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1. Mother Nature and the Heavenly Father: Christianity and the Environment in a Globalized World

Author:
Wouter Hammink
Publication Date:
09-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Macalester International
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
Since its conception, theology has been entwined with ecology. Major or minor, extinct or thriving, all religions give relevance to the meaning of the environment and the relationship of human beings with the Earth. The modern Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all revere the environment and recognize its significance within their respective religious texts. The presence of the Abrahamic religions is visible on every corner of the planet. However, within the status quo, Christianity is the dominant religion at the core of Immanuel Wallerstein's “World-system.” The prominence of Christianity within developed countries, meaning in this case countries that emit the largest percentages of carbon into the atmosphere, raises the question of modern Christianity's relationship with the environment.
Topic:
Climate Change and Islam

2. Queers and Muslims: The Dutch Case

Author:
Gert Hekma
Publication Date:
11-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Macalester International
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
For about a decade, antagonisms have been mounting between Muslim and gay men. In particular, when El Moumni spoke out against homosexuality in 2001, many politicians and gays reacted angrily. White Dutch got the feeling that Muslims did not respect or accept gays, lesbians, and women in general because of their supposedly homophobic and sexist views. That a disproportional part of the anti-gay violence can be attributed to male Moroccan youngsters has become another ground upon which to attack Muslims. Pim Fortuyn, the right- wing leader who was murdered in 2002, exploited the anti-homosexuality stance of a large portion of the Muslim religious leaders and the queer bashing attributed to ethnic minority youth, using it as a stick to beat the Muslims for their backwardness. They should not be able to sufficiently integrate in a Dutch society that is defined, in the eyes of the right wing, by its longstanding support for the emancipation of women, gays, and lesbians. Although the issue of gay-Muslim relations is continuously discussed in Dutch society and politics, the political answers have been unconvincing up until now. Rhetoric has been more important than doing something. In this article, I will first discuss the early history of the gay-Muslim debate, then the subsequent rise of antagonism since the interventions by El Moumni and Fortuyn, and finally the contemporary social and political answers on the issue.
Topic:
Islam
Political Geography:
Algeria, Netherlands, and Tunisia

3. Spinoza, Locke, and the Limits of Dutch Toleration

Author:
Geoffrey A. Gorham
Publication Date:
11-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Macalester International
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
The Netherlands' reputation as a bastion of religious and political toleration has been tested in the last decade by the rise of indigenous anti-immigrant political movements. These movements are fueled not only by simple xenophobia and racism, amplified in the wake of September 11, but also by the seemingly sincere sentiment that the Netherlands, the most densely populated nation in Europe, cannot sustain historical immigration levels: “Holland is full.” But another important component of anti-immigrant rhetoric is conceptual or ideological rather than practical, and trades on the tolerant self-image of the Dutch: toleration does not extend to the intolerant. Muslim immigrants are the usual target of this argument, who are accused of harboring theocratic, patriarchal, homophobic, and anti-Christian or anti-Jewish convictions and designs. Such rhetoric raises important and complex questions about how social and political ideals like toleration, freedom, and equality—as much as idolatry, infidelity, and heresy—are conditioned by the structures of social and economic power in which they historically emerge. That is to say, does the ideal of “toleration” in practice merely reinforce the boundaries of what is “tolerable” within the dominant culture?
Topic:
Islam
Political Geography:
Europe, Netherlands, and Holland