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Common Ground: Winning the Battle, Losing the Culture War

By Chip Berlet

…ght framework of labeling abortion as a problem to be solved. Reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies will also reduce the number of abortions, but this tactic also functions as an umbrella, sheltering issues such as access to contraception, sex education, and prenatal care for pregnant women who choose that path. We are talking about shifting the frame to gain a political advantage. That’s what the Christian Right has foisted on Democratic ce…

Six Overlooked Gems from the Future of World Religions Report

By Timothy King

…3.2 million new adherents and “folk religions” (these tend to be small in number and tied to a particular people group or tribe) are likely to see gains of 2.6 million during the same time period. Such numbers are miniscule compared to the projected 61.5 million expected to switch into the “unaffiliated” category by 2050, nevertheless the 197% projected growth rate should turn more than a few heads. Something is causing people to be attracted to…

Conservative Republican Muslim Condemns Fox Report on Congressional Staffers as “Anti-Muslim Bigotry”

By Sarah Posner

…reign visitors because “they want to showcase religious freedom and Muslim-Americans flourishing in every sector of American life.” Khan called it “silly” to go after to go after people who attend the prayers, because the meetings are open to the public. “Thousands of people over the years have attended the prayers and events.” The sermons at the prayer events, he said, are “very pro-American, and tend to be about public service, and the honor of…

Betrayed at the Polls, Evangelicals of Color at a Crossroads

By Deborah Jian Lee

…pay for it.” The audience roared with laughter, but “Jan,”* who is Korean American, and her Mexican-American husband, ushered their children out of the service. Jan asked her pastor for a public apology. When he shrugged off her request, she was shocked. He had been a spiritual guide for years. He officiated the funeral of her son. But now it was as if they didn’t know each other. She resigned from her role in the children’s ministry, and her fam…

Whatchoo Talkin Bout, Senator Reid? Obama’s African-American Dialect is Religious

By Jonathan L. Walton

…performed religious and political speech. Just because one doesn’t sound like Mushmouth from Fat Albert or use the imaginary “jive” language from the movie Airplane does not mean that one is not informed by African American linguistic constructions. Maybe if Senator Reid embraced a little more “Negro dialect” like his president, he might not sound so “inartful” when describing the American electorate in the future….

Islam is as American as…

By Peter Manseau

…ents in North Carolina, I offered a few thoughts on Twitter about just how American Islam is. Islam is as American as basketball. pic.twitter.com/O6IcSkxvy1 — peter manseau (@petermanseau) February 11, 2015 Islam is as American as dancing with dad at your wedding. pic.twitter.com/HZL7fRzWFC — peter manseau (@petermanseau) February 11, 2015 Islam is as American as pride and ambition. pic.twitter.com/ghycpAaTXo — peter manseau (@petermanseau) Februa…

Toni Morrison, Prophet of America’s Demons (1931-2019)

By Ed Simon

…our names in favor of the saccharine sweet myths of American greatness and American goodness and American sinlessness. Sometimes Morrison is simply categorized as an “African-American writer”—and she was that of course. But in addition to being a black writer, Morrison was an author of blackness. An author of whiteness too. Her 1992 book, Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination, is one of the most astute literary critical readi…

Electionpocalypse, Part II: The Mythical Jewish Vote

By Sarah Posner

…rly, all Israelis—view Obama as an almost villainous character. “No Jewish American,” the American-born writer Barry Rubin says in the video, “should vote for Obama on the belief that he’s a great friend of Israel.” You should think about, the narrator tells you, “whether Obama will really have Israel’s back when the chips are down.” Mark Zell, co-chair of Republicans Abroad-Israel, recently told reporter Roee Ruttenberg, “in the United States, th…

Kindred Hatemongers: Why American Islamophobes and Muslim Protesters Need Each Other

By Mark Juergensmeyer

…to more firmly reject the protestors. In the meantime, while the Muslim world burned over a hateful video, its producer, Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, was safely in hiding somewhere in Southern California. While many leaders on the political right were quick to blame Libya and Egypt for not protecting American interests, few bothered to criticize the hatemonger, Nakoula, who had created the mess in the first place. But without him the anti-American an…

Mitt Romney and the Ghost of Anti-Mormonism

By Joanna Brooks

…ing Smoot’s era is now a tradition maintained by a very small slice of the American population. The Republican primaries gave that small slice a megaphone: the artificial loudness of their voice makes people overestimate their number. That said, it will be interesting to see what happens now in the general election when you may begin to hear from another voice that is anxious not so much about Mormonism per se but about any candidate that is too r…