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Taqwacore Roundtable: On Punks, the Media, and the Meaning of “Muslim”

By Shahjehan Khan

…g foot in Bradford lest we become the biggest pariahs since Salman fucking Rushdie. SK: See BU. HR: Isn’t every good qalandar a pariah? BU: True. Q: Much is being made of TQ, but heavy metal, if not punk, have been a part of the musical politics of the Arab World for some time (for example, see here). What is different about TQ that it is generating such interest? Is it their origin is in the “West?” Is it South Asian? BU: It’s the West. The media…

Southern Baptists Embrace Minorities, but Not Gays

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…ming Baptists, Believe OutLoud, Faith in America, GetEQUAL, Soulforce and Truth Wins Out reads in part: “Given the arc of justice and the trajectory of history, there is no doubt the SBC will offer a full-fledged apology to the LGBT community in the future,” reads a letter that petition signers will send to SBC’s leadership. “We ask the Southern Baptist Convention to prayerfully consider whether the motive behind the mistreatment and harm toward L…

Gen X, Gadgets, and God

By Elizabeth Drescher

…f all willing participants in the shaping and reshaping of knowledge and “truth,” including religious truth and its enactment. Blessing the tools of the Digital Reformation, or playing with its toys, without acknowledging the spiritual authority of believers as they use them in the world and bring their experience and insight into religious institutions misunderstands the radically participatory, dialogical, and collaborative nature of a contempor…

Jesus, Gentrification, and the Hypocrisy of “Diversity”: An Interview with D.L. Mayfield

By Kaya Oakes

…to pursue both cross-cultural and interfaith relationships. But the real truth of it is that the best way to “reach” Muslims (to crib my old evangelical language) is to clean up our own house. Conservative Christianity (that is directly linked with conservative politics) has been so incredibly damaging to the work of peace and justice. I want followers of Christ to call out the fear and hatred of immigrants and refugees being promoted by Christia…

What’s Wrong with Taming the Tongue? ‘Gossip’ and the Limits of Evangelical Abuse Prevention Efforts

By Chrissy Stroop

…re worldview, conveniently blocking abuse from their vision. To be sure, spreading unsubstantiated rumors, which is a pretty standard definition of gossip, can be harmful, and to be clear, no one is making a blanket endorsement of that activity. At the same time, it’s undoubtedly the case that most evangelical concern about “gossip” only functions to protect the powerful, and that “gossip” itself is often used by the vulnerable to protect one anot…

Is Change Possible? Shifting the Ex-Gay Question

By Lynne Gerber

…artners to dinner, Christmas, Thanksgiving for many years, watched their struggles, seen the results, and are not as receptive to the idea of change that structured the movement’s salad days. Exodus’ shifts can also be attributed to the influence of its critics. To its credit, and unlike other ex-gay groups, Exodus does stay in engaged dialogue with gay and lesbian Christians and activists and has been shaped by that conversation. An example is th…

Politics Threaten Utah Compact on Immigration

By Joanna Brooks

…federal immigration reform. Utah’s Attorney General Mark Shurtleff seemed ready for the coming challenge, bristling at criticism of the Utah laws from Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas). “For him to wag his finger at us is just infuriating,” said Shurtleff. “Put up or shut up, congressman.” The LDS-backed Utah stance on immigration represents the adjustment of Mormon politics to the Church’s 21st-century global reality. Part of th…

Utah Rejects Arizona-Style Anti-Immigrant Politics

By Joanna Brooks

…ch distance itself from the hard-line tactics instituted by SB 1070 author Russell Pearce (R), who is LDS. Last summer, Latino Mormons in Arizona publicly raised their voices to decry SB 1070 as a contradiction to core tenets of the faith, including the Mormon emphasis on the sanctity of the family. Some sources credit the large number of LDS men and women who have served missions in Latin America with creating greater empathy among Utah Mormons t…

Moses on the Mayflower: Was the Prophet a Founding Father?

By Linell Cady

…om lens that leaves out a fuller picture of the intersections of religion, politics, and the American story. He lifts up Moses and the Exodus thread as if that can be isolated and insulated from other Enlightenment and humanist traditions through which it is appropriated, fused, and transformed in the American context. His is a highly selective historical portrait, and while it does expose the limitations of overly secularist accounts, it suffers…

The “Religion” Episode: Aziz Ansari and the Cultural Politics of Muslim Self-Representation

By Timothy Gutmann

…of negotiated indeterminacy and multiple belongings that extends beyond a reading of religion as culture and choice. The point here is not to suggest that Ansari should have portrayed different experiences of religion than his own but to rethink how the liberal imagination constrains and politicizes Muslim visibility and recognition. Ansari is clearly aware of some of those constraints, and Master of None does address, in part, contemporary Islam…