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Muslims Wearing Things, Tea Party Chastised on Nazi Talk, and Politicking in Church

By Michael J. Altman

…thered outside and prayed. A school board member in Tennessee said that if students don’t want to hear prayers over the loudspeaker at football games they can “put their fingers in their ears.” The schools have since put a halt to pre-game prayers. Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell says prayer had a direct role in spiking her polling numbers. Can meditation change your brain? The best response to Juan Williams’ fear of Muslims in “garb” is the…

It’s Not Just About Ground Zero

By Mark S. Byrnes

…French fleet threatened Boston. A teacher playing Thomas Prince leads the students in prayer and “call[s] upon God to bring a storm and wipe out the ships,” whereupon their prayers are answered, showing God’s special protection of America. The lesson then connects the site of Prince’s prayer, the Old South Church, to Samuel Adams and thus to the American Revolution. It trumpets the role of the “Black Robe Brigade,” putting ministers at the center…

In the Trenches with the HRC, Working for Transgender Inclusion

By Rev. Erin K. Swenson

…nal offices to introduce inclusive non-discrimination legislation covering students (Student Non Discrimination Act, H.R. 4530/S. 3390), credit (Freedom from Discrimination in Credit Act, H.R. 4376), and housing (Fair & Inclusive Housing Rights Act, H.R. 4820; Housing Non Discrimination Act, H.R. 4828). HRC has also advocated for administrative action in the Obama Administration, successfully pushing for updated nondiscrimination statements to inc…

The Week in Religion, Poetically:

By Michael J. Altman

…package. A new law in North Carolina requires schools and colleges to give students a minimum of two excused absences for religious observances. “ Rep. Rick Glazier, who co-sponsored the bill, says: “It has to be a bona fide holiday; you don’t get to just take the day off because you want to pray at home.” Here’s hoping the bill is more precise than “bona fide holiday.” Also in North Carolina, a court ruled that Davidson College campus police coul…

The Ground Zero-Sum Game

By Reuven Firestone

…ted, that most of us have no idea how it affects us. I’ve asked my college students what they think of when they see a scene from a movie in which they hear the call to prayer and see a minaret or dome. The answer? “Something bad is about to happen.” Islamophobia can remain in latent form until it is triggered by economic, political, or social stress. In the last decades it has been activated by economic and social problems and the increased numbe…

Ramadan: Third Day is the Charm

By Amina Wadud

…e work day started at 7:30 no matter what the season. My first Ramadan, my students sat for their final exams during the first three hump days. I got a migraine just having to proctor, not produce. The only difference — the work day was one hour shorter. In fact, since no one took off an hour for lunch, it was like an exchange. The countries in Southeast Asia also have the added benefit of being near the equator. There are no extreme schedule diff…

How To Engage Politics As A Community?

By Daniel Schultz

…on’t know what would be effective — and I suspect that at least some of my students will be skeptical as well. Partway through the book, though, I had an epiphany. My own practice of citizenship consists, aside from voting every couple years, of reading a lot of stuff so that I can stay informed, then forming opinions about public policy and arguing with people on the internet about it. Like the Guatemalan strategy, this approach is premised on in…

A Primer on Activism from Unitarian Universalists

By Kim Bobo

…the Unitarian Universalists. The UUs were active in two locations. A large number claimed a major downtown intersection, where 23 of them grabbed hold of a giant flag saying Arizona Human Rights, stood in the middle of the street and refused to leave. Those who chose not to get arrested stood on the sidewalks nearby cheering them on. The group sang songs, repeated chants and offered a powerful witness to the city of Phoenix. Those on the sidelines…

Creationism: Don’t Use the “C-Word”

By Lauri Lebo

…“may use supplemental textbooks and other instructional materials to help students understand, analyze, critique, and review scientific theories in an objective manner.” In his column, Chapman disingenuously writes: Tate’s fulminations are not characteristic of the educators and legislators who passed the new Louisiana law, but you can be sure that the Darwinist opponents of the law will try to make them sound representative. The same thing happe…

Was George W. Bush the Last Hippie?

By David R. Williams

…that I want to try to define. And the other is the younger generation, my students, who also sense that something went down in their parents’ youth but have really no idea just what. Though many want to. Hoping to inform readers? Please them? Piss them off? Can I do all three? If not, I will piss them off by undercutting all their comfy narratives. I will force them to accept that even evangelical religious discourse is and has been meaningful. I…