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"In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were tempted to take a bite out of an apple that promised them the 'knowledge of good and evil.' Today, a shiny apple with a bite out of it is the symbol of Apple Computers. The age of the Internet has speeded up human knowledge, and it also provides even more temptation to know more than may be good for us. Americans have been right at the forefront of the digital revolution, and we have felt its unsettling effects in both our religions and our politics. Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite argues that we long to return to the innocence of the Garden of Eden and not be faced with countless digital choices. But returning to the innocence of Eden is dangerous in this modern age and, instead, we can become wiser about the wired world"--

Heritage is a cultural identity to be refl ected in the purview of individual, unique and multiple layers of pluralism, especially with respect to religion, at least in Oriental cultures that maintained their traditions and continuity together with examples of contestation, destruction and also sometimes harmonious co-existence. In the span of time the layering of various cultures put their marks, which in the sequence of time turn to be the issue of confl icts due to claims and controls by the diff erent groups. As a consequence there resulted issues of representation, belongingness, control and power, dissonance and contestation. Despite all theoretic constructs and human concerns for peace and harmony the issue of dissonance dominates, especially withreference to ethnicities and religion. The religious built environments are the pitiful suff erers in such happenings of turmoil recorded every parts of the world. In South Asia the Muslim invasion in medieval period (15th to 18th centuries) had been the major force and process for destruction and superimposing Islamic structure, like in case of major sacred cities of Hindus in north India. In the areas of old culture one fi nds heritagescapes that are subject to 'ill construction and jumbled space' where 'several sites appear incompatibly'. The confl icts between secularist democracy and democratic religiosity are the common phenomena in South Asian region. So on, confl icts between archaeological sites or monuments and lived cultural heritage. It may be accepted rationally that if the two communities, Hindus and Muslims, are ready not to heap defeat and humiliation with an aim to re-establish the history of the medieval times, the issues can be resolved amicably. This essay reviews the emerging literature dealing with the enduring role and context of religion in the issue of contesting heritage (mostly cultural). Emphasis is further laid on the contextual constructs of analysis, examples from diff erent parts of Southern Asia, and fi nally role of religion in policies, mitigation and management of contesting heritage.

The assertion that editorial cartoons do not just mirror politics, but are also themselves a part of the political struggle by the state, media, & social movements to influence the interpretive processes by which individuals negotiate the meanings of the bands is investigated in an analysis of the editorial cartoons in Turkish daily newspapers. Focusing on secularism & Islamism as a political project that seeks to transform & reinstitute the sociopolitical border on the basis of constituted norms is contextualized in a historical narrative that begins with the foundation of the Turkish Republic in 1923. The defense of secularism by a pro-state secularist & a mainstream secular Turkish daily newspaper consider it to be an indispensable element of the sociopolitical structure, as well as the exclusion of religion from public life & national identity. The editorial cartoons in these newspapers usually depict the Other with restricted symbols to show an incapability of responding to the needs of society. Comparative analysis of the use of cartooning in a newspaper owned by a moderate religious group identifies a kaleidoscopic, multiple meaning perspective accorded to the reader. The high level of sophistication has been a source of complaints, but a departure from the overt message displayed in the secular media is maintained. The competing frames of the reproduction of the Turkish political context through Turkish editorial cartoons is concluded to be best viewed as modernist projects in which both sides enter into a struggle to apply their projects to the state & society, as well as to make their identities acceptable for a broader community. References. J. Harwell