religion

By Safiyya Hosein, Toronto Metropolitan University | – (The Conversation) – The Disney+ TV show featuring Ms. Marvel, also known as Kamala Khan — the first Muslim superheroine of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), launched June 8 — and the internet has been alight with discussions about the lovable titular character. The comic book series, […]

Archaeology

Does Megadrought of the 500s in Yemen help Explain the Rise of Islam?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A new article in the journal Science gives evidence for a prolonged dry spell in the kingdom of Himyar (which now would comprise Yemen, southern Saudi Arabia and Oman) in the 500s. Since the Prophet Muhammad is traditionally said to have been born in 567 or 570, any new information […]

Bill of Rights

Why the Supreme Court’s Football Decision is a Game-Changer on School Prayer

The Conversation

Charles J. Russo, University of Dayton | – The U.S. Supreme Court has consistently banned school-sponsored prayer in public schools. At the same time, lower courts have generally forbidden public school employees from openly praying in the workplace, even if no students are involved. Yet on June 27, 2022, the Supreme Court effectively gave individual […]

Bill of Rights

Abortion Rights should be considered a key Plank of religious Freedom

Minnesota Reformer

| Opinion | By Walter McClure | – ( Minnesota Reformer ) – Our Constitution guarantees all of us the right to free exercise of our personal religious and moral beliefs, be they for or against abortion. The law has no right to interfere with what a person believes God or conscience dictates about abortion. […]

Featured

56% of Muslim Americans support Women’s Right to choose, and More Muslim-Majority Nations offer Abortion on Demand than do U.S. States

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – With the striking down of Roe, the Federalist Society’s bought-and-paid-for Supreme Court has allowed states to dictate as they will to women over the disposition of their own bodies. Judge Samuel Alito alleged that it was “rational” to protect a blastocyte, a just-fertilized human egg. No one in history ever […]

Buddhism

America’s religious Communities are divided over the issue of Abortion

The Conversation

Interview by Kalpana Jain, The Conversation | – Interviewed: Luis Josué Salés, Scripps College; Rachel Mikva, Chicago Theological Seminary; Samira Meht University of Colorado Boulder; Steven K. Green, Willamette University; Susan M. Shaw; Oregon State University. Since the first indications that the U.S. Supreme Court could overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling, following a […]

religion

State funds for students at religious schools? Supreme Court says ‘yes’ in Maine case – but consequences could go beyond

The Conversation

By Charles J. Russo

Gay rights

Review: “Homosexuality in Islam” by Scott Kugle

Saifa T. Hussain

( Medium) – For anyone attuned to the Muslim American milieu, it is hard to miss how conversations around gender and sexuality have become major faultlines. As someone who was quite intimate with neo-traditionalist Islam, there seems to be an increasing conservatism that sees these issues as part of an apocalyptic agenda that infringes upon […]

Apartheid

Israel’s Apartheid Law Causes Bennett Government to Fall, on Eve of Biden’s Visit

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Israeli newspaper Arab 48 reports that Prime Minister Naftali Bennett will dissolve parliament and go to new elections. His government has lacked a majority in parliament for some time and recently lost an embarrassing vote on applying Israeli law to squatter-settlers in the Palestinian West Bank. Theirs will be […]