By Diana Butler BassWashington Post For decades, Americans have been turning toward spirituality as a protest vote against conventional religion. In the last dozen years, American religious institutions have undergone a myriad of crises–abuse scandals, conflicts, schism, and partisan political entanglement, to name a few–resulting in a great religious recession. Poll after poll reveals that organized religions –mainline Protestant, evangelical, Roman Catholic, and Jewish –are in varying states of disarray and decline. Sadness, even doom, has gripped many congregations, as... Read more

by Lisa MillerWashington Post The battle of the sexes, waged this election season with such fulsome fury in the public space, is being fought in a much more painful, private sphere as well. In churches (and synagogues and mosques) across the land, women are still treated as second-class citizens. And because women of faith are increasingly breadwinners, single moms and heads of households, that diminished status is beginning to rankle. There are churches in America in which women aren’t allowed... Read more

Special to Rhetoric Race and Religionby Michael McKinzie “The Muslims in Memphis project aspires to present Islam to the Memphis community in a positive and informative light.” In efforts to help facilitate this unity, city leaders have designated March as the official month set aside for Muslim celebration in Memphis. Included in the Muslims of Memphis mission statement is the desire to “erect exhibits, provide speakers, and interact with the larger community of which we are an integral part.” On... Read more

by Terry SandersonHuffington Post It’s happening all around the world. An increasingly politicised Catholic Church is manufacturing confrontations with governments in an effort to increase its influence and revitalise its dwindling flocks. It is clear from what the Pope has been saying over the past five years that he intends to return Catholicism to what he sees as its rightful place in the heart of Government. In America, a confrontation with the Obama administration over contraception coincided with the Republican... Read more

by Kimberly Peeler-RingerRhetoric Race and Religion Blogger The recent venom Rush Limbaugh spewed at student activist Sandra Fluke has proven to be quite the point of departure for social justice platforms geared toward taking on misogyny in all of its forms. This ugly incident in which a male talk show personality called a female student a name associated with the world’s oldest profession (and that not being insulting enough, goes on to encourage her to become an internet porn star... Read more

Kimberly Peeler-Ringer is a licensed minister who preaches and teaches at Howard Congregational UCC. She has a Master of Arts in Religious Studies from Vanderbilt University and a Master of Divinity from Morehouse School of Religion at the Interdenominational Theological Center. You can reach her at [email protected] or on twitter @kpringer.Kimberly’s Articles:1. Gay Marriage and the Bible: Beyond Tradition 2. The Bible and Misogyny: What Would Jesus Do? 3. For the Mother of Trayvon Martin 4. Visions of Sisterhood5. How Paula Deen Reminds Us that Race Still Matters 6.... Read more

Joy Warren is currently a M.Div. student at Memphis Theological Seminary and developing a nonprofit corporation specializing in creative instruction for children and adults. She has plans for a summer camp this year for children and hopes to play a part in activating imaginations and exploring creative, nonviolent solutions to conflict. Her special interests are corporeal mime, rhetoric in civil religion, and community-building. Joy is married to Chris, a talented singer and pastor in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. They have... Read more

By Steve AlmasyCNN http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/apps/cvp/3.0/swf/cnn_416x234_embed.swf?context=embed&videoId=living/2012/02/22/nr-stephen-chen-jeremy-lin-faith.cnn When Jeremy Lin was a sophomore at Harvard, he was struggling emotionally. A good guard on an awful basketball team – the Crimson finished the season with an 8-22 record – he needed something more than hoops. Lin, who had been baptized into an evangelical Chinese church near San Francisco in ninth grade and had come to value Christian fellowship through his youth group, was part of the Harvard-Radcliffe Asian American Christian Fellowship group, regularly attending... Read more

by Christopher LaneHuffington Post On both sides of the Atlantic, a debate about the scope and limits of secularism has begun to collide once more with those wanting to increase the power and presence of religion in the public sphere. The debate isn’t of course new, and in many cases never really went away. Almost three decades ago, to offer just one example of its cyclical quality, Richard John Neuhaus wrote “The Naked Public Sphere: Religion and Democracy in America”... Read more

Wil GafneyRhetoric Race and Religion Contributorfrom the Huffington Post I’m watching some public officials, (Congressman Darrell Issa, Senator Roy Blunt, Senator Marco Rubio and former Senator Rick Santorum) trying to transform freedom of religion into freedom to impose religion. They seem to imagine that their religious beliefs or moral conscience is superior to those of others, and trump matters of settled law, i.e. Roe v. Wade, and the professional judgment of the medical community by trying to deny women access to... Read more