On November 23, 2012 Michael Dunn fatally shot Jordan Davis at a gas station in Jacksonville, Florida. Police say that Dunn shot and killed Davis over a dispute of loud music. The shooting sparked national attention because it was almost nine months to the day that George Zimmerman fatally shot Trayvon Martin. Now Dunn stands trial for the murder of Davis.  We here at Rhetoric Race and Religion thought we would collect some of the editorials and essays associated with the... Read more

One of the more exciting statistics used to denigrate religion is the fact that its followers seem to experience higher levels of guilt and shame regarding their sexual actions. Consider a headline from 2011, fairly bursting with its own conclusions:“Atheists have ‘better sex lives than followers of religion who are plagued with guilt.’” This is brilliant stuff, destined for gleeful, bi-annual repetitions by the press, for there are few things more marvelous than sexuality, and few things that so effectively... Read more

When he was a boy, the Rev. Thomas Barclay noticed a difference between the worshippers of his small Pentecostal denomination and churches he visited of the larger Assemblies of God. “Why are they all white and we’re all black?” he asked his father. After a racial divide that lasted for nearly a century, the two denominations, the Assemblies of God and the United Pentecostal Council of the Assemblies of God, have agreed to a new partnership. Four years ago, after... Read more

“Do you believe in God?”  This was the initial question asked by a team of British researchers in the late 1960s. “Yes,” one woman replied. Then to clarify what that meant, the researchers, according to the sociologist Grace Davie, asked a follow-up question: “Do you believe in a god who can change the course of events on earth?” “No,” the woman answered, “just the ordinary one.” This response, more than any pronouncement by “New Atheists” like Richard Dawkins, indicates why... Read more

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Many Western Europeans think of Americans as hopelessly, bafflingly, and dangerously, religious. Many Americans think of Western Europeans as distressingly, inexplicably, and unrelentingly, secular. In 2009, the German sociologist Hans Joas observed that “it is widely accepted that the United States is far more religious than practically any comparable European state.” And he noted Western European puzzlement: “The more secularized large parts of Europe became, the more exotic the religiosity of the United States seemed to European observers.” So why... Read more

Kenyan police and religious leaders are working together to clamp down on the spread of extremist ideology at public gatherings organised by Christian and Muslim preachers. At these gatherings, which are a common sight along streets and at open-air markets in Kenya, preachers aim to educate their followers and convert people of other faiths. The Christian gatherings are locally known as “crusades” while the Muslim gatherings are known as “muhadaras”. But recently, such gatherings have been the source of fiery,... Read more

by Andre E. Johnson R3 Editor Read the series here After sending my response, my assailant responded by sending an email to members of the Religious Communication Association (RCA) on our listserve. In the email, he apologized not only to me but also to the members of our Association. In this apology, he claimed his “inappropriate action” during the meeting, recognized it as “presumptuous” and “deeply regretted his action.” He closed by acknowledging his apology in private to me but... Read more

I will never forget the night in the fall of 2000 when a member of the house church we had just started approached me and said, “Pastor, you are not going to believe this. A few weeks ago at a church here in New York, I heard the same exact sermon I heard at a church while visiting friends half-way across the country!” As he described the sermon, I soon realized it was from Rick Warren’s sitewww.pastors.com now under www.saddlebackresources.com. Most of... Read more

Mark Anthony Neal sits down with Revered Raphael Warnock to discuss his new book, “The Divided Mind of the Black Church: Theology, Piety, and Public Witness”. Rev. Warnock is the senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, GA. Read more