Joining Jason Solomons in the studio are award-winning photographer Judah Passow and writer Keith Kahn-Harris.To engage or to exclude: we’ll discuss the growing row dividing Britain’s Jews over how best to relate to British Muslims and ask whether an i…
Tag: World news
Manchester’s antisemitic attacks: no simple answers but one simple fact | Rodge Glass
Trying to explain geographical or year-on-year quirks distracts us from the key point: antisemitism’s very presence in BritainIn Autumn 2010 I was working in Tunisia, and one day I got talking to the owner of a vegetable stall who noticed my accent. He…
Not card-carrying Catholic? Tell us what would go on your card instead | Open thread
A Muslim, a humanist and an Anglican gave us their equivalent of the card printed up for Catholics. Over to youThe Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales has printed up a million wallet-sized cards for people who want to be “card-carrying Ca…
Alain de Botton’s atheist temple is a nice idea, but a defunct one | John Gray
De Botton’s atheist temple call does not need to be realised – our existing places of worship can be appreciated by allAlain de Botton has reinvigorated the conversation on religion. His new book moves away from the tedious debates of recent yea…
Egyptian comic Adel Imam jailed for insulting Islam
Actor sentenced to three months in case brought by lawyer with ties to Islamist groups gaining power in post-Mubarak EgyptOne of the Arab world’s most famous comic actors Adel Imam has received a three-month jail sentence for insulting Islam in films a…
Anglican Mainstream and the enemies of Christianity | Andrew Brown
The anti-gay group deserves the censure it has received – unlike a small Evangelical Christian group in BathThe danger with pretending to be persecuted, misunderstood and all alone is that you might wake up and find that it is true. Something like th…
Religion’s dysfunctional ‘families’ need therapists, not wreckers | Julian Baggini
Rather than try to root out a false belief, atheist critics should examine the role and influence of each element of a religionA couple of weeks ago, I came to the conclusion that “religion is an important issue, not the existence of God”. I said that …
More antisemitic crimes recorded in Manchester than London last year
Northern city reports 20% more incidents than the capital, despite having a Jewish population a fraction of the sizeMore antisemitic incidents were recorded in Manchester than in London last year, despite the capital having a Jewish community almost se…
Knowing the Other through prayer | Brian Conway
We are impoverished when we discount the evidence of our own experience merely because it is not ‘scientific’Does the experience of prayer provide evidence of the existence of God? The persistence of religious faith, of which prayer is the oxygen, sugg…
Face to faith: In a modern, tolerant society like ours there is no place for a divisive tribalism that causes the deaths of Egyptian football fans
In a liberal and tolerant society like ours there is no place for the divisive tribalism of the football terracesPeople talk about sport as a religion. But what would it be like to talk about sport the way that the enemies of religion talk about faith?…