Probing the Minds of One Billion Muslims
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Date: 24 July 2008
Discovering 'Who Speaks For Islam'
After 9/11, Washington policy makers seemed utterly in the dark about Muslims' reactions to the attacks. Did they support terrorism? Did they truly hate America? And indeed, what were their fears, values and hopes in general? Dalia Mogahed, of the Gallup poll, decided to find out, leading the most comprehensive survey of Muslims worldwide ever conducted.
Dalia Mogahed, Senior Analyst and Executive Director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, co-author of Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think
Commentary: Message From a Heretic
Our commentator admits she isn’t the strictest Muslim. She’ll eat the occasional pork chop, fill up her wine glass, and pray...when she remembers to. Then again, before she converted to Islam, back in the late 1980s, she wasn’t the strictest Catholic, either.
The Vatican Ban on Birth Control, 40 Years Later
On July 25, 1968, the Vatican reaffirmed its stance on birth control with a papal letter called Humanae Vitae – "Of Human Life." Yet 75 percent of American Catholics believe they can use the Pill, the Patch, and any other form of contraception while still being faithful. Father Charles Curran explains why, 40 years later, the ban on birth control remains as unpopular as ever.
Fr. Father Charles Curran, a Catholic priest and a professor of moral theology at Southern Methodist University
The Secret, Inner Life of Dorothy Day
Dorothy Day believed that peacemaking begins with our response to the person next to us—especially the homeless, the hungry, the forsaken and the unwanted. Robert Ellsberg, editor of her newly-released diaries, offers a rare window into the mind of this beloved Catholic icon.
Robert Ellsberg, editor of The Duty of Delight: The Diaries of Dorothy Day
This Week's Interfaith Calendar
Lailat al Miraj (Muslim)
On July 31st, Muslims celebrate Lailat al Miraj, a festival remembering the one-night journey of the Prophet Mohommhed from Mecca to Jerusalem and onward to the heavens to meet Allah and the earlier prophets. Once in heaven, the story goes, Allah tells Mohommed to command his people to pray fifty times a day. The earlier prophet Moses knows from firsthand experience that the people on earth won’t obey such a strict decree, and urges Mohemmed to ask Allah to go easier on humans. Allah settles on five prayers a day. To this day, it is a Muslim duty to pray five times a day.
