Christian Epistle on Islamophobia
“I want to offer an apology for this speaker that lied and confused people. I offer this as a Christian…”
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Turkish ‘Lord of the Rings’ Has God, Guts, Girls, and Glory
Fetih: 1453 may just show us what we have in common.
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The Risks of Remaining Neutral on Egypt
As Egyptian protests rock the casbah, the U.S. responds with cautious words and a noncommittal position. What are the risks if the Egyptian people don’t feel that America is supportive of their struggle?
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Dreaming Beyond the Madman: Reflections on the Revolution in Libya
The tragedy of a dictatorship is that they so eviscerate their countries that, even after they are gone, it’s hard for people to pick up the pieces and move forward. But I am hopeful in seeing the banner of the pre-Qaddafi monarchy rooted in the Sufi orders that led the resistance to colonialism.
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6 Reservations About U.S. Intervention in Libya
I, like many others, have found myself unable to turn away from the Arab revolutions. As a strong believer in the egalitarian nature of the Muslim religion, and a fervent critic of common assumptions that are held about Arabs and Muslims, these revelations were a welcome confirmation of my…
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The Jersey Shores of Tripoli: MTV and Arab Revolution
Along comes Jersey Shore with its cast of self-described Italians. These are not the magical white folks of world-conquering, democracy-building myth-but they’re still “white”. They behave like the Museum assumes only people of my color behaved. The sum total of their television life is a kind of late-capitalist tragic anthropology: doing laundry to go to parties, in order to have sex. For me, it’s been tremendously liberating to know that people of my color and faith are not the only people who are embarrassing to watch on television.
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Breivik Sought to Create ‘Mirror Universe’ of EU
Breivik’s racism is different from others that came before. It’s belonging to a generic European Christianity that makes you good, and your opposition to Islam that makes you smart.
Read MoreAfghanistan Killer: Touched or Terrorist?
The media discussion of the American soldier responsible reveals a journalistic double standard.
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Jesus, Carpet Bomb My Heart: An Undercover Muslim in Detroit
When I heard the goals for this year’s massive prayer rally—healing America in a time of crisis, accomplishing racial reconciliation, repairing Detroit, and (here’s the part where I come in) bringing Jesus to Muslim hearts—I figured a Muslim in the crowd could be a nice twist. My plan was to report from the inside, to talk to the attendees as one among devoted thousands. I’d try to understand how such Christians understand Islam, for Lou Engle’s world is alien from my New England roots and New York life. I’d attended churches before, but nothing like this.
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The Islamists vs. The Markets: Egypt’s Election Analyzed
Left or Right, the market always seems to win. This is actually where I would locate the greater threat to Arab democracy, and the temptation to slide into some form of authoritarianism, older or newer. As the people of the region confront the reality that they have little say over economic policy, and will be forced to accede to the contingencies of global capitalism, they may well become immensely frustrated by the scale of change and demand something different. Considering how volatile European and American politics have become, and how frequently we now see street protests and even supposedly stable and demure countries, how much more so these new democracies?
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