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Trans Talmud: Could a 1,500-Year-Old Book Have Any Relevance to The Struggle for Trans Equality and Liberation?

By Shane Burley

…I don’t want to casually apply it to other times and spaces, which can be really problematic. Sometimes there’s a kind of linguistic colonialism, to bring different places under the rubric of queer and trans when maybe there’s different ways of organizing sex, gender and sexuality in those places. So I have a kind of hesitation about that assumption that eunuchs and androgynes are in some straightforward way trans and/or intersex. My other hesita…

‘Defund the Police’ Isn’t the Problem

By John Stoehr

…s demanding reforms to local police departments. Where people are can be a really, really bad place. We should not accept where they are uncritically. If where they are is fascism, or blind institutional faith in police authority, or wearing new hats piggybacking on old hats, maybe starting where they are is a bad idea. It might be better to move them to a better place, and then begin. It seems to be telling, with reference to “Blue MAGA,” that Bi…

Is Liberalism Islamic?: An Interview with Mustafa Akyol

By Haroon Moghul

…which God has set in place, and are not related with our sins. Earthquakes really do not selectively hit cities of vice, such as, say, Las Vegas. They just hit the cities that are placed on tectonic faultlines. Or rain patterns, which really do not show any correlation with levels of godliness or godlessness. Even if people believe that this or that disaster has happened because of this or that sin, this subjective idea cannot be the base of objec…

If it’s Really About “Religious Freedom,” Why Mention Just One Belief?

By Sunnivie Brydum

For the past week or so, the National Review‘s Alexandra Desanctis and I have been debating some of the finer points of both “religious freedom” and religious freedom. On Monday she published a response to my piece critiquing her analysis of Nico Lang’s Salon report highlighting the unpopularity of anti-LGBT “religious freedom” efforts. In her latest post she engaged with the substance of my argument, but neglected to address several key points t…

What Really Was Wrong With the Ben Carson Interview on the End-Times

By Sarah Posner

When it comes to the end-times, Ben Carson may just be confounding the typical narratives about conservative Christian presidential candidates. If a conservative evangelical or Pentecostal candidate talks about the end-times, everyone’s ears perk up and they wonder if, as an elected official, this person would allow their apocalyptic beliefs to dictate policy, particularly Middle East policy. (Think Sarah Palin, ca. 2008.) After Carson was asked…

Almost-Blockbuster Netflix Series ‘The Family’ Exposes a Christian Network Whose God Is Power

By Peter Laarman

…Doug Coe’s astonishing prestidigitation skills, it would seem that there’s really nothing to see here. Every last one of The Family’s supporters and apologists who speaks on camera swears on a stack of unread Bibles that there can’t be anything nefarious about just a bunch of guys (and it is almost all guys) getting together to pray and to fellowship (and yes, “fellowship” is a verb in evangelical-speak). Do they really believe in their own innoce…

Hobby Lobby Case Isn’t Really About Contraception

By Patricia Miller

While the Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood challenges to the contraceptive mandate headed to the Supreme Court this week, as well as suits from Catholic non-profits in the lower courts, are widely perceived as being about access to contraception, the reality is that they largely hinge on objections to one specific form of contraception: emergency contraceptive pills (ECPs). This distinction is important because in building the case for their right…

Who’s ‘Really’ Jewish: the Sefardi Floridian, the Ashkenazi Californian, or the New York Jew By Choice? ‘Authenticity’ is a Trap

By Benjamin Spratt and Joshua Stanton

Jared Armstrong was raised Jewish in the United States and wants nothing more than to become an Israeli citizen and pursue his career as a professional basketball player for one of Israel’s leading teams. But Israeli authorities have challenged the extent of his Jewishness, potentially jeopardizing his career and also his dream of becoming Israeli. His experience raises the specter that Judaism is falling into an authenticity trap about who “look…

“Split at the Root”: Adrienne Rich and (Religious) Identity

By Ryan Harper

…cross, the empty tomb, the via dolorosa. I am not always sure I want to be numbered among Christians; I know there are a number of Christians who aren’t so sure I should be so numbered. My examination occurs alongside my spouse’s examination. She is an ordained Baptist minister who with unspeakable grace regularly braves misogynistic condescension: the assumption among even thoughtful, well-meaning people that her spouse possesses the professional…

The Revolution Will Not Be Fetishized: Taking Resistance Beyond the Spiritual Industrial Complex

By Andrea R. Jain

…erve certain neoliberal, conservative, or nationalist agendas, there are a number of commitments that many of them claim to embrace. These include commitments to the following: religious and cultural pluralism, gender equity, racial and sexual diversity, environmental sustainability, scientific inquiry and historical-critical commentary, and a public space that guarantees both freedom of and from religion. Hence, I am certain the number of self-pr…