Tag - religion

 
 

RELIGION

Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 22, 2013
All bets off as Syrian rebels fracture
The Bab al-Hawa crossing post sits under a low ridge on the Syrian-Turkish border, not far from the Turkish town of Reyhanli. There is a concrete canopy and a handful of buildings. It is important because of what lies not far away in the village of Babisqa — one of the main storage depots for the Supreme...
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 22, 2013
Bethlehem woos Christian emigres, visitors
There has been something missing in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Christianity: Christians.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 17, 2013
In Syria, jihadists train 'children of al-Qaida'
At first glance, the training camp appears no different from the many others shown in propaganda videos posted by al-Qaida's affiliate in Syria. Hooded recruits in camouflage shoot at targets or march in formation under the black flag of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Dec 14, 2013
Record of Miraculous Events in Japan: The Nihon ryoiki
Compiled in the early Heian Period (794-1192), the "Nihon ryoiki" comprises the country's first major collection of anecdotal literature, or setsuwa. The collection contains 116 spoken stories over three volumes that were passed from person to person, village to village, until they were finally recorded...
Japan Times
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Dec 4, 2013
Iran deal offers hope, peril for Middle East
A surge of diplomacy and an outburst of violence in the days since world powers reached a deal with Iran illustrate both the promise and the peril of what could be the start of a more peaceful era in the Middle East — or the beginning of a new round of bloodletting.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Dec 1, 2013
Painstaking work and a devoted team unearthed the Buddha's secret
When professor Robin Coningham's youngest son, Gus, was 5, he was asked at school what his father did. "He works for the Buddha," said the boy. Which led to a bit of confusion, recalls Coningham.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Nov 27, 2013
Pope criticizes unfettered capitalism in statement
Pope Francis on Tuesday sharply criticized growing economic inequality and unfettered markets in a lengthy paper outlining a populist philosophy that he says will guide his papacy as he pushes the Catholic Church to reach out more, particularly to the disenfranchised.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Nov 27, 2013
Pope denounces trickle-down economics in critique of inequality
Pope Francis on Tuesday sharply criticized growing economic inequality and unfettered markets in a lengthy paper outlining a populist philosophy that he says will guide his papacy as he pushes the Catholic Church to reach out more, particularly to the disenfranchised.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 23, 2013
Back to the future: Shinto's growing influence in politics
Immaculate and ramrod straight in a crisp, black suit, Japan's education minister, Hakubun Shimomura, speaks like a schoolteacher — slowly and deliberately.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 23, 2013
Resisting the historical deniers
Shin Kawashima recalls his heart sinking with the reelection of Shinzo Abe. A specialist in Asian diplomatic history at the University of Tokyo, Kawashima has spent years trying to narrow the gap between Japan and China's strikingly different interpretations of wartime history. The election could undo...
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 23, 2013
Re-engineering Shinto
Japan's ancient, indigenous religion, premodern Shinto, was considered one of the world's least dogmatic, laidback belief systems. Many of its earthy, animist rituals were tied to a love of nature and tradition, anchored around festivals and ceremonies honoring kami (gods) found in all aspects of life....
Japan Times
WORLD
Nov 20, 2013
Deadly blasts in Lebanon linked to Syrian war, sectarian divisions
The debris-strewn, bloodstained street outside the Iranian Embassy in Beirut lay as mute testimony of another dark day in Lebanon on Tuesday, when nearly two dozen people were killed in a double suicide bombing, the latest in a string of sectarian attacks to blight the country.
Japan Times
WORLD
Nov 16, 2013
Syrian regime's battlefield gains complicate Geneva peace talks push
A string of Syrian government gains in the Damascus suburbs and mounting pressure on rebels in the north is likely to complicate Western efforts to persuade the opposition to attend planned peace talks, analysts say.
WORLD / FOCUS
Nov 2, 2013
U.S. Supreme Court to hear new case on public prayer
The chairman of the local Baha'i congregation concluded his prayer with "Allah-u-Abha," which loosely translates to "God the All-Glorious." A Jew offered a prayer speaking of "the songs of David, your servant." And a Wiccan priestess, mindful of her venue in the town of Greece, New York, thought that...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Nov 1, 2013
Seven Unlucky Gods sowing misery across Japan
I have a theory about the conspicuous absence of the Seven Lucky Gods: They each have an evil twin.
Japan Times
WORLD
Oct 26, 2013
Saudi driver's license protest kick-starts nation's women's rights movement
Women's rights activists in Saudi Arabia were set to get behind the wheel en masse Saturday to protest their government's refusal to allow women to have driver's licenses — a demonstration that comes just two years after a similar push. While the earlier effort was not successful, it did kick-start...
Japan Times
WORLD
Oct 19, 2013
Well-funded extremists bleed Syria's moderate rebel groups of fighters
In a medical clinic packed with injured Syrian rebels, 23-year-old Mohammed Hadhoud lies waiting for an operation to remove a machine-gun bullet lodged in his spine. His family cannot afford the bill, and the moderate Islamist brigade he fights with has refused to fully cover the cost.
Japan Times
WORLD
Oct 2, 2013
Pope's plain talking stirs fresh debate
Pope Francis cranked up his charm offensive on the world outside the Vatican on Tuesday, saying in his second widely shared media interview in two weeks that each person “must choose to follow the good and fight evil as he conceives them.”
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Sep 26, 2013
Wealthy guru's arrest on teen sex assault charges divides India
Men lay prostrate on the floor in front of the elevated seat of their guru: the man they call Asaram Bapu. Pictures of his avuncular face, with its flowing white beard, hang everywhere in his sprawling 12-hectare ashram in Motera, western India.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Sep 23, 2013
Tokyo: What would you like to be reincarnated as?
Is it a bird? Is it a Pacific islander? Tokyoites tackle the big existential question: What do you want to be in your next life

Longform

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