Religion Dispatches
…ial symbol of the freedom of expression and the ability of art to catalyze significant change in society. It’s of course a bit disingenuous to claim that Piss Christ is an “unwitting lightning rod” in the cultural landscape. Serrano himself has noted that the work is “meant to question the whole notion of what is acceptable and unacceptable,” and, let’s face it, anyone who deliberately submerges a crucifix in urine for public display does so well…
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…it was a religion, as is shown by the persistence of European Christians designating the Muslims by names which were ethnic rather than religious in connotation”: Arabs, Persians, Tatars, Moors, Turks, Saracens, and so on. The poet Dante drew on that tradition for his Inferno. He assigned Muhammad a place in Hell among the Sowers of Discord, on the apocryphal theory that Muhammad was an Eastern bishop who broke away from the Church. While the 17th…
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…d is not all the same. Syrian Brothers have a progressive streak, publicly signing accords committing to a pluralistic society where other MB branches, in other countries, have not. And the relationship of political Islam to fighters on the ground isn’t an easy one. For example, “secular” fighters are a small component of the rebel force. The Free Syrian Army (FSA) is an easy reference [for media], but it doesn’t represent most rebel fighters on t…
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…ks that Occupy Faith has set itself are: to ally with unions and others to promote fair wages for all, especially low-wage workers to work for fair tax policy to join coalitions supporting constitutional change to get money out of politics and limit the power of corporations to participate in events and initiatives organized to promote justice and fairness to take nonviolent, direct action to the streets and halls of corporate and government p…
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…Passover is a holiday that celebrates freedom and recalls the exodus from Egypt as a moral parable, admonishing us to treat the stranger in our midst with respect—while the Wall, especially in the last year, has become a symbol of the opposite, the impediment to civil and human rights created by the Israeli civil government’s entanglement with official state religion. The Western Wall is a remnant of the retaining wall that surrounded the courtya…
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…anything to avoid casting aspersion on Islam, but more generally and more significantly, on religion! This insistence to regard religion as good leads to at least two consequences, both of them short-circuiting understanding of events such as those in Boston this week. Sanitation for the Nation I will guarantee that reporters and commentators will sanitize their language by systematically replacing any possible use of “religion” or “religious” wi…
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…and describing Moorish Science—which in many of its Chicago manifestations promotes a “sovereign citizen” ideology wherein Moorish nationalism is, counter to Noble Drew Ali’s original teachings, incompatible with American citizenship—as having the “primary objective” of “connect[ing] African Americans with a proud heritage, thereby circumventing the stereotypical picture of Africa, its inhabitants, and their black American descendants as savage an…
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…into an identity-based faction in this way has historically been a warning sign that large scale political violence may be in the offing. People can compromise if the issue at stake is economic or territorial in nature. Land can be divided; money can be reallocated. But how does one compromise on the core issue of identity? Although the identity fault lines in America are myriad, arguably, the most important cleavage involves race and religion, a…
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…ough the new office, the US is also likely to directly support groups that promote particular interpretations of their own religion—specifically those that are friendly to US policy. Here, “moderate Muslims” are first on the list. As Elizabeth Shakman-Hurd has pointed out, the decision of which groups to support, with funds and perhaps visits from the Secretary of State, is fraught in ways that US policy barely acknowledges. Throwing US power and…
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…t just a few—has deep religious roots. Recall that as the Israelites leave Egypt, they are repeatedly urged to repudiate Egyptian ways; i.e., to leave behind the ways of abusive power and excessive personal acquisition. They are instructed in ways of maintaining the commons and sharing God’s abundance. Initially they have no king. And when they finally acquire one, the idea of kingship remains the idea of serving and maintaining the commons. Kings…
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