Posts Tagged ‘religion’

Exploring silence and the past at a Greek monastery

Need a break from the relentless drumbeat of war stories filling the news these days?  There aren’t many places where one can totally disconnect from the world, but Mt. Athos is one of them.  This isolated Eastern Orthodox monastic community in Greece has no television, radio or newspapers.  It is also in an autonomous region of [...]

August 9, 2006 why we travel 0 Comments

Yoga for soldiers in India

Yoga is an ancient tradition with origins in India.  Even so, the newest advocates of the practice are a bit surprising.  According to this story, the Indian military is now utilizing yoga as a means of reducing stress among troops in hazardous deployments. Embraced by fashionable Westerners as a way to exercise and get in [...]

August 8, 2006 religion 0 Comments

Sunnis and Shiites – differences within Islam

Any attempt to decipher the labyrinth of interests and alliances in the Middle East can be exhausting.  There are interests that revolve around oil, interests that center on relations with the United States or Israel, and interests that are linked to religious differences.  One of the most confusing battles might be the one between Sunni and Shiite Islam.  Al Qaeda [...]

August 4, 2006 religion 1 Comment

Mysticism and politics in Indonesia

When I was in Bali a few years ago, I had an opportunity to see firsthand the role that spirituality plays in the everyday life of Indonesians.  For many people, this spirituality goes beyond mere organized religion and extends to a strong belief in the powers of the non-physical world. Now those beliefs have become a political issue, [...]

July 24, 2006 politics/law, religion 0 Comments

Muslim sportswear

The design of most modern sportswear puts many Muslim women athletes in a curious bind: adhere to their faith and have their motions hampered or compromise their beliefs in the name of athletic performance? This is obviously a conundrum for Muslim female athletes.  However, as National Geographic recently reported, a few companies have broken new ground by developing sportswear that covers the body, [...]

May 8, 2006 sports cultures 0 Comments
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