This June 13-14, two dozen religious leaders will gather at the historic American Baptist College to examine the disproportionate impact of the war on drugs on poor and black communities.  The U.S incarcerates more people than any other country in the world – both per capita and in the total number of people behind bars.  With less than 5% of the world’s population, the U.S. has almost 25% of the world’s incarcerated population.  This alarming rate of incarceration has had... Read more

Last December, Care Net—the nation’s largest network of evangelical Christian crisis pregnancy centers—featured a birth announcement of sorts on the website of its 10-year-old Urban Initiative. Under the headline, “Plans Underway for Care Net’s Newest Center in Kansas City, Mo.!” a block of upbeat text described how a predominantly white, suburban nonprofit called Rachel House had “made contact” with “various African American pastors and community leaders,” who helped them “plant” a “pregnancy resource center” in a predominantly black, poor section of... Read more

Worth reading from National Review (I know, I know) is this profile of E.W. Jackson, a conservative African American pastor and speaker at religious right political gatherings — and the Republican nominee for Lt. Gov. of Virginia. Jackson’s penchant for extreme political rhetoric, anti-gay and otherwise, has been well documented and is reaching a much wider audience since his recent surprise selection by delegates to the Virginia GOP convention. National Review‘s Betsy Woodruff visited Jackson’s congregation and reported, among other things, on all the ways congregants... Read more

Last week, a Pew study revealed that in four out of ten American households with children, the mother is the sole or primary breadwinner for the family, the highest share on record. News of the study resulted in some controversy after a heated exchange between Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly and members of an all-male on-air panel on the subject sparked strong responses across media outlets.  For those of us who grew up in certain sectors of the American church, the controversy is not... Read more

by Andre E. Johnson R3 Editor This summer for two weeks at Memphis Theological Seminary, I get to teach “Rhetoric of Race: The Rhetoric of the Civil Rights Movement.”  In this class, we engage in a careful reading of major sermons, speeches, and writings during the Civil Rights Era (1954-1965). From this, by grounding ourselves in rhetorical and other communication theories and practices, we examine the contributions of significant people to the movement by examining the ways in which they... Read more

On April 15, 2013 around 3:00pm EST, two explosions rocked participants and onlookers at the Boston Marathon. We here at Rhetoric Race and Religion are collecting posts that focus on this horrific event. If you have one to share or would like to write one for our blog, please email us at [email protected] 1. The Boston Marathon: All My Tears, All My Love2. Erik Rush, Conservative Columnist, Makes Muslim Joke After Boston Marathon Explosions3. Prayers for Boston & for an End... Read more

For over half a century, Gallup has been asking Americans whether they think the influence of religion is increasing or decreasing in the U.S., posing the intriguing question of what the results actually signify. For starters, it’s worth bearing in mind that Western civilization is grounded in the belief that once upon a time, God was in his heaven and people went to church regularly. So at any given time, more Americans are likely to think the influence of religion is... Read more

by Andre E. JohnsonR3 Editor* This is the second of a four part series. Read the other installments here. Chaplain Henry McNeal Turner’s writings during the Civil War covered a wide range of topics. One of the first letters was a tenderhearted eulogy of the Rev. Mrs. Weaver—wife of the then editor of the Recorder—Elijah Weaver. Turner in comforting his friend wrote: Your wife died in the full triumph of a blessed resurrection. You are assured of her entrance into the kingdom of... Read more

“Is Islam a religion of peace?” Why is such a nonsensical question still being asked? One of my favorite people in the world is a someone I know only through Facebook. This person is religiously and politically conservative, incredibly civil, and willing to countenance long and passionate debates on her posts. The other day, my friend mentioned that a non-profit organization is hosting a conference sometime soon that will include that question about Islam as a theme. I blame President... Read more

More and more I find myself responding, “I am not a guy,” to waiters in restaurants, to educated people at conferences, and even to people in progressive churches who refer to groups of women and men as “you guys.” Sometimes these are groups of all women, and still they call us “you guys.” So the idea for this article has been stirring in me for a while. Its title was inspired by the work of Jeanette Blonigan Clancy, a Catholic... Read more