Link Roundup: October 2014

• -From Mecca to “Mecca-hatten“: Islam’s holiest city then and now
• -What war on Halloween? Kirk Cameron asks evangelicals to reappropriate the event for themselves in the name of proselytism
• -Ex-Hasidic Jews and becoming un-orthodox: an interview with author Lynn Davidman 

• Archaeologists in western Turkey unearth a stela dating back over two millennia at the Hecatomnus Mausoleum
• “Lights! Camera! Jesus! How Christians are Building their own Hollywood”

• However, some viewers think that the films are backfiring
• Has there been a tonal shift in the Roman Catholic Church on the subject of homosexuality?
• Or are there simply “deep divisions” on the subject?
• University of Toronto’s Prof. Amir Harrak is working on preserving ancient Syriac inscriptions 
• #Muslims4Ferguson: Taking to social media to talk about racial profiling
• Vicariously celebrate the Festival of Lights through these photos of Diwali celebrations around the world
• Photo project on abandoned places of worship
• Earlier this month, Saudi Arabia formulated an Ebola-related contingency plan for the Hajj season