Western Religion

Arif “The Greatest Ears in Town” Mardin: How a Turkish Muslim Nurtured the Music of Aretha Franklin, Dione Warwick, and Nora Jones

Middlebury, VT (Special to Informed Comment) – In the mid-twentieth century many American jazz musicians converted to Islam . Some took Muslim names ( Ahmed Jamal and Yusef Lateef) ; others identified as Muslim but kept their Christian names (Art Blakey, McCoy Tyner). These musicians helped shape the sound of American music and no less […]

Arab Americans

With Bernie Sanders in Dearborn, Arab-Americans and Muslim-Americans take the Political Stage

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Bernie Sanders’ rally at Dearborn, Michigan with a crowd that included Arab-Americans, on stage and off, was a frontal attack on one of the last permissible prejudices in America. Media personalities have been fired (and rightly so) for bigoted public statements about African-Americans and other minorities. But Arab-Americans and Muslim-Americans […]

Antisemitism

Auschwitz 75 years on: preserving survivors’ voices and listening to those of their children

The Conversation

By Sara Jones | – In December 2019, four people were shot dead at a kosher market in New Jersey, a horrific knife attack was perpetrated at a rabbi’s home in a New York suburb, and antisemitic graffiti was daubed on a synagogue and several shops in north London. Despite what many might think, antisemitism […]

Arab Americans

With Trump’s Iran Attack Abroad, Iranian-Americans and Muslim-Americans are Unfairly Targeted at Home

Aliyya Zahidi

Irvine, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment) – A day under the Trump Administration typically consists of angry tweets, an absurd amount of misinformation, and reckless decisions made by an egotistical maniac. Just three days into the new year we saw exactly that as the Trump Administration launched an attack on Iran, killing the nation’s top […]

Christians

The Other Theocracy Threatening the United States: Far Right Fundamentalists weigh down the GOP

James A. Haught

By James A. Haught (Daylight Atheism) – Every schoolchild knows that the Ancient Mariner was forced to wear a dead albatross around his neck. I think America’s Republican Party wears a dying albatross. It’s white evangelicals who are both the GOP’s life-support system and also a curse upon Republicans. The conservative party couldn’t survive without […]

African-Americans

How Turkish Muslims at Atlantic Records Marketed Motown, Jazz, Black Music to America

Shalom Goldman

(Special to Informed Comment) – To those outside of the music business the title, “The House that Ahmet Built” might sound like the name of a Turkish folktale for children. But for those in the know, the ‘house’ was Atlantic Records and ‘Ahmet’ was Ahmet Ertegun, the great record company’s co-founder. In 1947 along with […]

Antisemitism

How American anti-Semitism reflects the centuries-long struggle over the meaning of religious liberty

The Conversation

By Tisa Wenger | – Americans recently observed the first anniversary of the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, in which 11 were killed and six wounded. A year earlier, white supremacist marchers in Charlottesville, Virginia, chanted the slogan, “Jews shall not replace us.” Synagogues around the country have also been defaced […]

Antisemitism

On Anniversary of Tree of Life Synagogue Massacre: US Jews a Face Trump-Fuelled Far Right and a Fringe Left

H. Scott Prosterman

(Informed Comment) – October 27 marks the one-year anniversary of the Tree of Life Congregation massacre in Pittsburgh. This was a result of President Donald Trump giving aid and comfort to sinister right-wing forces, which had been buried under rocks of Western Civilization until he gave the all-clear signal. Since then, violent acts of anti-Semitism […]

Far Right

Why I Left the Far-Right: Joram van Klaveren’s Journey to Islam (Video)

Juan Cole

Emir-Stein Center | Video Clip | – “From extreme nationalism and far-right politics to compassion and empathy, watch the incredible transformation story of Joram van Klaveren, a former Dutch parliamentarian.” Emir-Stein Center: “Why I Left the Far-Right” Article appended by Informed Comment: Geert Wilders’ former senior right hand, Joram van Klaveren, converts to Islam EICRI […]