By Jacqueline M. Hidalgo. As a student and teacher of religion, I must wrestle with the way that religious discourses and practices have been deeply implicated in settler colonial violence and gendercide, undertaken in the name of “doing good,” of doing what is construed as divinely right and natural. In late eighteenth century colonial New […]
In the wake of the passing of HB2 (“Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act”) in North Carolina, the ongoing discussions regarding the rights, safety, and discrimination against trans*persons have come to the fore. Many have weighed in on the controversy including those who cite their religious beliefs as reasons to support the law or demand […]
By Kristin Garrity Şekerci. This blog is in response to Tanisha Ramachandran’s piece “Racializing Religion.” In her blog, Ramachandran argues the importance of understanding the intersection of race and religion, and how power and privilege reinforces the othering and subordination of Muslims and those perceived to be. Ramachandran cites the work of contemporary scholar Leerom […]
By Jem Jebbia. I remember a concrete feeling of confusion and frustration one day in my Practice of Ministry course while studying in the University of Chicago’s Master of Divinity Program. Each week, our assignment was to reflect on a particular theological theme, like ethics, interfaith interactions, or this particular week’s theme, “calling.” I said […]
We want to hear your responses to FSR Blog’s @theTable: “Intersecting Islamophobia.” Having explored how scholars of religion must recognize the need to discuss race as a primary target of religious oppression (Tanisha Ramachandran), how the picking and choosing refugees based on their religious identity under the pretext of national security needs to be exposed and challenged (Sharon […]
“Women’s issues” are often claimed to be the wedge or problematic concern in interfaith dialogues. My interest in this blog is to have us think more deeply about the interfaith space itself, whether it is the academic or community one in which we work and research. Moreover, how do feminisms inform the construction of this […]
A few months ago in Cambridge, Mass., Mona Haydar and her spouse had the creative idea of setting up a stand offering free coffee, doughnuts, and the opportunity to “Ask a Muslim.” The NPR story covering the occasion is largely dedicated to describing her apprehensions before the event and her reflections, afterwards, on the goodwill […]
Recent calls made by the GOP Presidential candidates to accept Christian Syrian refugees in the United States and India’s decision under the Modi government to grant non-Muslim refugees extended stay are deeply problematic. Such pronouncements not only depict the ways in which Muslim refugees are represented as violent, aggressive, and a threat to national security, […]
By Tanisha Ramachandran. In November 2015, after the terrorist attacks on Paris, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump proposed the registering of American Muslims in a database, special badges identifying Muslims, and the surveillance of Mosques where, he intimated “some bad things are happening” (Hensch 2016). Given the increase in attacks on Muslims and those perceived […]
Fearful responses to global refugee crises and terrorism have inspired many people of faith to work for peace through interreligious dialogue. This FSR Blog @theTable and partnered open call considers how feminist perspectives in religion and interreligious praxis can mutually inform one another in times of heightened xenophobia. How are representations of Islam and other religious […]