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The Myth of “King David” Petraeus and Iraq

By Ira Chernus

…time figuring out what the empirical reality is. A few stellar analysts do manage to draw a plausible picture by assembling disparate pieces drawn from dozens of sources, but they must devote day and night to doing it. They too are mythic figures, making Herculean efforts. And even they admit that far too many of the pieces are missing to draw a complete picture. The vast majority of Americans are left with the paltry fragments of literal truth pr…

You’re Right, Ross Douthat: Donald Trump Is Kind of Like Islam

By Haroon Moghul

…ot reflective of what the Republican Party really is, then how could he so manage to so convincingly crush the Party, destroy its establishment, make mincemeat of its promising future leaders, and win so many states, and so many votes? Just as Islamophobia didn’t come from nowhere, neither did Trump. There are a lot of things Muslims have to face up to in the world, including what happens in the name of our religion. But Trump is not one of them….

Can Islam Save The Economy?

By Nathan Schneider

…moment for Islamic banking.” Sharia-compliant banks began appearing in the 1970s, but the concept dates to mid-century in South Asia and the Middle East, as Muslims newly independent from European rule sought to create an Islamic identity that would permeate all aspects of life, public and private. The first banks were small partnerships and development initiatives. In 1975, the Islamic Development Bank was founded by 23 Muslim countries (now 56)…

The Pretzel Logic of Religion and Politics

By Joanna Brooks

…y under the law for women during the Equal Rights Amendment struggle of the 1970s and 1980s or for gay couples during recent state-by-state battles over marriage equality; political battles in which LDS people, directed by the Church, have invested heavily. Brown’s argument makes tactical sense in a year when Mormons are anxious to showcase their commonalities with the American majority. But trying to avoid the stickier issues of our own theocrati…

New Patriarch, Same Patriarchy: Despite Glowing Praise For New SBC President, There’s Just One Problem

By Caroline Matas

…tween submission and control and that continue to put the onus on women to manage men’s “insatiable” sex drives. From its hard-line posture toward divorce to its confusing vision of male headship, the SBC’s conservative evangelical theology of gender sends mixed messages that will continue to foster opportunities for abuse and cover-up in the years to come. The positive side of patriarchy While Southern Baptist leaders are open to discussion about…

Religion Comes to its Senses

By Brook Wilensky-Lanford

…cts. I think that’s right, it is outward-focused, so it’s not sort of this spirituality that finds everything within oneself. It’s not against that, it’s just that you need to look outside, and see what you’re sensing, and that’s a good thing. How does the experiential view of religion fare in the academy? My gripe about the academy is that they do talk about these concrete forms of religion, but in very abstract ways. So this book is an experimen…

A New Book Traces the Influence of Racism and Imperialism on White Christian Feminism

By Caroline Matas

…res of feeling” that shaped their budding Christian feminist values. By the 1920s and 1930s, many mainline Protestant churches had subsumed their women-run mission societies into all-gender (and usually male-dominated) organizations. White Protestant women were forced to reevaluate their aims, and many of them chose to turn their attention to domestic Christianization as their new mission front. During a time of heated schisms among fundamentalist…

RDBook: Apocalypse Without God

By Nathan Schneider

…he made his reputation with works on Kierkegaard and Hegel, and during the 1980s he helped to bring the ideas of Jacques Derrida into American theology and religious studies. Starting in the late 90s, though, Taylor ventured far afield with books on architecture, computer networks, economic markets, and even Las Vegas. In 2006, he released a book of photographs of animal skeletons in the desert. Taylor’s most recent book, After God, gathers these…

Seeing the Future: Can Religion Evolve and Survive in a Changing World?

By Peter Savastano

…the cosmos; that there is, in fact, a part of us which is hardwired to be “spiritual,” for lack of a better word. I suspect, too, that it is out of this hardwired capacity for the spiritual that human beings throughout history have created the myriad and diverse religious traditions which are the source of some of the best and worst of human behavior, both individually and collectively. As a result of the globalization process and the information…

Over Objections of Catholic Church, Mexico City Upholds Abortion Law

By Kate Childs Graham

…he United States, only 24% Catholic, the institutional Catholic Church has managed to have a great deal of impact on legislation concerning the same topics. For example, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) was recently reauthorized. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and Catholic Relief Services lobbied hard to retain the “conscience clause” and abstinence-only funding. They were successful in meeting their goals….