Jewish and Muslim experience

Here are a couple of articles about religious life in Israel and America. The first is about a growing controversy over payments for lifetime study for ultra-Orthodox Jewish men and the next two look at the Muslim experience in America.
Even an ultra-Orthodox rabbi is now saying some of these men should be working for a living rather than being full-time Torah students for their entire adult lives. article

This article talks about Muslim women in America and their growing influence.

A Muslim journalist and a Muslim professor discuss what their fellow American Muslims can learn from the American Jewish experience. video link

iPiety

An editor at Tricycle, a great magazine about postmodern/Western Buddhism filed a blog post this week in which he mused about some of the iPhone/Pod/Pad applications with a Buddhist twist. This was an update for a post from last year about meditation application.
Yes, there are similar tools for Christian geeks looking to i-ify their prayer lives. Some can be found at iTunes. This specific link is for the Taize podcast page. I also found a site called "Catholicicast," which has a range of Catholic-oriented podcasts, MP3s, and related material. Here is a link to a "professionally recorded" Catholic rosary MP3. And here is Rosaryarmy.com, which as the name implies has MP3s of the Catholic rosary (free, unlike the previously mentioned site), along with related Catholic contemplative piety recordings such as the Stations of the Cross.
I looked for an Episcopal rosary MP3 but do not see one. If someone knows of one, please let me know.
We are supposed to "pray without ceasing" and avoid clinging to material things. Sometimes, though, a material thing such as a physical rosary, a virtual one on a phone, or a meditation app on an iPad can help us spiritually.

Islam meets fashion

Here is a link to an article and short video about Muslim women blending modesty and fashion. The idea is to help Muslim women fit in and feel comfortable in the Western world while maintaining an Islamic level of modesty.

Introduction

Hello. I am a religion teacher and scholar. I am starting this blog to share thoughts and links about world religions, material culture, and spirituality.