Religion Dispatches
…e, or politically correct. And Muslims themselves have to work harder at opening up the boundaries of the category ‘Muslim’ away from its ghettoized religious connotation and its basic premise that if ‘good’ Muslims can speak, things will be better. “Free cultures get what they celebrate,” said the inventor Dean Kamen. Let our inventiveness not be tied up in a narrowly scripted game of reactive politics. Let us reward those of us who are not afrai…
Read More
…ails the Bush family’s personal, political and business connections to the Saudi royal family; and to apparent international slush funds and money laundering schemes. Much of this is told in such a matter of fact fashion that it is easy to lose sight of the significance of many of the individual facts. Regarding George W. Bush, in addition to the manufacture of the legend his conversion story (see main story) the book covers familiar turf regardin…
Read More
…r a minute? While I can agree with Nomani and Arafa’s critique of Wahhabi, Saudi-funded Islamist groups that support more conservative and often sexist ideologies and policies across the Muslim world, I’m hesitant to rope the hijab into this socio-political and economic constellation of issues. The arc of their argument goes something like this: non-Muslim Americans should not show solidarity with Muslims by wearing the hijab since the hijab is a…
Read More
…fessor Stephen Sheehi notes, an “an ideological phenomenon which exists to promote political and economic goals.” Many Muslim Americans are keenly aware of how anti-Muslim tropes are institutionalized and deployed equally by Democrats and Republicans, from left to right, albeit in different discursive tones. Whereas prominent figures and ordinary citizens on the right might openly attack Muslims as “rag heads” who subscribe to a “wicked” faith, th…
Read More…ting contempt of any religious belief which causes a breach of the peace.” Saudi cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Ghamdi challenged the notion that men and women should not mix in public places, sparking a controversy that led another cleric to call for his death. Erskine College’s accreditation is in jeopardy as the Reformed Presbyterian Church attempts to approve new bylaws after a panel concluded that some professors were creating a “culture of intimidat…
Read More
…is the worst violence in the Middle East, but not the only violence. Saudi Arabian and allied forces are pummeling Yemen, a catastrophe that usually goes uncommented on; the Gaza Strip remains under siege; the West Bank is even more occupied; Iraq teeters on the edge of anarchy; and Turkey has fallen under an authoritarian shadow. There are bright spots in the Muslim world, but a sense of ominousness is inescapable. It doesn’t just seem like the A…
Read More…, New Hampshire, and Iowa) promoting a creationist film called The Genesis Code, and holding fundraising receptions. The moralistic film follows an unbelieving hockey player and a Christian journalism student who struggle with “reconciling their scientific studies and what’s taught in the Bible” as he falls for her and she uses their relationship to “guide” him “toward God.” You can read a “pro-family” review here that warns of sex (kissing) and n…
Read More…f giving abortion-rights advocates a pass when it comes to suppressing the free-speech rights of their opponents.” Despite the grumbling concurrence, abortion opponents are celebrating a victory for the free speech rights of their sidewalk counselors, even portraying women who have been or will be talked out of abortion as the beneficiaries of the ruling. “These buffer zones have not only denied pro-life activists their right to speak, but have al…
Read More
…saw these three things as the great accomplishments of his life: political freedom, religious freedom, and educational freedom and opportunity. Of the three, he thought religious freedom was the foundation because without freedom to think and believe, you could not have the other two. A republic could not work if government and church officials (what Jefferson referred to as an alliance of “kings, nobles, and priests”) were trying to control what…
Read More
…m the right concerns same-sex marriage. How did they settle on a religious freedom frame? Even prior to Obergefell v. Hodges, religious freedom arguments were being advanced by conservative Christians who disapproved of same-sex marriage. For example, several state-level Religious Freedom Restoration Acts (RFRA) were put into motion in 2014 and early 2015 in part to try and protect religious objectors. Immediately after the Obergefell decision, th…
Read More