believers to hell

From Karen Armstrong’s A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam: The image of the olive tree in [certain Koranic] verses has been interpreted as an allusion to the continuity of revelation, which springs from one “root” and branches into a multifarious variety of religious experience that cannot be identified with or […]