An Islamic philosopher in Karachi, an ideologue who provides violent ideas to some of Pakistan’s fiercest extremist groups, once told me that there are two kinds of history: dead and living. “Dead history is something on a shelf or in a museum,” he said. “Living history is part of your consciousness, something in your blood […]
Religion, once derided as the “opium of the people,” was marginalized in China’s political and social arenas after 1949. During the chaos of the Cultural Revolution (1966-76), many houses of worship were turned into animal stables or destroyed, and clergymen were forced to work in the fields. China’s treatment of religious followers has been a […]
Politics in the name of religion is already being played with textbook purges in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while in countries such as the United States and India, religion-inspired changes to the states’ science curricula are beginning. India retains federal control through the Central Board examinations transferring credits nationally. Read Here – Dawn
In March 2001, Taliban fighters solemnly gathered around the giant Buddha statue, a famed 6th century monument in the Bamiyan Province of Afghanistan, laid explosives at its feet and blew it to smithereens. Mullah Omar Mohammad, then the group’s leader, had proclaimed triumphantly: “Muslims should be proud of smashing idols [for] it gives praise to […]
looking beyond borders 