The World's Religions: A Contemporary Reader
"This volume brings together a set of readable and interesting essays on the impact of religion in the contemporary world. Rather than organizing these around religious traditions, the editor presents them as discussions of timely, lively-topics such as human rights, environmental and gender issues, and the troubling revival of religion in political violence, terrorism, and war, ending with essays on the possibilities of a global spirituality for the twenty-first century." --Mark Juergensmeyer, Author of Global Rebellion: Religious Challenges to the Secular State"The conspiracy theory of the 9/11 commission that blames crazed Muslim fundamentalists for the attacks of September 11, 2001, on the United States has been used to promote an endless war driven by fear of terrorists, Muslims, foreigners, and people serious about their religious faith. Whether that framing of 9/11 is accurate or not (and I don t believe it is), the varied articles in Sharma's reader provide more careful and helpful investigations of how religions may contribute to or interfere with our efforts to act well in the current world situation. This collection will be valuable for any course in world or comparative religion, as well as for political science and peace studies." --David Whitten Smith, Professor of Theology Emeritus and Founding Director Emeritus of Justice and Peace Studies"The conspiracy theory of the 9/11 commission that blames crazed Muslim fundamentalists for the attacks of September 11, 2001, on the United States has been used to promote an endless war driven by fear of terrorists, Muslims, foreigners, and people serious about their religious faith. Whether that framing of 9/11 is accurate or not (and I don t believe it is), the varied articles in Sharma's reader provide more careful and helpful investigations of how religions may contribute to or interfere with our efforts to act well in the current world situation. This collection will be valuable for any course in world or comparative religion, as well as for political science and peace studies." --David Whitten Smith, Professor of Theology Emeritus and Founding Director Emeritus of Justice and Peace Studies"The conspiracy theory of the 9/11 commission that blames crazed Muslim fundamentalists for the attacks of September 11, 2001, on the United States has been used to promote an endless war driven by fear of terrorists, Muslims, foreigners, and people serious about their religious faith. Whether that framing of 9/11 is accurate or not (and I don t believe it is), the varied articles in Sharma's reader provide more careful and helpful investigations of how religions may contribute to or interfere with our efforts to act well in the current world situation. This collection will be valuable for any course in world or comparative religion, as well as for political science and peace studies." --David Whitten Smith, Professor of Theology Emeritus and Founding Director Emeritus of Justice and Peace Studies