religion

Revised Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) | – – In this political season in which refugees have become a political football, it is worthwhile remembering that baby Jesus is depicted by the Bible as being a political refugee not once but twice. NBC reports, “Officials at Customs and Border Protection, the DHS agency responsible for separating […]

Islamophobia

No, the Muslim Brotherhood did not Invent Islamophobia

Brian Whitaker

(Al-Bab.com) Columnist Melanie Phillips appears to be claiming that Islamophobia isn’t real A column by Melanie Phillips in last week’s issue of the Jewish Chronicle has been causing dismay both inside and outside Britain’s Jewish community – so much so that on Tuesday the paper’s editor issued an apology “to any reader who is angered […]

African-Americans

How Turkish Muslims at Atlantic Records Marketed Motown, Jazz, Black Music to America

Shalom Goldman

(Special to Informed Comment) – To those outside of the music business the title, “The House that Ahmet Built” might sound like the name of a Turkish folktale for children. But for those in the know, the ‘house’ was Atlantic Records and ‘Ahmet’ was Ahmet Ertegun, the great record company’s co-founder. In 1947 along with […]

Christianity

White Anxiety and Imperial Christianity: The GOP Pathologies that Twin them with Trump

Rebecca Gordon

(Tomdispatch.com ) – On the Thursday of the second week of the House Intelligence Committee’s impeachment hearings, former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara had a special guest on his weekly podcast, Carl Bernstein. It was Bernstein, with fellow Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward, whose reporting broke open the story of how the Committee to Re-elect the […]

Christianity

Rick Perry’s belief that Trump was chosen by God is shared by many in a fast-growing Christian movement

The Conversation

By Brad Christerson and Richard Flory | – In a recent interview with Fox News, Secretary of Energy Rick Perry stated that Donald Trump was chosen by God to be president. He said throughout history God had picked “imperfect people” such as King David or Solomon to lead their people. Perry is not alone. A […]

China

New Leaked Documents Reveal China’s Chilling Crackdown on Muslims

Human Rights Watch

By Sophie Richardson, China Director | – (Human Rights Watch) – “I’m sure that you will support them, because this is for their own good…and also for your own good.” This was one of the lines officials were instructed to deliver to children returning to Xinjiang and learning that their family members had been sent […]

Donald Trump

Iran and the US Come Closer: Ayatollah Rick Perry’s Evangelical Theology of Trump as God’s Chosen is just like Khamenei

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Jay Willis at GQ reports that Secretary of Energy Rick Perry said on Fox and Friends that Trump is God’s Chosen One. He said he told Trump, “If you’re a believing Christian, you understand God’s plan for the people who rule and judge over us on this planet and our […]

Antisemitism

How American anti-Semitism reflects the centuries-long struggle over the meaning of religious liberty

The Conversation

By Tisa Wenger | – Americans recently observed the first anniversary of the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, in which 11 were killed and six wounded. A year earlier, white supremacist marchers in Charlottesville, Virginia, chanted the slogan, “Jews shall not replace us.” Synagogues around the country have also been defaced […]

Christianity

Can Christianity Survive in Turkey, the Birthplace of the Holy Roman Empire?

The Conversation

By Ramazan Kılınç | – Vowing to better protect Christians, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told media at the White House recently that Turkey will restore churches damaged during the civil war in northeastern Syria. With this statement, Erdoğan might have hoped to send signals addressing western concerns about the vulnerabilities of Christians in his […]