america

CultureJanuary 21, 2013

Gun Ownership as Sin—A Strategic, Secular Proposal for Gun Reform

By Ira Chernus

Logic is the key to the story. In this case, once we know how many thousands of Americans are killed by guns each year and know that places with the fewest guns have the fewest murders, it’s only logical to regulate gun ownership and possession. But even the most convincing logic can rarely defeat a rich, emotionally powerfully, historically deep-rooted myth. And the gun control advocates’ progressive myth is depressingly thin and emotionally weak compared to the thick, potent store of myth wielded by their opponents.

(A)theologies, BooksMarch 6, 2012

Living Between Worlds: Muslim, American, Five Percenter

By Hussein Rashid

Michael Muhammad Knight is living in that liminal space, not crossing thresholds of belonging and closing the door. He walks back and forth, and the text conveys that sense of unsettledness. Intentionally or not, Knight forces the reader to think about how we define ourselves and how much agency we actually have in that process.

(A)theologies, BooksDecember 6, 2011

The British (Bible) Invasion: KJV 400-Year Anniversary Rolls On

By Louis A. Ruprecht

To the chagrin of Britain’s Secular Society, which has protested, as the Guardian reports this week, that schools are “awash in Bibles,” every state school in England is going to get a new copy of the 1611 King James Version by the spring.

Haroon MoghulAugust 26, 2011

Who Gets Paid to Make America Hate? The Roots of the Islamophobia Network

By Haroon Moghul

The Center for American Progress follows the money in a groundbreaking new report.

Politics/LawAugust 8, 2011

Rick Perry’s Jesus Imperative: A Report from Saturday’s Mega-Rally

By Sarah Posner

The people who gathered at Reliant Stadium are not just Rick Perry’s spiritual army, raised up, as Perry and others imagine it, in the spirit of Joel 2 to sound an alarm and prepare the people for Judgment Day. They are the ground troops the religious right set out four decades ago to create, and duplicate over generations, for the ongoing culture wars.

Michael J. AltmanFebruary 10, 2011

Tea Party Needs a History Lesson on Islam in America

By Michael J. Altman

Tea Partier Phillip Dennis disputes Obama’s version of US history. Guess who’s right?

Andrea Jain, Culture, RD BlogJanuary 12, 2011

Mormon-Born Daya Mata Typifies American Yoga

By Andrea R. Jain

Daya Mata’s death reminds us that American yoga has no single essence or form. Indeed, it’s in and through its countless varieties that yoga has become as American as Elvis himself.

CultureDecember 9, 2010

Rewriting the History of Catholic Schools in America

By Marian Ronan

If you’re looking for a sure bet, here’s one: until this fall, the vast majority of US Catholics had never heard of Archbishop John Hughes. Then, in September, the Archbishop of New York, Timothy Dolan published an article…

CultureSeptember 13, 2010

“You’ve Never Met a Muslim”

By Hussein Rashid

Four New York Muslims take the anniversary of 9/11 to reflect on piety and patriotism, on sharing classrooms and rituals of community life, on the courage and goodness of New Yorkers, and on the horrific event that has shaped a generation of American Muslim life.

Politics/LawSeptember 2, 2010

Beck Plus God Does Not Equal X

By Anthea Butler

After this weekend’s rally by the new Evangelist-in-Chief, Glenn Beck, I am left with a question: Why is it that when white religious men say outlandish stuff, it’s brilliant, and when black religious men say outlandish stuff, they are evil and racist?