Last week, I met Paul Ryan at an apple farm. I was attending a kids' birthday party with my family at the Apple Holler farm in Sturtevant WI when Representative Ryan stopped by with his entourage for a visit and photo-op. Though the majority of the folks didn't really seem to take notice, there were plenty of people interested in seeing Ryan and shaking his hand, getting a photo, etc. So, I decided I'd do the same. All of the folk at the birthday party were Muslim Americans like myself, … [Read more...]
Decoupling religious identity: A Muslim Response to Brian McLaren
September 26, 2012 By 4 Comments
This post is part of an inter-faith discussion on Brian McLaren's new book Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha and Mohammed Cross the Road?, hosted at the Patheos Book Club. Brian McLaren is an evangelical Christian pastor with a deep interest in interfaith outreach and dialogue. This book is probably the culmination of his life's work in that regard, and in it he seeks to build a foundation on which Christians can effectively communicate with other faiths. The target audience for this book are … [Read more...]
transcript: President Obama’s remarks on 11th anniversary of 9-11
September 11, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Today marks the 11th anniversary of the attacks on September 11th. I've written about my personal feelings towards the anniversary at City of Brass; here is the complete transcript of President Obama's remarks during the Weekly Presidential Address today. This week, we mark the eleventh anniversary of the September 11th attacks. It’s a time to remember the nearly 3,000 innocent men, women and children we lost, and the families they left behind. It’s a chance to honor the courage of the … [Read more...]
Presidential religion
September 11, 2012 By Leave a Comment
This tweet by Blake Hounshell deserves highlighting: So, despite the conspiracy theories, Obama is the only Protestant in the race.— Blake Hounshell (@blakehounshell) August 11, 2012 Note, fully one-third of conservative Republicans believe Barack Obama is Muslim, up from 16% in 2008. … [Read more...]
A Muslim for Obama
September 10, 2012 By 2 Comments
I have long argued that as muslims, we must avoid allowing ourselves to declare an allegiance in politics. The Democrats have never seen Muslims as anything other than yet another swing vote to be courted when convenient, and in the case of the Dubai Ports World affair actively fearmongered against the specter of Islam for political gain. There is also an antipathy towards spiritualism and faith among the activists of the left with which a devout muslim can never fully reconcile. However, … [Read more...]
government and moral authority: “Of, By, and For”
August 27, 2012 By 1 Comment
The rhetoric of the past 30 years of the Conservative Era has led to a profound cynicism about the role of Government as an entity for the common good. The very concept of "Of the People, By the People, For the People" has been replaced with "get off my lawn". The irony is that this modern conservative mantra of hatred against "big" government (even though government is the smallest it has ever been, and Democrat Administration preside over larger cuts to the size of Government than do … [Read more...]
VEEP! President Obama selects Paul Ryan as Mitt Romney’s running mate
August 11, 2012 By Leave a Comment
In just a few hours, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan will likely be selected to be Mitt Romney's running mate for the 2012 presidential election on the Republican ticket (UPDATE: confirmed!). In almost every way, this represents a game-changing coup - for Barack Obama. The conventional wisdom is that running mates only deliver a percentage point in their home state. The best-case analysis (as per Nate Silver's statistical modeling) is that Ryan will increase Romney's likelihood of winning Wisconsin … [Read more...]
Chick-Fil-A and the lost art of political persuasion
August 3, 2012 By 5 Comments
Having established my theory that faith and politics are in perpetual tension, with each seeking in a strange way to emulate the other upon the American politicoreligious landscape, let's talk about persuasion. Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day has passed us by. Thousands of people who genuinely believe that gay marriage is (to put it mildly) Very Bad a Thing lined up to express their sentiment with an act of economic rebellion, voting with their wallets, to strike a symbolic blow at those they … [Read more...]
a minute of silence for Munich at the Olympics
July 28, 2012 By Leave a Comment
in 1972, 11 Israeli atheletes were murdered by the Palestinian terrorist group Black September during the Olympic Games in Munich, Germany. Amkie Spitzer, the wife of one of the murdered athletes, began a petition at Change.org asking for a minute of silence at the Opening Ceremonies of the 2012 Olympics to honor the 40th anniversary of that massacre: Silence is a fitting tribute for athletes who lost their lives on the Olympic stage. Silence contains no statements, assumptions or beliefs and … [Read more...]
the faith of politics
July 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Welcome to Patheos' new Faith and Politics channel! I think the intersection of American politics and religion is a fascinating landscape, because in our founding documents these two realms are decreed to be separate, but in practice they have a strange synergy. Our faith and our politics feed off of and cross-pollinate each other in strange and interesting ways, unique to the world and history. I find the classic Yin Yang symbol of Chinese philosophy to be a fitting symbol for how faith and … [Read more...]
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