R3 Editor Dr. Andre E. Johnson will give a lecture on August 23, 2013 at 7:00pm as part of the 50th year March on Washington celebration at the African American Civil War Museum located at 1925 Vermont Ave. NW in Washington DC. The lecture, “Bishop Henry McNeal Turner and Reflections on the 50th year Anniversary of the March on Washington,” will examine Turner’s 1913 reflection of the Emancipation Proclamation and point towards the March on Washington that would happen 50... Read more

For many years there’s been conflict over the consciousness Hip Hop and the commercialization of the art form. Back in the ‘80s, when the music and culture were still very much  an underground movement, while many were fighting to bring Hip Hop to the mainstream the “cross-over” was considered the ultimate “sell-out.” On one side of the argument, you had visionaries like Russell Simmons fighting for the advancement of the culture saying, “don’t treat our music and expression any different... Read more

On July 16th, I fasted for Tisha b’Av, when Jews commemorate the destructions of the temples in Jerusalem among other events.  On July 23rd I attended, as a member of GLILA, iftar,hosted by the Tolerance and Dialogue Student Association of UMass Lowell.  Iftar is the traditional nightly break-fast dinner during the month of Ramadan.  On Saturday, July 27th, I read in the Boston Globe an obituary of a sixteen-year-old girl who lost her battle with anorexia nervosa.  That small paragraph obituary gave me pause.  I have literally spent this... Read more

Paula Penn-Nabrit, is the president of PN&A;, Inc., a management, consulting, and training firm. She is also the author of The Power of a Virtuous Woman and Morning by Morning: How We Home-Schooled Our African-American Sons to the Ivy League.  She has lectured extensively across the U.S., Europe and Asia and teaches Sunday School at the church where her family has worshipped for over 100 years. In addition, she also serves as Director of Telos Training, a non profit dedicated to empowering women.   You... Read more

The Trayvon Martin murder, the acquital of his killer, and the incarceration of Marissa Alexander are all messages that convey America’s disregard for the inherent worth of black and brown bodies. Following the Zimmerman acquittal, black religious institutions were filled with crushed souls desiring to hear sermons of reassurance regarding their inherent value in the sight of God, to collectively mourn with their respective communities, and to hear a plan of action. But not every black person wanted to rush to the altar.... Read more

The February 26, 2012 killing of Trayvon Martin sparked world wide interest. We collected many of the articles and posts on the tragedy here in one of our first “R3 Readers.” Now George Zimmerman stands trial for the murder of Trayvon Martin. Starting with the jury selection, we here at Rhetoric Race and Religion thought we would collect some of the editorials and essays associated with the trial. We ask that if you come across some articles please share them with us on our Facebook... Read more

Currently I am teaching an undergraduate course, Introductions to Western Religions. This introductory course (along with its companion course, Introduction to Eastern Religions) is a common one in universities across North America. These are the basic “feeder” courses, or foundation courses, that support the religious studies major. Often they are designed to teach the basic content associated with such religions: historical survey, beliefs system, ethics, social/community structure, and (perhaps most importantly) the major religious texts associated with each tradition. These... Read more

It is not uncommon these days for some people to regard religion as an unwanted guest when people start discussing social ills and their resolution. They regard the role of religion when it advances a moral position in the public square as poisonous because it is often suspected of seeking to impose that position on everyone else without their consent. Unfortunately some religious bodies have earned this suspicion because of their attempts to control the public dimension through an enforced... Read more

Robert N. Bellah, a distinguished sociologist of religion who sought nothing less than to map the American soul, in both the sacred and secular senses of the word, died on July 30 in Oakland, Calif. He was 86. His death, from complications of recent heart surgery, was announced by the University of California, Berkeley, where he was the Elliott professor emeritus of sociology. Throughout his work, Professor Bellah was concerned with the ways in which faith shapes, and is shaped... Read more

Culture warriors, pseudo historians and opportunistic politicians have spent the last several decades peddling the myth that America was founded as a “Christian nation.” The propaganda appears to be working. A majority of the American people (51 percent) believes that the U.S. Constitution establishes a Christian nation, according to the State of the First Amendment survey released last month by the First Amendment Center. Because language about a Christian America has long been a staple of Religious Right rhetoric, it’s not surprising that... Read more