Are most people religious or secular?
In most Western countries with Christian orientation, the question itself is pretty obvious. ‘Belief in God’ for a typical American would usually be accompanied by some common Christian behaviors, and since many of these are optional, it could be translated into simple everyday habits. Nothing special that can be recognized [...]

The Talmud says ‘Kol Be-Isha Erva’. The direct literal translation of our sages in this case reads ‘A woman’s voice is her genitals’. Luckily, the meaning is not the direct translation, but it’s almost. The meaning is ‘a woman’s singing voice induces desire, and therefore is not allowed to be heard by men’.
The origins of [...]

The essence of any country, as I (and not necessarily others) see it, is not the ethnic composition of the population, but rather the country’s “culture”. I – and many others – very much want to preserve the “nature” of the current state of Israel in many cultural ways: Language is just one example, and [...]

There is a countrywide protest in progress now all over Israel. It has been going on for several weeks now, and the main slogan calls for “social justice”.
The protest is generally based on economy issues. The middle class finds it harder than ever to survive these times, let alone acquire a decent place to live. [...]

I often stumble upon the famous argument “Who is a Jew?” (or, rather, “What is a Jew?”). Unlike other related terms, Jewishness is used to express several very different things. In many countries of the world, there is some order in things.
Let’s take Belgium for instance: You can be a Belgian citizen, while from the [...]

June 2011 — Israeli Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Benny Gantz, has issued an order replacing the words of ‘Yizkor’, the famous Israeli military memorial prayer. For many years it has begun with the words “Let the people of Israel remember its sons and daughters”, and from now on it should start with “Let God [...]

“In India, as elsewhere in our darkening world, religion is the poison in the blood. Where religion intervenes, mere innocence is no excuse. Yet we go on skating around this issue, speaking of religion in the fashionable language of ‘respect’.”
– Salman Rushdie
In took the Unites States ten years or more to settle the score with [...]

For Lebanon thou art, and unto Lebanon shalt thou return
“And call ye on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord; and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God” (1 Kings, Chapter 18, Verse 24)
The meaning of ‘Hezbollah’ in Arabic is “God’s party” (’party’ as [...]

“The Messiah brought us here so we can fish kids out of the club.” This is the sad truth, as heard from a Chabad missionary activist in Jerusalem.
The source (in Hebrew) can be found here.
An older cartoon, taken from the book “The Souls’ Hunters” (Sophia and Dan Mahler, 1998) can be found here.

The argument can go both ways, and indeed it does, very often. What’s more, there is lots of criticism heard from religious people, of things associated with secularity. Have you heard that schools of the secular sector introduce more violence? Do you know that secular people as a whole are blamed for maintaining weaker relationships [...]