August 2004
Issue No. 370
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In the name of GOD
Vanessa Baird examines the special relationship between religion and violence.
Let's get literal
A faithful, though perplexed, listener asks for holy guidance from radio show host Dr Laura Schlesinger. Illustrated, with piety, by Brick.
Who needs religion?
David Boulton asks the big question.
Justice vs Vatican
Brazil’s rebellious priests are still putting the poor first. Jan Rocha reports.
Why?
Psychoanalyst Robert M Young puts fanaticism on the couch.
On the street
Why young Western Muslims are going abroad to fight for Islam by Shaista Aziz.
Saving the secular
Sadanand Menon assesses the health of India’s secular tradition after the Hindu fundamentalists’ election defeat.
Suffer little children
Religions often target the young. Marilyn Mason counts the human cost.
God the unauthorized biography
Mixing it
Novelists Ben Okri and Amy Tan talk to Bel Mooney about their eclectic spirituality.
News, views, and & voices
Letter from Lebanon
When a Peruvian woman's children were kidnapped by their Lebanese father, Reem Haddad was asked to intervene.
Southern Exposure
A floating hotel for the poor, photographed by Bablu Chowdhury from Bangladesh.
View from the South
Eduardo Galeano on the white curse that has afflicted the terrible history of Haiti.
Currents
Rose Revolution ripple effect
Ripples of resistance in Armenia
Oilisms
inside the oil industry
Sri Lanka's press merry-go-round
press manipulation in Sri Lanka
Paradise lost in the Maldives
repression cheek by jowl with tourism in the Maldives
Worldbeaters
Oiling the wheels of corporate domination – International Chamber of Commerce head Maria Livanos Cattaui.
Polyp's Big Bad World – August 2004
The world as a game of (American) football.
Mixed Media
Film
The Story of the Weeping Camel directed by Byambasuren Davaa and Luigi Falorni
Film
My Architect directed by Nathaniel Kahn
Music
List of Lights and Buoys by Susanna and the Magical Orchestra
Music
Attac! Another World is Possible by Various
Book
Seeds of Deception by Jeffrey M Smith
Book
The Battle of Venezuela by Michael McCaughan
Book
Somalia: The Untold Story edited by Judith Gardner and Judy El Bushra
Making Waves
Few pacifists can put themselves in danger as much as David Hartsough, co-founder of the Nonviolent Peaceforce.
Essay
Jeremy Seabrook draws an unholy line from the obscene imagery of Abu Ghraib to the growing repression in Bangladesh.
Country Profile
Iran
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from
THIS MONTH'S EDITOR
From the outset, we’re in trouble. Why that word at all? Why not Yahweh or Allah? Or, for that matter, Rama, Shiva and fellow deities of the Hindu pantheon? Or a non-god like the Buddha?
That’s even before we get to the thorny issue of gender. Surely feminist theology has been around long enough for us not to be automatically referring to chief deities as ‘he’?
These are all valid points. But during the course of putting together this magazine I could not help noticing that most people use the ‘name of God’ not in a religious context at all. It is an extraordinarily expressive linguistic tool – or expletive if you prefer.
So many of our expressions have religious derivations (including the infamous British ‘bloody’), and so deeply ingrained are they, that even when we try to take the God-element out of them the effect can be quite contrary. I’m thinking about how ‘God’ as in ‘for God’s sake’ has, in some vocabularies, been substituted with another Anglo-Saxon monosyllable. The sacrilege somehow makes the expression more self-consciously religious. You could say that’s quite appropriate, given the Almighty’s reputation for ubiquity.
With as many views on, and feelings about, the subject of gods and religion as there are people on the planet, a magazine called ‘In the name of God’ is bound to be heading for controversy. NI readers are not usually backward in coming forward with their views. We look forward to hearing from you.
Vanessa Baird for the New Internationalist Co-operative vanessab@newint.org
Voices from the margins:
Multimedia: video, podcasts, and more.
- Poetry Slam in Zimbabwe
- The House of Hunger poetry slam held in Zimbabwe in 2006, and organised by the Pamberi Trust, showcased young artists performing inspirational work on issues from corporate power to child soldiers. The video features four of the poets.
Published by Pambazuka News.
- Iranian women speak out
- 3 March 2007, London. Women's rights activists marched through the English capital last week to celebrate International Women's Day with a protest against the misogyny of the Islamic regime in Iran and the threat of invasion by the US. Hear the voices of Iranian feminists Azar and Leila Parnian and the sounds of the demonstration as it passed through the heart of the city. Click here to learn more about the campaign.
Produced by Heidi Bachram.
- Raised Voices audio:
- Benny from West Papua on Corporate Power
- Vinayan from India on agriculture
New Internationalist (NI) workers' co-operative exists to report on issues of world poverty and inequality; to focus attention on the unjust relationship between the powerful and the powerless worldwide; to debate and campaign for the radical changes necessary to meet the basic needs of all; and to bring to life the people, the ideas and the action in the fight for global justice.
Except where otherwise noted, images on this site are copyright of the photographer/illustrator or representative agency.Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 License.
