Western Religion

Welcome to the theocracy! Monday morning was a dark day for America. The Supreme Court set a frightening precedent in its finding that beginning legislative sessions with prayers does not violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. As…

Christians

Alabama’s chief justice: Muhammad didn’t create us so 1st Amendment only protects Christians

Juan Cole

Speaking at the Pastor for Life Luncheon, which was sponsored by Pro-Life Mississippi, Chief Justice Roy Moore of the Alabama Supreme Court declared that the First Amendment only applies to Christians because “Buddha didn’t create us, Mohammed didn…

History

A People’s History of Muslims in the United States

Juan Cole

(By Alison Kysia) When I teach history related to Islam or Muslims in the United States, I begin by asking students what names they associate with these terms. The list is consistent year after year: Malcolm X, Elijah Muhammad, and Muhammad Ali. All of these individuals have affected U.S. history in significant ways. If we […]

Bill of Rights

Christian Sharia Law: Iowa Governor’s Proclamation Destroys Separation Of Church And State

Juan Cole

The astroturfed pandemic of Christian self-righteousness continues to plumb new depths, proving that like their Bible, there isn’t a part of the Constitution they won’t ignore, twist, or warp, in an effort to shore up their abjectly amoral personal…

Christians

If Jesus had a wife, would it change the GOP War on Women?

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) A Coptic fragmentary manuscript page that dates back to a few hundred years after Jesus’ death (and the text of which may go back to the second century) has been found by radiocarbon and ink testing to be authentic. That is, it is not, as some scholars claimed when it was first […]

Bill of Rights

Tea Party Opponents of Muslim Cemetery Claim Islam is not a Religion

Juan Cole

TN Tea Partiers freak out on TV reporter for covering their effort to block Muslim cemetery (via Raw Story ) Tempers flared in a confrontation between anti-Islamic activists and proponents of a plan to build an Islamic cemetery adjacent to a mosque in Murfreesboro, TN. WSMV Channel 4 reported that supporters of the Islamic Center […]

Barack Obama

Is Pope Francis good for the Democrats? Obama in the Vatican

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) Could enormous popularity of Pope Francis spill over into American politics? Pope Francis is worried about inequality, a Democratic Party issue, and his statements and actions on the subject are a stunning rebuke to “evangelical Catholics” such as Paul Ryan, who tend rather to celebrate economic inequality or to deny it or […]

astronomy and outer space

Creationists to Neil deGrasse Tyson: Evolution isn’t scientific, but the Book of Genesis is

Juan Cole

Creationist Ray Comfort complained that Neil deGrasse Tyson had misrepresented the Bible. The astrophysicist and host of Fox’s “Cosmos” said recently that using the Bible as a scientific source was problematic, because no one had ever scientifically…

Domestic Surveillance

Judge: All right for NYPD to spy on Muslim-Americans; not all right for Journalists to reveal it

contributors

(By Sarah Lazare) A federal judge ruled Thursday that the NYPD's secret spying on Muslims in schools, restaurants, and mosques with no evidence of wrongdoing is perfectly legal, and it was the media's exposure of this surveillance that was the real cause of harm. The decision prompted outcry from civil rights and racial justice advocates. […]