religion

By Amir Hussain | – The killing of George Floyd took place at the doorstep of Muslim America. He was killed in front of Cup Foods, a store owned by an Arab American Muslim, whose teenage employee – also a Muslim – had earlier reported to police that Floyd tried to use a counterfeit $20 […]

Christianity

As Odd Bed Fellows Fall out, Israel bans Evangelical GOD TV for Evangelizing Jews

Juan Cole

What did the Likud Government Expect? “Evangelical” is right there in their Name

Christianity

Tear them down? “White Jesus” statues have an Unsavory History in Aryan Racial Theory that also Influenced Nazi Theology

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Emily McFarlan at the Religion News Service explores the controversy over depictions of Jesus as white in American statues. She notes that Brooklyn activist and podcaster Shaun King wrote that “Yes, I think the statues of the white European they claim is Jesus should also come down. They are a […]

Eastern Orthodox

When even Trump’s Supreme Court upholds Gay Rights, You know Christian Fundamentalism has Lost

James A. Haught

Charleston, WV (Special to Informed Comment) – This month’s Supreme Court decree that gays cannot be fired from jobs simply because they’re gay is a solid blow to white evangelicals, the heart of the Republican Party. Such born-again conservatives claim they have “religious freedom” to treat gays cruelly. Now they’re exposed, once again, as more […]

History

Covid-19 makes Saudis Largely Cancel Pilgrimage (Hajj), But Plagues and Sectarianism have Intervened Before

The Conversation

By Ken Chitwood | – Saudi Arabia has effectively canceled the hajj for most of the world’s Muslims, saying the obligatory pilgrimage to Mecca will be “very limited” this year due to the coronavirus. Only pilgrims residing in Saudi Arabia may attend the event, which begins in late July. Earlier this year, Saudi authorities had […]

Africa

Top 6 Reasons Trump’s Racist Attack on Ilhan Omar at Empty Stadium is a Lie

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In his typically unhinged rant to a nearly empty stadium in Tulsa, OK, Trump attempted to use Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar to denigrate his Democratic rival Joe Biden. He said, according to the WaPo, “Likewise, Representative Ilhan Omar is going to be very much involved in a Biden government . […]

Donald Trump

“Trump Heights”: Illegal New Israeli Squatter Settlement on Occupied Syrian Golan Approved

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Israel’s government has formally greenlighted a new squatter settlement on the Syrian Golan Heights, to be named for US president Donald J. Trump. Israel has has militarily occupied much of the Golan Heights since 1967 and which it has illegally stolen from Syria. The United Nations Charter, to which Israel […]

Featured

What we can Learn from the Qur’an about valuing People of all Races and Colors

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Qur’an (sometimes spelled Koran), is one of great books in world history. Only a handful of works have been nearly so influential and widely read. The Bible, Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, the Analects of Confucius, and the Buddha’s Sutras are among the few books that rival it in that […]

Christianity

I’m Outraged By Trump’s Church Photo-Op: A Nun Speaks Out

OtherWords

By Sister Karen M. Donahue | – (Otherwords.org) – As a Catholic sister, I think Trump should read his Bible, not pose with it. By Sister Karen M. Donahue | June 3, 2020 In the book of Jeremiah, the Hebrew prophet shares instructions from God about entering a place of worship. “Stand at the gate […]