In his latest book, William Egginton laments the current debate over religion in America, in which religious fundamentalists have set the tone of political discourse--no one can get elected without advertising a personal relation to God, for example--and prominent atheists treat religious belief as the root of all evil. Neither of these positions, Egginton argues, adequately represents the attitudes of a majority of Americans who, while identifying as Christians, Jews, and Muslims, do not find fault with those who support different faiths and philosophies. In fact, Egginton goes so far as to question whether fundamentalists and atheists truly oppose each other, united as they are in their commitment to a "code of codes." In his view, being a religious fundamentalist does not require adhering to a particular religious creed. Fundamentalists--and stringent atheists--unconsciously believe that the methods we use to understand the world are all versions of an underlying master code. This code of codes represents an ultimate truth, explaining everything. Surprisingly, perhaps the most effective weapon against such thinking is religious moderation, a way of believing that questions the very possibility of a code of codes as the source of all human knowledge. The moderately religious, with their inherent skepticism toward a master code, are best suited to protect science, politics, and other diverse strains of knowledge from fundamentalist attack, and to promote a worldview based on the compatibility between religious faith and scientific method.

From the fall of Constantinople in 1453 until the eighteenth century, many Western European writers viewed the Ottoman Empire with almost obsessive interest. Typically they reacted to it with fear and distrust; and such feelings were reinforced by the deep hostility of Western Christendom towards Islam. Yet there was also much curiosity about the social and political system on which the huge power of the sultans was based. In the sixteenth century, especially, when Ottoman territorial expansion was rapid and Ottoman institutions seemed particularly robust, there was even open admiration. In this path-breaking book Noel Malcolm ranges through these vital centuries of East-West interaction, studying all the ways in which thinkers in the West interpreted the Ottoman Empire as a political phenomenon - and Islam as a political religion. Useful Enemies shows how the concept of 'oriental despotism' began as an attempt to turn the tables on a very positive analysis of Ottoman state power, and how, as it developed, it interacted with Western debates about monarchy and government. Noel Malcolm also shows how a negative portrayal of Islam as a religion devised for political purposes was assimilated by radical writers, who extended the criticism to all religions, including Christianity itself. Examining the works of many famous thinkers (including Machiavelli, Bodin, and Montesquieu) and many less well-known ones, Useful Enemies illuminates the long-term development of Western ideas about the Ottomans, and about Islam. Noel Malcolm shows how these ideas became intertwined with internal Western debates about power, religion, society, and war. Discussions of Islam and the Ottoman Empire were thus bound up with mainstream thinking in the West on a wide range of important topics. These Eastern enemies were not just there to be denounced. They were there to be made use of, in arguments which contributed significantly to the development of Western political thought.

This book is the first to critically analyze Buddhist-Muslim relations in Theravada Buddhist majority states in South and Southeast Asia. Asia is home to the largest population of Buddhists and Muslims. In recent years, this interfaith communal living has incurred conflicts, such as the ethnic-religious conflicts in Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. Experts from around the world collaborate to provide a comprehensive look into religious pluralism and religious violence. The book is divided into two sections. The first section provides historical background to the three countries with the largest Buddhist-Muslim relations. The second section has chapters that focus on specific encounters between Buddhists and Muslims, which includes anti-Buddhist sentiments in Bangladesh, the role of gender in Muslim-Buddhist relations and the rise of anti-Muslim and anti-Rohingya sentiments in Myanmar. By exploring historical fluctuations over time-paying particular attention to how state-formations condition Muslim-Buddhist entanglements-the book shows the processual and relational aspects of religious identity constructions and Buddhist-Muslim interactions in Theravada Buddhist majority states.

On March 22, 2018, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a workshop to examine the collaboration between the faith and health sectors, and to highlight the unique opportunities these collaborations offer to help improve population health outcomes. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop. Table of Contents Front Matter 1 Introduction 2 Collaboration at the Intersection of Faith and Health 3 FaithHealth Collaboration to Advance the Social Determinants of Health 4 FaithHealth Collaboration on Health Policy 5 FaithHealth Collaboration on Public Health Priorities 6 Reflections on the Day Appendix A: References Appendix B: 25/10 Crowdsourcing Participant Activity

The World Religions Anthology: Faith, Worldview, Spirituality provides students with a thoughtful and insightful overview of some of the religions of the world and helps them identify both the differences between them and the underlying themes and values that connect them. The anthology is organized into nine chapters, the first of which gives students a foundational understanding of what constitutes religion and how to approach the study of sacred texts. Additional chapters explore what are often referred to as Eastern religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, and Jainism. Students also learn about the Abrahamic religions, studying in turn Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Each chapter includes an introduction and post-reading questions to provide context and facilitate learning, reflection, and discussion. The World Religions Anthology is an exemplary anthology for foundational courses in world religions and the study of religious texts.

The Crusades continue to exert a fascination in the West as a story of perceived gallantry and battles against impossible odds. Yet what is less often considered is their effect on the Holy Land, and in particular the response of the Muslim world to the invasions of European Crusaders. In this book, W. B. Bartlett, author of four books on the Crusades, looks at these great events from the Muslim point of view. One of the effects was to unite a previously divided Islamic world against a common enemy. In the process, they gave an unstoppable impetus towards the declaring of jihad against the West, a holy war against Christendom. They also helped to shape the careers of some important figures, most notably Saladin, but also other great men like Sultan Baibars and Nur al-Din. The rise of these great leaders is traced in this book, as are the many great battles that were fought by men just as devoted to their cause as the Crusaders were.