Weird Modern
The Spiritual Is Not Weird
Martin Butler | 3 Quarks Daily | 16th September 2024
A long-standing question, given fresh life here: what is the role of the spiritual in the rational age? “The spiritual is not weird because it is completely familiar. We become acutely aware of this dimension of reality when entranced by a piece of music, moved by a great work of art, overcome with love for someone, engrossed in a work of literature, or witnessing profoundly heroic or altruistic action” (3,500 words)
The Caliphate And The Modern Middle East
Mustafa Akyol | Law & Liberty | 16th September 2024
2024 marks 100 years since the Ottoman Caliphate was abolished. Was it a good decision? Atatürk’s admirers agree. Counter-arguments note that the Caliphate represented a tolerant and modernising Islam. Its vacuum has been filled by “secular autocrats and reactionary Islamists”, trapping the Middle East in a “vicious cycle of conflict”. Case in point: the Caliphate’s “forgotten friendship with Jews” (2,400 words)