Vox: An atheist Muslim on what the left and right get wrong about Islam

Rizvi’s book is partly a plea for secularism and partly a defense of Islam as a culture. It’s also an internal challenge to Islam as a body of doctrines. Rizvi speaks directly to agnostics, atheists, and humanists living in the Muslim world, enjoining them to embrace secular culture without abandoning their Muslim identity. [...]

I think the left has a blind spot when it comes to Islam and the right has a blind spot when it comes to Muslims. When Christian fundamentalists like Pat Robertson say something that's homophobic or misogynistic, people on the left descend on them like a ton of bricks. They’re very comfortable with criticizing and satirizing fundamentalist Christianity. But when it comes to Islam, which has many of the same homophobic and misogynistic teachings, they throw their hands up, back off, and say, whoa, hold on, we must respect their religion and culture. [...]

But this still doesn’t take away from the point. It still stands that religion — and I say religion in general this time because while Islam is especially dangerous today, the other Abrahamic religions have served the same purpose when they were — lends itself extremely well to the goals and whims of authoritarians, tyrants, and the violent everywhere, whether it’s being used as a prop or driving them by belief. [...]

One thing Christians and Jews don’t always understand, because it’s hard to relate to, is that most Muslims do revere their holy text very differently from them. It’s not just divinely inspired or written by men of God. It is written by God himself, every letter, every punctuation mark. It’s literal, and it’s infallible. You can’t even touch the book unless you’ve performed an ablution ritual. It’s very serious. [...]

I say that the first step to reform in Islam is rejection of infallibility. This seems outrageous to some. They say it’ll never happen. But it has happened in the past. Reform Jews today make up a majority of American Jews. None of them believe the Torah is the literal word of God anymore. But for a long time, that was the deal — the Torah was revealed to Moses at Mount Sinai and the Tabernacle like the Quran was to Muhammad starting in the Cave of Hira at Mecca. It was error-free. Suggesting otherwise was blasphemy — and look up Leviticus 24:16 to learn the consequences of that.

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Vox: Why small talk is so excruciating (Nov 23, 2016)

The problem, of course, is that small talk precedes big talk in the normal course of human affairs. Most people feel the need to get comfortable with one another before they jump into the deep end of serious conversation or ongoing friendship. Which means if you hate and avoid small talk, you are also, as a practical matter, cutting yourself off from lots of meaningful social interaction, which is a bummer. Also, research shows that more frequent small talk, even among those who identify as introverts, makes people happier. Also, despite recent advances in technology, small talk remains an unavoidable part of many basic life tasks. [...]

In the 1970s, however, sociolinguistics became more attuned to the everyday forms of speech that, after all, constitute the bulk of our verbal communication. And feminist sociolinguistics in particular noted that a dismissive attitude toward speech that establishes and maintains relationships — as opposed to task-oriented or informational speech — was of a piece with patriarchal disrespect for traditionally female roles. Think of the derogatory implications of the term "gossip," which is, after all, social talk about social dynamics. [...]

Malinowski was wrong — small talk is not just important for those seeking companionship (or avoiding silence). It's also important in a whole range of social, commercial, and professional settings. It weaves and reweaves the social fabric, enacting and reinforcing social roles. Think of the different varieties of small talk between doctor and patient, vendor and customer, employer and employee. Each has its own rhythms and rules. And of course the character of small talk differs from place to place, culture to culture. For example, silence, contra Malinowski, is not viewed as threatening or uncomfortable in all cultures. [...]

On another level, talking is a social behavior. Every speech act is an act, meant not only to communicate something but to do something: reassure, acknowledge, nurture, enjoin, reject, dominate, encourage, or just fill awkward silence. We can think of this as the social function of a speech act. Unlike semantic content, social function cannot be understood in isolation, just by examining the words. Social function depends entirely on context, on tone and body language, on the interpersonal roles being played, on historical and environmental cues. It only makes sense relative to context.

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Salon: America is suffering from a plague of deadly, unaccountable and racist police violence

In the year since Sterling and Castile’s deaths sparked Black Lives Matter protests across the country and a national conversation on police violence and racism, 1,006 more civilians have met similar fates at the hands of police officers. A national election ended with Donald Trump, whose campaign largely centered around fear-mongering and promises to restore law and order, being elected the country’s 45th president. Jeff Sessions, who was once denied a federal judgeship because he was deemed too racist, became the head of the Department of Justice. [...]

Baton Rouge officers Blane Salamoni and Howie Lake II were the two officers who confronted Alton Sterling outside a convenience store. A federal investigation into the incident found that the entire confrontation lasted a mere 90 seconds, in which the officers wrestled Sterling to the ground, tased him and then shot him a total of six times. The Justice Department announced in May that it would not be pursuing any charges against Salamoni and Lake, who are currently on paid leave. An investigation by the Louisiana attorney general’s office is looking into whether the two officers, who are both white, should be charged on state laws. [...]

However, these Blue Lives Matter bills are unnecessary and redundant, as all 50 states already have statutes that automatically increase penalties for violent attacks against law enforcement, according to the Anti-Defamation League. These statutes do not require prosecutors to prove motive. Mark Potok, a senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center, told the Huffington Post that murdering a police officer could likely mean a death sentence in some states. [...]

A number of bills have also gained traction in several states criminalizing protests and imposing harsher punishments on protesters. Seventeen states are currently considering this type of legislation, according to the database project Our States. In North Dakota, which saw large waves of protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline last year, a bill was recently passed and signed making protest penalties a class B felony if 100 or more people are involved, and carrying a maximum prison sentence of 10 years. Another bill that was passed imposes penalties on protesters who wear masks, as Occupy demonstrators often do.

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Independent: Brexit vote sees highest spike in religious and racial hate crimes ever recorded

Police figures obtained through Freedom of Information (FOI) requests show incidents surged by 23 per cent – from 40,741 to 49,921 – in the 11 months after the EU referendum, compared with the same period the previous year, marking an unparallelled rise.

Eleven of the 32 police forces in England and Wales that responded to the FOI requests saw reports of race and faith-based hate crimes increase by more than 40 per cent, with several regions including Gwent, Nottinghamshire and Kent soaring by more than half in a year. [...]

Gwent in Wales saw the highest increase, with the number of incidents rising by 77 per cent, from 367 to 649. Reports of racially and religiously aggravated hate crimes also rose considerably in Kent (66 per cent, from 874 to 1,452), Warwickshire (65 per cent, 286 to 471) and Nottinghamshire (57 per cent, 681 to 1,071). [...]

Ms Ashraf, who is a member of campaign organisation Stand Up To Racism, said she and her Muslim friends had noticed a marked rise in hate crime against them since the Brexit vote: “I think we’ve seen more since the referendum, there’s no doubt about it. But definitely over the last couple of years we’ve become more cautious when we’re out and about. [...]

“We have seen an increase in the reporting of hate crime in Gwent over the last year. In some respects, this is to be welcomed as hate crimes were traditionally underreported across the UK. It provides a clear indication that people have more confidence in reporting crimes of this nature," Mr Cuthbert told The Independent.

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The Guardian: One by one, Brexit’s ‘salvations’ are seen to be illusory

From Boris Johnson and Michael Gove in the Leave campaign, through to Iain Duncan Smith and David Davis today, they convinced 17 million or so voters that BMW would ensure we could have our cake and eat it too. “The first calling point of the UK’s negotiator immediately after #Brexit will not be Brussels, it will be Berlin, to strike a deal,” announced Davis in May 2016. German car manufacturers would want access to the British market. The German government would listen and grant us privileged access to the single market in return.

As it has turned out, economics has not trumped politics. And although I am instinctively a materialist, I have to admit it rarely does. Try to find an economic explanation for nationalism or religious fanaticism, or for middle-class professionals supporting left-wing parties or working-class voters support for rightwing parties, and your arguments rapidly lose conviction. Economics did not trump politics when Britain voted to leave the EU. It does not trump politics now that 27 countries are determined to preserve the union. And not only as a defence against a return of fascism and communism.

Other countries have their national interests too. The supposedly omnipotent German car manufacturers did not stop Angela Merkel imposing sanctions on Russia after the invasion of Ukraine, even though sanctions hurt sales. Germany, like the rest of Europe, like Britain itself, had an interest in stopping the rebirth of Russian imperialism and that came first. In any case, defending the single market will have long-term economic benefits for every large company in Europe, their workers and the old, the sick and the young who rely on their tax revenues. As German industrialists make clear, they would rather lose British sales than see the world’s richest market undermined.

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The Guardian: Church of England demands ban on conversion therapy

The Church of England has called on the government to ban conversion therapy and has condemned the practice, which aims to change sexual orientation, as unethical and potentially harmful.

At the end of an emotional debate in which two members of the C of E synod described their experiences as spiritual abuse, the church’s governing body overwhelmingly backed a motion saying the practice had “no place in the modern world”. [...]

John Sentamu, the archbishop of York, said conversion therapy was “theologically unsound, so the sooner the practice of [it] is banned, I can sleep at night”.

Paul Bayes, the bishop of Liverpool, said LGBT orientation was neither a crime nor a sin. “We don’t need to engage people in healing therapy if they are not sick.”

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Bloomberg: China and Japan Leaders Seek Ties Reset Amid North Korea Worries

But while China, Japan, the U.S., Russia and South Korea all condemned the test, their approaches differ on how best to rein in North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. U.S. President Donald Trump has castigated China in public for not doing enough to prod its neighbor and ally.

China favors talks with Pyongyang to defuse tensions. It has been cautious about putting too tight an economic squeeze on Kim in case it sparks the collapse of his regime, with the risk of a resultant refugee crisis on China’s border and an increased U.S. military presence nearby. [...]

The Xi-Abe talks follow months of effort. Abe’s security council chief Shotaro Yachi spent five hours with China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi at a hot spring resort near Tokyo in late May. Abe also sent a personal missive to Xi in May, via a ruling party executive, and has said he’s open to cooperating on China’s Belt and Road trade project under certain conditions. [...]

"There are people in the Communist Party who would not be pleased at the prospect of getting along with Japan," said Noriyuki Kawamura, a professor at the Nagoya University of Foreign Studies. "In order not to be criticized by these people, Xi and Li will have to be cautious about visiting Japan."

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Deutsche Welle: Eritrea's capital added to UNESCO World Heritage site list

The committee appreciated the outstanding value of Asmara's 19th and early 20th century modernist architecture designed by colonial-era Italian architects and immersed in an African highland environment.

That distinctive, futuristic architecture includes an art deco bowling alley with colored glass windows and a gas station that resembles an airplane (pictured on top). Both date back to the city's time as part of colonial Italy during the reign of fascist dictator Benito Mussolini from 1936 to 1941.

It was the designs of architects that were rejected in conservative European cities that found a place in Asmara at a time when approximately half of the city's population was Italian. Indeed, back then Asmara was dubbed 'Piccola Roma,' or 'Little Rome.'

The modernist architecture of other Eritrean cities was destroyed during a decades-long war of independence from Ethiopia. But Asmara survived and was declared a national monument by the government in 2001.

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Deutsche Welle: Saudi Arabia exports extremism to many countries - including Germany, study says

Susanne Schröter: The findings do not surprise me at all. It has long been known that Saudi Arabia has been exporting Wahhabist ideology - largely similar to the ideology of the so-called "Islamic State" (IS). Propaganda material and organizational expertise are being sent along with money. People are being hired to build mosques, educational institutions, cultural centers and similar organizations, so that Wahhabist theology can reach the public – with great success. [...]

The export of Wahhabism got off the ground after the Islamic revolution in Iran. The revolution had dramatically shaken the Saudis. When Iran started exporting its Shiite ideology, the Saudis felt threatened by it. Around that time, in 1979, hardliners seized the Grand Mosque in Mecca. The Saudis launched an ideological offensive and said, "Now we are exporting our own ideology. We will show the hardliners in our own country what we are capable of achieving." Then, they started promoting Wahhabism through intermediaries and organizations like the World Muslim League in different countries throughout Asia, Africa and parts of Europe – for example, in former Yugoslavia where Muslims and Christians fought against each other in the civil war. Wahhabists saw it as gateway, where money was needed since the Muslim population was ready for a new and radical ideology.

The result is that, in many parts of the world, a radical form of Islam is gaining the upper hand. I have experienced this first hand in Southeast Asia. In southern Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, and sometimes Malaysia, it was always said that a special form of Islam was practiced, a much more open, much more tolerant version. There has been a dramatic development towards radicalism over the past three decades. It is perfectly clear that this development has been encouraged by Saudi money. Moreover, young intellectuals have been recruited with generous scholarships at Saudi universities. These people return to their homes after having studied at Saudi universities and suddenly carry out Wahhabi missionary work in all their home countries.

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