A portrait of the place where Evangelical politics and climate change meet 8 Dec 2015 8:47 AM (9 years ago)
The climate talks in Paris are in their second week, and it’s sometimes difficult on such a global stage to appreciate the small and local ways that climate change affects us. Consider the Hampton Roads region in Virginia, a collection of seven coastal cities including Virginia Beach and Norfolk. Writing for Scalawag, the Durham-based magazine covering Southern […]
On Engaging Atheists on College Campuses – An Interview with a Sikh/Hindu Interfaith Activist 6 Nov 2015 9:09 AM (9 years ago)
Meet Tahil Sharma. Although Tahil and I have worked together on the North American Interfaith Network for over a year now, we had yet to meet in person until last month, when we attended the Parliament of World Religions conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. As we sat down for langar each day, I came to […]
Indeed, There Is Still a Gaping, Atheist-Shaped Hole in the Interfaith Movement 12 Oct 2015 9:01 AM (10 years ago)
A few years ago, I read an article by Rory Fenton, and adamantly disagreed with his assessment that atheists were missing from the interfaith movement. After all, I was a living example of the contrary. At the time, I was employed at an interfaith seminary in Berkeley, where it was not unusual for atheists to be […]
#ISTANDWITHAHMED & So Should You 18 Sep 2015 7:54 AM (10 years ago)
In the last few days, its no doubt you’ve heard the story of Ahmed Mohamed. The 14 year old boy who was arrested at his school in Texas for bringing a homemade clock with him to class that day. He was proud of his creation and wanted to share it with his engineering teacher. Instead, […]
I’ve written a lot of stuff this week! A Roundup 14 Aug 2015 10:04 AM (10 years ago)
It’s been a hectic few weeks for me, and a lot of pieces I’ve been working on for the last month or so have finally been published. This has been really rewarding and cool. At The Daily Beast, you can read about the latest research on combating anti-vaccine attitudes. Powell and Horne didn’t measure how long the […]
Faithfully Feminist – Why Women Stay With Their Religious Communities 31 Jul 2015 4:15 PM (10 years ago)
The book, Faithfully Feminist – Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Feminists on Why We Stay, will be available for purchase later this summer. It features essays by 45 contributors from Abrahamic religious traditions. “Why do you stay?” It is a common question women are asked in relation to their faith. These are not women who buy into […]
A Note on Dealing with Death & Dying, Trauma & Tragedy 19 Jul 2015 3:26 PM (10 years ago)
At a recent workshop on ‘Trauma in Everyday Life,’ a psychologist spoke about big ‘T’ and little ‘t’ trauma. Big ‘T’ trauma is what we commonly refer to when speaking of serious accidents, war, death, etc. In its most severe form, big ‘T’ trauma can lead to post-traumatic stress. On the other hand, little ‘t’ […]
The science of white fragility 18 Jul 2015 9:51 AM (10 years ago)
According to Robin DiAngelo, a professor at Westfield State University, white fragility is: a state in which even a minimum amount of racial stress becomes intolerable, triggering a range of defensive moves. These moves include the outward display of emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt, and behaviors such as argumentation, silence, and leaving the stress-inducing […]
The New Republic’s review of Ta-Nehisi Coates’s necessary new book 14 Jul 2015 2:42 AM (10 years ago)
Ta-Nehisi Coates is quickly becoming one of America’s great public intellectuals. Bijan Stephen, an Associate Editor at The New Republic and an old friend, recently wrote about Coates’s latest book, Between the World and Me. He writes: Coates is a national correspondent at The Atlantic, and his body of work concerns, in general, confronting that violence […]
Could there be an ISIS without an Islam? 13 Jul 2015 6:38 AM (10 years ago)
Speaking of catching up on things I’ve missed while I’ve been gone, I was asked my thoughts about a cover story from March’s issue of The Atlantic. It reminded me of another article from The Atlantic earlier in July, which argued that “is ISIS Islamic?” is the wrong question to ask (for the record: I wouldn’t disagree that […]