Who are Yaqeen Institute? (MEMBER OF YI)The Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research is an independent American research institute and think tank founded in 2016, mainly interested in the advanced study of modernity, Islam and Muslim societies. It works to aggregate complex Islamic topics for audiences outside of the field of Islamic academia. Yaqeen Institute was founded by American Islamic scholar Omar Suleiman and is based in Irving, Texas. It has published works have covered a variety of topics at the intersection of Islam, including perennialism, international politics, parenting, and historical preservation of Islamic texts. It works to "pioneer Islamic research in cutting-edge, creative formats."
Who is Jonathan Brown? (MEMBER OF YI)Jonathan Andrew Cleveland Brown (born 1977) is an American scholar of Islamic studies. Since 2012, he has been associate professor at Georgetown University's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. He holds the Alwaleed bin Talal Chair of Islamic Civilization at Georgetown University. Brown has also published articles in the fields of Hadith, Islamic law, Salafism, Sufism, and Arabic language.
Who is Omar Suleiman? (MEMBER OF YI)Omar Suleiman (born 1986) is an American Muslim scholar, civil rights activist and speaker. He is the Founder and President of the Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research professor of Islamic Studies at Southern Methodist University. Suleiman is also the Resident Scholar of the Valley Ranch Islamic Center and the Co-Chair of Faith Forward Dallas at Thanks-Giving Square.
Who is Robert Price?Robert McNair Price (born July 7, 1954) is an American theologian and writer, known for arguing against the existence of a historical Jesus (the Christ myth theory). He taught philosophy and religion at the Johnnie Colemon Theological Seminary. He is a professor of biblical criticism at the Center for Inquiry Institute, and the author of a number of books on theology and the historicity of Jesus. Price is a fellow of the Jesus Seminar, a group of 150 writers and scholars who study the historicity of Jesus, the organizer of a Web community for those interested in the history of Christianity, and sits on the advisory board of the Secular Student Alliance. He is a religious skeptic, especially of orthodox Christian beliefs, occasionally describing himself as a Christian atheist.
What is Pagan?Paganism is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians. It was applied on populations of the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, either because they were increasingly rural and provincial relative to the Christian population or because they were not milites Christi (soldiers of Christ). Alternate terms in Christian texts for the same group were hellene, gentile, and heathen. Pagan and paganism were pejorative terms for the same polytheistic group, implying its inferiority. Paganism has broadly connoted the "religion of the peasantry", and for much of its history was a derogatory term. Both during and after the Middle Ages, pagan was a pejorative term that was applied to any non-Abrahamic or unfamiliar religion, and the term presumed a belief in false god(s).
Who is GOD?In monotheism and henotheism, God is conceived as the Supreme Being and principal object of faith. The concept of God as described by theologians commonly includes the attributes of omniscience (infinite knowledge), omnipotence (unlimited power), omnipresence (present everywhere), omnibenevolence (perfect goodness), divine simplicity, and eternal and necessary existence.
In theism, God is the creator and sustainer of the universe
In deism, God is the creator, but not the sustainer, of the universe
Monotheism is the belief in the existence of one God or in the oneness of God
In pantheism, God is the universe itself
In atheism, God is purported not to exist, while deemed unknown or unknowable within the context of agnosticism.
What is Sin?In Abrahamic contexts, sin is the act of violating God's will. Sin can also be viewed as anything that violates the ideal relationship between an individual and God; or as any diversion from the ideal order for human living. To sin has been defined as "to miss the mark".
Sins fall in a spectrum from minor errors to deadly misdeeds. Catholicism regards the least corrupt sins as venial sins which are part of human living and carry immediate consequences on earth, and, if unrepented for, more painful purgation, assuming the person is destined to heaven, as it is written in the formation letter "Purgatory", "most of the early Fathers of the Church speak of a cleansing fire, though we cannot tell whether this means actual or spiritual fire."
Conversely, sins of great evil are mortal sins which bring the consequence of hell if they are not addressed either through an act of perfect contrition or going to confession about them.