What Did ISIS Have to Do With Nice?
“He was more into women than religion,” remarked one of the neighbors of Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel,…
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Orlando Massacre and ISIS: The Illusion of Power
Omar Mateen’s vicious assault on a Saturday night crowd in an Orlando gay bar either had…
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Why ISIS War Would Make Paris Attacks a Success
Update: According to CNN, “the French air force carried out bombing missions on ISIS targets…
Read MoreWhy I Boycotted a Conference at Brigham Young University
A university is a public institution. It is not a Sunday school.
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“What Kind of Islam Is That?”: Talking With Refugees From ISIS
“They believe in some strange religion, not Islam,” a Muslim refugee from the Iraq city…
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Chatting with Myanmar’s Buddhist “Terrorist”
“Do I look like a terrorist?” the orange-robed monk asked me, confident that I would…
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Religion Was Not the Reason for the Paris Attacks
Can religious ideology really be blamed for the massacre at Charlie Hebdo? Responding to the New Yorker’s George Packer and others.
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Is ISIS Islamic? Is it a State?
In his September 10th address, President Obama asserted that the Islamic State is neither Islamic nor…
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How Robert Bellah (1927-2013) Changed the Study of Religion
Over fifty years ago Bellah rocked the field of religious studies with a pioneering study on Japanese religion. When he died suddenly this past week he was working on a book that was set to land him as a pioneer yet again.
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Don’t Blame Religion for Boston Bombings
As soon as it became clear that the older of the two suspects in the Boston bombing had become a more fervent Muslim in recent years, commentators began to point to religion as the culprit. But is it?
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