Why a war with Iran is the real threat
The war drums are beating. Yesterday’s announcement that the EU has formally adopted an oil embargo against Iran follows the news that Britain, America, and France are sending six warships led by a 100,000 ton aircraft carrier through the highly sensitive waters of the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran had threatened to close in response [...]
Education Under Fire
Article first published as Education Under Fire on Blogcritics. Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: “Everyone has the right to education…Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit…It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all [...]
U.S. Actor Rainn Wilson talks about persecution of Bahá’í Students in Iran
The following is a link to a beautiful and moving video in which U.S. actor Rainn Wilson, himself a member of the Baha’i Faith, talks about the persecution of Baha’i students in Iran and the recent attack there upon the Baha’i Institute for Higher Education. His point is that an attack on the Baha’i's right [...]
A War Against Knowledge
This Article was first published as A War Against Knowledge on Blogcritics. Writing in The Huffington Post, Nobel Laureates Desmond Tutu and Jose Ramos-Horta note: Freedom of education and freedom of information are integral to freedom of thought. Few advances have been made for humankind which were not preceded by new ways of looking at [...]
How Does It Feel to Be a Question?
Article first published as How Does It Feel to Be A Question? on Blogcritics. I wrote recently that young Baha’is in Iran are denied the experience of graduating from college taken for granted by young Americans this time of year. For a young Baha’i in the United States, the denial was not a diploma, but [...]
Not Free To Learn
Article first published as Not Free to Learn on Blogcritics. This time of year in America is the graduation season. Thousands of young people march to the sounds of Pomp and Circumstance and receive their diplomas. It is a time of celebrating achievement and looking forward to the future. It is a time of caps [...]
Tea with Hezbollah
Last Thursday, the New York Times reported that the Shi’i military and political movement Hezbollah, which many would classify as terrorist, toppled the Lebanese government just six months after the death of Ayatollah Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah.
Contributing Scholars
Rebecca LeviReligious Studies grad student. Amateur cartoonist and cook, even more amateur violinist and science nerd. All-around kvetch.
Lauren TuchmanLauren graduated from the Jewish Theological Seminary in May of 2011 with a Master of Arts in Judaic Studies and holds a BA in religion from Dickinson College. Lauren's interests include the intersection between religion and disability and religion and gender studies.
Madison McClendonMadison McClendon grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, where he fell in love with the works of J.R.R. Tolkien at a young age. Growing up, he attended First Baptist Church in Greenville, South Carolina, and continues to find his religious home in the Alliance of Baptists and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, though his Chicago context is encouraging him to make connections with the American Baptist Churches. He graduated magna cum laude from Furman University with a degree in Religion and Political Science in 2009, and continued his education by pursuing a Master of Divinity Degree at the University of Chicago. At the University of Chicago, Madison was a Schloerb Fellow and a Fund for Theological Education Congregational Fellow, and he graduated in 2012. Madison pursued academic work in religion and literature, specifically examining how fantasy texts and religious texts might illuminate each other. In addition to these studies, Madison also took classes on preaching and pastoral arts, and is interested in how the fruits of the academy can be applied carefully to the building of productive, healthy religious communities.