An ancient religious divide is helping fuel a resurgence of conflicts in the Middle East and Muslim countries. Struggles between Sunni and Shia forces have fed a Syrian civil war that threatens to transform the map of the Middle East, spurred violence that is fracturing Iraq, and widened fissures in a number of tense Gulf countries. Growing sectarian clashes have also sparked a revival of transnational jihadi networks that poses a threat beyond the region. Islam’s schism, simmering for fourteen... Read more

by Carol Howard MerrittR3 Contributor First Posted on the Author’s blog Most of us have seen this coming for a decade, but it’s still startling to read the headlines in the Atlantic: The Vanishing of Middle Class Clergy. None of this is news. We know pastors who feed their children with food stamps. When disastrous things happen, clergy have learned to give one another money because sometimes we’re the only ones in the church (or the neighborhood) who can’t go... Read more

“The Boondocks” creator Aaron McGruder has come up with a new controversial comedy show entitled “Black Jesus” for the Adult Swim network.A trailer (below) for the TV program portrays Jesus as an African-American living in the predominantly black city of Compton, California, which is part of Los Angeles County.Black Jesus, played by Gerald “Slink” Johnson, tries to spread love and kindness while people ask him for winning lottery numbers and gang bangers harass his neighborhood. Black Jesus occasionally curses, but... Read more

After protesters shouting “Go home” turned back busloads of immigrant mothers and children in Murrieta, Calif., a furious Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, the Roman Catholic archbishop of New York, sat down at his notepad and drafted a blog post detailing his shame at the episode, writing, “It was un-American; it was unbiblical; it was inhumane.” When the governor of Iowa, Terry E. Branstad, said he did not want the migrants in his state, declaring, “We can’t accept every child in the... Read more

In a hundred years from now when historians and scholars of religion look back on the perceptions of Muslims between the later half of the 20th and the first half of the 21st Century I wonder what conclusions they will come to? Will they look at contemporary perceptions of Muslims in the same light that scholars now view the Antisemitism of the late 19th and early 20th Century? The rise of Islamophobia in public discourse and the intersection between it... Read more

When I was coming up, I used to hear people say “It’s a sin to be poor.” What they usually meant was that the financial and material struggles they contended with was sinful in their scope. They implied that there was some moral aspect to the poor-related vicissitudes they faced, despite the fact that they were never below the national poverty level. Fast-forward to today. Anyone living in the good ol’ US of A could say the same thing. A... Read more

This weekend, I was on Twitter, and there it was again. Another hashtag, #EricGarner, #JusticeForEricGarner. Much like in the past #Justice4Trayvon, #JusticeForRenisha, #RememberRenisha. I saw the horrorifying, gory headlines, and I was afraid to click the linkbait. What happened this time? According to newsoutlets, Eric Garner was being racially profiled by New York Police. They were practicing the Stop & Frisk white supremacy enacted originally by former mayor Rudy Giuliani. Now some “news” sources will point to Garner’s history with... Read more

I love Israel. I have studied, lived, and served in Israel and cannot wait to return to do so again. Further, many of my dearest friends are Israeli or are ardent supporters of Israel. Recently, reading about recent violence between Israel and Palestine in the news has reawakened years of questions and emotions that, from time to time, I succeed in laying to rest. I used to be pro-Israel in every sense of the word. After departing Israel from half... Read more

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If I were a member of Congress (now there’s an idea for a second career) I would hire a religion major on my staff. Actually, I would hire someone trained in feminist studies in religion because I think such people have a strong handle on what is happening around the globe. Consider recent world events, admittedly refracted through an inside-the-Beltway lens. Who better than a student of religion to sort out the difference between Shias and Sunnis to make sense... Read more