A Request of the Religious and Spiritual

I apologize in advance for y’all seeing this more than once over the next week or so. 

I’m doing a project here at The University of Tennessee for a video class and I’m doing it on religion and prayer. I’m looking for additional audio for the video, so I have a request, especially for those of you with iPhones (I say iPhones because I know the audio quality capable on them). I’m wanting prayers/incantations from as many different religions as possible, especially non-Christians and especially if you speak a language other than American English. I have access to tons of different Christian denominations and American English speakers, so I’m trying to increase the diversity of language.

On a 2nd note, if you are in or around the Knoxville, TN area and are willing to be filmed for the project, it would be more than greatly appreciated. Again, non-Christians will take precedence because I have an abundance of them already.

My email address is ***jclayto4@utk.edu**** If you are comfortable being filmed, feel free to just shoot it to me in an email or if you’re open to being filmed or if you record any audio, shoot me a message with the attachment. I’d appreciate it if you’d include:

Your Name (for credit)
Your Religious Affiliation (if any) 
Any other information you’d like to include such as age or location.

Thank you so much in advance!!!

~Johnathan

A Request of the Religious and Spiritual

I’m doing a project here at The University of Tennessee for a video class and I’m doing it on religion and prayer. I’m looking for additional audio for the video, so I have a request, especially for those of you with iPhones (I say iPhones because I know the audio quality capable on them). I’m wanting prayers/incantations from as many different religions as possible, especially non-Christians and especially if you speak a language other than American English. I have access to tons of different Christian denominations and American English speakers, so I’m trying to increase the diversity of language.

On a 2nd note, if you are in or around the Knoxville, TN area and are willing to be filmed for the project, it would be more than greatly appreciated. Again, non-Christians will take precedence because I have an abundance of them already.

My email address is ***jclayto4@utk.edu**** If you are comfortable bring filmed, feel free to just shoot it to me in an email or if you’re open to being filmed or if you record any audio, shoot me a message with the attachment. I’d appreciate it if you’d include:

Your Name (for credit)
Your Religious Affiliation (if any)
Any other information you’d like to include such as age or location.

Thank you so much in advance!!!

~Johnathan

cyanideconfetti:

10 Things Everyone Should Know About the Middle East

semasahin:

Most people–especially in the West–know very little about the Middle East and the people that live there. This lack of knowledge hurts our ability to understand, and engage in intelligent discussion about, current events.

For example, frighteningly few know the difference between Sunni and Shia Muslims, and most think the words “Arab” and “Muslim” are pretty much interchangeable. They aren’t. So here’s a very brief primer aimed at raising the level of knowledge about the region to an absolute minimum.

Basics

1. Arabs are part of an ethnic group, not a religion. Arabs were around long before Islam, and there have been (and still are) Arab Christians and Arab Jews. In general, you’re an Arab if you 1) are of Arab descent (blood), or 2) speak the main Arab language (Arabic).

2. Not all Arabs are Muslim. There are significant populations of Arab Christians throughout the world, including in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Northern Africa and Palestine/Israel.

3. Islam is a religion. A Muslim (roughly pronounced MOOSE-lihm) is someone who follows the religion. So you wouldn’t say someone follows Muslim or is an Islam, just as you wouldn’t say someone follows Christian or is a Christianity.

4. Shia Muslims are similar to Roman Catholics in Christianity. They have a strong clerical presence via Imams and promote the idea of going through them to practice the religion correctly. Sunni Muslims are more like Protestant Christians. They don’t really focus on Imams and believe in maintaining a more direct line to God than the Shia.

5. People from Iran are also known as Persians, and they are not Arabs.

6. Arabs are Semites. We’ve all heard the term anti-Semitism being used — often to describe Arabs. While antisemitism does specifically indicate hatred for Jews, the word “Semite” comes from the Bible and referred originally to anyone who spoke one of the Semitic Languages.

7. According to the Bible, Jews and Arabs are related [Genesis 25]. Jews descended from Abraham‘s son Isaac, and Arabs descended from Abraham’s son Ishmael. So not only are both groups Semitic, but they’re also family.

8. Sunni Muslims make up most of the Muslim world (roughly 90%).¹

9. The country with the world’s largest Muslim population isIndonesia. ²

10. The rift between the Shia and Sunni started right after Muhammad’s death and originally reduced to a power struggle regarding who was going to become the authoritative group for continuing the faith.
    
    The Shia believed Muhammad’s second cousin Ali should have taken over (the family/cleric model). The Sunni believed that the best person for the job should be chosen by the followers (the merit model) and that’s how the first Caliph, Abu Bakr, was appointed.
    
    Although the conflict began as a political struggle it now mostly considered a religious and class conflict, with political conflict emanating from those rifts.