by Najeeba Syeed For two weeks I taught Qur’anic peacemaking & intersection with nature at my masjid. You can say a hundred things about the Muslim community. You can say what we are not. Let me tell you what we are: A brother recovering from drug addiction now utilizing his faith to build a new life. A sister recently migrated who faces deep discrimination at work and in life, yet learns to keep her faith as a central tool for reconciliation... Read more
Below is the Call for Papers for the Critical Approaches to Hip Hop and Religion Group of the American Academy of Religion Conference in San Antonio, Texas November 16-19, 2016. Statement of Purpose: This Group’s purpose is to provide a space for interdisciplinary, sustained, scholarly reflection and intellectual advancements at the intersections of religion and hip-hop culture. We believe the Group will assist religious and theological studies to take more seriously hip-hop culture — while expanding the conversation of hip-hop culture beyond... Read more
On January 17, 2016, drawing from John 2:1-11, my King Day sermon focused on King’s prophetic activity and the “new wine” from Black Lives Matter. Below is a portion of that sermon. Hear the entire sermon here. …….I don’t know about you, but I am glad that God sends prophets. God sends prophets our way to speak truth to power. God send prophets to remind us of who and whose we are. God sends prophets to touch those hidden spaces... Read more
Below is the text of a speech I gave at the 47th Annual Rainbow/PUSH Coalition that celebrated the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee. Also honored that day were the “Memphis 13”; African Americans who integrated the public school system in Memphis. by Rev. Earle Fisher To President Kyles and Pastor Kyles; to all of our dignitaries, elected officials, civil service workers, and citizens of this great city…. If someone were to say... Read more
I’m not saying that ISIS is not real. I’m just saying that my life is a series of priorities in which ISIS is considerably lower on the ‘fear inducing scale’ than a number of other things. Here are a few: 1. I live in a country in which a considerable number of people consider Donald Trump a viable candidate for leader of the free world. 2. I live in a country in which the water supply of an entire city... Read more
by Crystal St. Marie Lewis *First published at Window on Religion Like many of you, I’ve been following the Larycia Hawkins controversy very closely. Hawkins is the tenured professor at Wheaton College who decided to wear a hijab during the season of Advent as a display of solidarity with Muslims. During Dr. Hawkins’ time of solidarity, she publicly declared on her Facebook page that she viewed Muslims as sisters and brothers who have been “formed of the same primordial clay.”... Read more
The Journal of Contemporary Rhetoric invited R3 editor Andre E. Johnson to guest edit a special issue of the journal titled “Understanding the Rhetoric(s) of Race. Below is the introductory essay to the special issue. When we first invited scholars and sent out a call for papers on a special issue on Understanding the Rhetoric(s) of Race, there had been much in the media in regards to race and racism. We noted that from the discussions that many had regarding... Read more
President Barack Obama’s tears during his gun control speech were a long time in coming. As he recalled the 20 elementary-school children who lost their lives in the 2012 massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, the president found new fountains. While the president has shed tears before, this time was different. I’m no psychologist and I’m not attempting to get into the president’s head, but I believe his tears—indeed, I hope—went beyond concern about gun violence, which, on its own, is enough to make... Read more
On November 20, 2015, the Spiritual Communication Division of the National Communication Association selected me to present this paper at our annual meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada. Parts of this presentation will appear in a forthcoming book tentatively titled “The Ferguson Fiasco: Communicating the Spirituality of Resistance.” Abstract: On January 11-16, 2015, I took a class of Memphis Theological Seminary students to Ferguson, Missouri for a one-week immersion class. In this paper, by way of autoethnography and spiritual reflection,... Read more
In today’s racially, socially and economically unjust environment, the voices of white theologians like Jennifer Harvey are important. Harvey, author of Dear White Christians: For Those Still Longing for Racial Reconciliation, is making rounds at churches across the nation trying to convince them that reparations for descendants of former slaves is an idea that must not be ignored. I’m particularly interested in Harvey’s work because it targets white churches, institutions that continue to be—as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. put... Read more
Rhetoric Race and Religion
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