Religion & Spirituality

Cartoons are a product of culture, but is culture a product of cartoons? The question posed is of concern to a group of Islamic leaders in Australia known as the Australian National Imams Council (ANIC), who are currently helping the campaign to raise funds for television shows which support Islamic values. In their sights is creating an Islamic alternative to the children’s (and just quietly adults’) television show Peppa Pig. Based in Sydney, Australia, the production company One4Kids, is aiming to raise $20,000 to start working on their Islamic Peppa Pig alternative. To be called Barakah Hills, it’s described as an “halal cartoon series” which is set in a “predominantly Muslim town”. Known for their character Zaky and animated cartoons which include the topics of learning Arabic, prayer, the Quran, and Ramadan, One4Kids has stated: “The show’s main objective is to show children what it is like to be a ...

Beginning 8 December 2015 and set to run to 20 November 2016, to mark the Year of Mercy, will be a Jubilee Year as declared by Pope Francis. Within this period the Pope will formally allow priests to forgive abortions. Typically a Jubilee, or Holy Year, occurs every 50 years. It’s observed by both Jews and Christians. With respect to Roman Catholicism, there are two type of Jubilees. An ordinary Jubilee, observed after a set number of years (typically every 25 or 50 years), with the first proclaimed by Pope Boniface VII in the year 1300. There are also extraordinary Jubilees which can be proclaimed by the Pope to mark an extraordinary event. This tradition began in the 16th century, and such extraordinary Jubilees can last from several days to a year in length. It is the latter case, in that it will be the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy as ...

If you live in a part of the world that follows an essentially Christian custom, then there are two days in the year that have special significance.  These being Christmas Day and Good Friday.  If nothing else, from a secular perspective, this has translated into these two days continuing to be maintained as public holidays.  For Good Friday especially, no other day in the calendar is presented as quite so sacrosanct. On this day, many people even if not strictly Christian, will tend to observe the custom of eating fish (or seafood) and avoiding other meats. An explanation offered is usually something suitably vague, to the effect of: “We don’t eat red meat on Good Friday because that would be eating Jesus.” Best to ignore what happens on other days then.  Or churchgoing Sundays with bread and red wine. From this, how many have truly questioned the reason for the Good Friday custom?  The vague adage ...

It guides building design in Hong Kong.  Recently it was used in the design of the Australia 108 skyscraper to be built in Melbourne, Australia. It’s called feng shui.  (If you’ve never heard of it before, enjoy being surprised by the correct phonetics!) An ancient Chinese tradition, often linked with Taoism, it serves as a guide to the orientation of buildings both internally and externally.  To maximise auspiciousness, and the flow of qi.  It is a combination of geomancy and Chinese astronomy, the traditional five elements (wu xing) and the concept of yin-yang. With the Australia 108 to be tallest building in the southern hemisphere, there’s a lot riding on its completion. Even the chosen number, 108 storeys, was to maximise feng shui compliance and appeal.  (The number 8 is considered lucky.) Yet was all of this clever marketing by property developers and architects to attract rich Chinese investors? Some dismiss feng shui as superstition.  ...