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With the Death of One of the Last Three Shakers, an American Religious Tradition Takes a Step Closer to Extinction

By Ed Simon

…y was not widely attractive), the Shakers have had an outside influence on American culture. One can see it in the almost modernist minimalism of their furniture design that defined wood-working style of the 19th and 20th-century, to their hymnology that influenced Aaron Copeland’s magisterial orchestral suite Appalachian Spring. But even more crucial than their rich cultural traditions is their witnessing to the possibility of legitimate counter-…

Winners and Losers in the “Visitation” of American Nuns?

By Patricia Miller

…preciated and trusted to carry on.” American Nuns/LCWR: Mostly Winners For American nuns, the relatively positive conclusion of the visitation signaled a lifting of some of the storm clouds that had gathered over U.S. religious orders since both the visitation and the investigation of the LCWR were announced in 2009. The final report, while praising American religious for their work, does, however, contain some cautions reflecting the Vatican’s co…

Where Is American Christian Outrage on Russia’s Treatment of Jehovah’s Witnesses?

By Rebecca Moore

…s grown increasingly abysmal, according to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. The nation’s 1997 religion law tends to favor the Russian Orthodox Church. A 2002 law designed to combat extremism has been used against unpopular religious groups, like the Jehovah’s Witnesses, while a law passed in 2012 requires nongovernmental organizations (like churches) to register as “foreign agents” if they receive support from abroa…

Why Taking Offense at Santorum’s “Tri-Faith” Nation is a Good Sign

By Rachel Gordan

…, explaining American religion to his son Tommy, says: “See, you can be an American and a Catholic or an American and a Protestant or an American and a Jew.” Buddhists and Muslims and others were clearly not part of this inner circle. What was less clear was how much these believers in “Tri-Faith America” were willing to acknowledge the fundamental differences between the three American religions; did accepting Judaism as part of Judeo-Christianit…

Breaking Up With Marilynne Robinson Over Her Refusal to Acknowledge the Dark Side of Puritanism

By Peter Laarman

…example. As to whether colonial New England’s role as the fons et origo of American liberty has been a neglected topic in American historiography? Here I begin to wonder whether Robinson is having us on. This is a topic that’s been exhaustively, relentlessly pursued, to the extent that many young scholars today—scholars of color in particular—insist that we pay less attention to Plymouth and more to Jamestown as an equally, if not more important,…

Ahmadi Muslim Community Doesn’t Speak For All Muslims

By Hussein Rashid

…Good Muslim/Bad Muslim dichotomy that actually ends up hurting the Muslim-American community. The Muslim-American community is represented by a wide variety of organizations that speak to various interests. Large umbrella organizations, like the Islamic Society of North America, have not had much luck in covering the community because the diversity is nearly uncontainable. Each of these groups speaks with a voice that represents its own constitue…

Triple Fundamentalism: The New American Conservatism

By Julie Ingersoll

…conveniently written in English so that it can be understood by any plain American. He also shows how toxic this triple fundamentalism is to civic discourse where reasoned philosophical disagreement gives way to a mentality of holy war in which those with whom we disagree are not well meaning fellow Americans engaged in the democratic process, but instead, heretics. Lind is optimistic that “sooner or later, dogmatism and reality will collide,” an…

Retribution v. Reform in American Justice

By Jennifer Graber

…audience in mind when writing? Generally speaking, I wanted historians of American religion, historians of prisons, and historians of the early republic and antebellum periods to read it. But I thought it might interest folks working on urban history, immigration, print culture, and religion and politics. In my heart of hearts, I also want lay readers. I hope the folks at the Pennsylvania Prison Society or Prison Fellowship to read it. I want pri…

Swift-Boat Veterans of American Jewry Charge Anti-Semitism at Occupy Wall Street

By Jay Michaelson

…blicans. The whole organization is a ruse. It’s the Swift-Boat Veterans of American Jewry. (Oh, and incidentally: Eliot Spitzer?! Surely he was included in the ECI video not because of his non-existent leadership position, but because, like Bill Clinton, he makes some people feel that Democrats are sleazy. This confirms that the real point of the video is not to bash Occupy but to attack Obama, Pelosi, and the Democrats.) Personally, I find it na…

As Court Prepares to Rule on Sacred Apache Site, Religious Freedom Faces an American Right Prized Above All Others

By Dana Lloyd

…olowa relied on the free exercise clause of the First Amendment and on the American Indian Religious Freedom Act, a law that requires only consultation with Indigenous peoples before destroying their sacred sites, not consent. But in 1993 the Religious Freedom Restoration Act was enacted to bypass the Lyng precedent and offer better protection to religious minorities, a law the Apache rely on in their claim against the destruction of Oak Flat. Mor…