Islam has become an important part of American discourse leading up to the 2012 federal elections and candidates everywhere appear eager to take a position on Islam for political gain. Across the country, rising Islamophobia has made it difficult for some Muslims to build mosques and practice their faith, although their right to do so is enshrined in the First Amendment of the US Constitution. In the current race for the presidential nomination, some presidential candidates are invoking Islam and... Read more

This morning, President Obama spoke at the annual National Prayer Breakfast. Presidents dating back to Dwight D. Eisenhower have attended the National Prayer Breakfast, joining faith leaders from around the country. The President spoke about his own faith, and how it has guided him through times of both triumph and trouble. (Transcript and video taken from Whitehouse.gov)Read the transcript here http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/all/modules/swftools/shared/flash_media_player/player5x2.swf Read more

Rev. Dr. Brad R. Braxton has accepted an invitation from Southern Methodist University to serve as Lois Craddock Perkins Professor of Homiletics at Perkins School of Theology, effective June 1, 2012.    Rev. Dr. Brad R. Braxton Braxton earned the Ph.D. in 1999 from Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, where he was a George W. Woodruff Fellow concentrating on New Testament Studies and Homiletics. He earned the Master of Philosophy from the University of Oxford in 1991, as a Rhodes Scholar. He... Read more

In response to the request of several people wanting an explanation (religious, biblical or otherwise) on the video of the coronation of Bishop Eddie Long, we here at Rhetoric Race and Religion will collect responses and place them on our blog. If there are responses you find, please share them with us. Thanks from the Rosh Pina Project I have never seen anything quite like this before as self-proclaimed Messianic Rabbi Ralph Messer proclaims Bishop Eddie Long to be a... Read more

In response to the request of several people wanting an explanation (religious, biblical or otherwise) on the video of the coronation of Bishop Eddie Long, we here at Rhetoric Race and Religion will collect responses and place them on our blog. If there are responses you find, please share them with us. Thanks from The Savvy Sister Just label me speechless right now. When I tell you there is some stuff you just can’t make up. I don’t care how... Read more

In response to the request of several people wanting an explanation (religious, biblical or otherwise) on the video of the coronation of Bishop Eddie Long, we here at Rhetoric Race and Religion will collect responses and place them on our blog. If there are responses you find, please share them with us. ThanksBy ANTHEA BUTLERReligion DispatchesWhile most Christians were having regular Sunday services, over at Eddie Long’s New Birth Church in Lithonia, Ga, Ralph Messer, who is part of the Hebrew Roots movement, was... Read more

In response to the request of several people wanting an explanation (religious, biblical or otherwise) on the video of the coronation of Bishop Eddie Long, we here at Rhetoric Race and Religion will collect responses and place them on our blog. If there are responses you find, please share them with us. Thanks By Wil GafneyThe Feminist Wire I am writing this response to a YouTube video circulating widely on the internet in in which Eddie Long, the troubled pastor... Read more

Throughout the blogosphere and the Twitterverse, many have decried the racial rhetoric employed by Newt Gingrich on the campaign trail. Whether he is calling for “black kids” to learn the value of work or calling the President of the United States a “food stamp president,” many have critiqued Gingrich, and rightfully so, for invoking images and rhetoric of America’s racial past into the campaign. This shift in campaign discourse also coincided with Gingrich’s rise in the polls—especially with conservative, “value... Read more

The Republican presidential candidates competing for the affections of Florida voters have plenty of labels with which to tar each other. Influence peddler. Failed politician. Cayman Islands account holder. Aspiring polygamist. But perhaps the worst smear they could lob at an opponent would be to call him a compassionate conservative. There’s no place for compassion in this race, which has featured debate audiences cheering the death penalty and booing the Golden Rule. Candidates have jostled to take the hardest line... Read more

by Conor FriedersdorfThe Atlantic It’s interesting to observe what qualifies as beyond the pale in American politics. For bigoted newsletters written two decades ago, Ron Paul is deemed by many to be disqualified from the presidency. I don’t fault anyone for criticizing those newsletters. I’ve done so myself. They’re terrible. So is the way he’s handled the controversy. But isn’t it interesting that Paul has been more discredited by years-old, ghostwritten remarks than has Newt Gingrich for bigotry that he’s... Read more