The Beard is a Key Symbol of Masculine Amish Identity & Attackers Cutting it

Myron Miller and his wife, Arlene, had been asleep for an hour when their 15-year-old daughter woke them and said that people were knocking at the door. Mr. Miller, 45, a stocky construction worker and an Amish bishop in the peaceful farmlands of easternOhio, found five or six men waiting. Some grabbed him and wrestled [...]

What Do You Do with Warren Jeffs: Prophet of Fundamentalist Church of Jesus?

Warren Jeffs, the “prophet” of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), the nation’s largest polygamist Mormon sect, was sentenced in August 2011 to life in prison for the rape and sexual assault of two of his underage wives. Jeffs had taken a total of 78 plural wives, including 12 whom [...]

Making Bible More Accessible to Modern Readers

We didn’t know Jesus being called the “Son of Man” was so confusing. But the publishers of the Common English Bible translation want to clear up anything and everything that can confuse those inclined to dive into the Bible, so “Son of Man” now reads “the Human One.” Not exactly poetic, but arguably modern. In an effort not [...]

Why Are Jews Persecuted?

By Jayne Gardener I always used to wonder what it was about Jews that made people throughout history despise them. If they were indeed “God’s chosen” I thought, they had to be the unluckiest people in the history of the world. Why were they persecuted throughout history? Why had the Nazis herded them into cattle [...]

“What if the Bible is found Blasphemous?”: Khaled Ahmad

Khaled Ahmed wrote an article titled “What if the Bible is found blasphemous?” in March 21, 2006 in Daily Times. The first paragraph of the article is as follows: “Most Pakistanis are not aware of the dangers our law against blasphemy might entail. The law says no prophet shall be insulted and awards death for [...]

What Will Happen When Computers Will Become More Intelligent Than Us?

On Feb. 15, 1965, a diffident but self-possessed high school student named Raymond Kurzweil appeared as a guest on a game show called I’ve Got a Secret. On the show Kurzweil demonstrated the computer, which he built himself — a desk-size affair with loudly clacking relays, hooked up to a typewriter. The panelists were pretty blasé [...]

Pope: Not All Jews Responsible for Jesus’ Death

When Pope Benedict XVI writes that the Jews were not responsible for the death of Jesus, what’s important is less the passage itself than the man who set it down on paper. By tackling the subject in a book to be published March 10, Benedict, who has struggled in his relations with the Jewish community, [...]

The Man with 39 Wives, 94 Children & 33 Grand Children

Ziona Chana lives with all of them in a 100-room mansion His wives take it in turns to share his bed It takes 30 whole chickens just to make dinner He is head of the world’s biggest family – and says he is ‘blessed’  to have his 39 wives. Ziona Chana also has 94 children, [...]

Why Go to the Mosque?

If you’re spiritually curious, there is still hope! Why Go To Mosque? A mosque goer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to mosque every Friday. ‘I’ve gone for 30 years now,’ he wrote, ‘and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 [...]

Universe Began 13.7 Billion Years Ago

Cosmologists are agreed that the universe began with a big bang 13.7 billion years ago. People naturally want to know what caused it. A simple answer is nothing: not because there was a mysterious state of nothing before the big bang, but because time itself began then – that is, there was no time “before” [...]