Islamophobia, Sikhophobia, and Media Profiling
In fact, the first casualty of a hate crime in post-9/11 America was a Sikh-American named Balbir Singh Sodhi. According to official reports, his murderer said he killed Sodhi because “he was dark-skinned, bearded, and wore a turban.”
Inkerfaith: What My New Abraham Lincoln Tattoo Has To Do With Atheism and Interfaith Work
These last few weeks, I’ve gotten a lot of questions about my newest tattoo — a portrait of Abraham Lincoln on my right shoulder. “Why Abraham Lincoln? Is it because there are rumors he was gay?” Well, no, but I do appreciate the opportunity to make a Gaybraham Lincoln pun, thank you. “Why Abraham Lincoln? [...]
Stephen Hawking’s Other Insight
I am sitting in Oregon, adoring the all-too-brief bouts of sunshine interrupting the more extended periods of drizzle. The sky is clouded, as it apparently often is in this part of the world, and for the first time in a while I feel like the least hipster person in the room. I am here because [...]
The Humanist Obligation to Serve: Being “Good without God” Requires Action
“I would like my life to be a statement of love and compassion — and where it isn’t, that’s where my work lies.” — Ram Dass Ten years ago, in the summer before my freshman year of high school, I went with my church to the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota to do home [...]
Listen to Lupe, Ellison and Eboo: It’s Time to Hear From More Muslims
As I sit here contemplating Representative Peter King’s (R-NY) upcoming ”Muslim radicalization” hearings, trying to discern if my stomach ache is the result of the cookies I’m scarfing or the prospect of congressional hearings that specifically target one community, I’m comforted by rapper Lupe Fiasco’s new single, “Words I Never Said.” Over a deliciously lush and crunchy [...]
Talking About Atheism and Interfaith Work at Religious Colleges
This post originally appeared on The Huffington Post Religion. This February, as friends of mine flocked south to escape the unrelenting cold of Boston, I headed to the Midwest. It was my first college and university speaking tour, put together in partnership with eight institutions in Indiana, Illinois and Iowa that extended invitations for me [...]
From Ground Zero to Gays in Uganda: A Millennial Response to Modern Moral Crises
This piece originally appeared on the Huffington Post Religion and was co-authored with Valarie Kaur. In the weeks following 9/11, a Sikh man named Balbir Singh Sodhi was shot down at a gas station by a man shouting “I’m a patriot!” In 2009, a 9-year-old girl named Brisenia Flores and her father were murdered in [...]
Do Only Religious People Have a ‘Calling’?
This post originally appeared on the Huffington Post Religion. In a recent interview with BBC Radio 4, musician Jack White (of the White Stripes and other bands) reflected on his “calling.” “I was thinking at 14 that possibly I might have had the calling to be a priest,” said White. “Blues singers sort of have the same [...]
A Humanist Resolution to Overcome the Faith Gap
This post originally appeared in the Huffington Post Religion. It may be mid-January, but I’m still thinking of Christmas. The week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve just might be my favorite of the year. It is the one time that my entire family gets together. We spend several days eating our favorite foods, catching [...]
Contributing Scholars
Mani RaoMani Rao (b.1965 India) is the author of eight poetry books and a translation of the Bhagavad Gita published by Autumn Hill Books (2010) and Penguin India (2011). Her poems and essays are published in journals including Tinfish, Wasafiri, Meanjin, Washington Square, Fulcrum, West Coast Line, and Interim, and in anthologies including Zoland Poetry, W.W.Norton’s Language for a New Century, and the BloodAxe Book of Contemporary Indian Poets. She was a Visiting Fellow at the Iowa International Writing Program in 2005 and 2009, and the 2006 University of Iowa International Programs writer-in-residence. Mani has an MFA in poetry, and is a phD student of Religious Studies at Duke University. Her website is www.manirao.com
Casey SigmonCasey is first year Ph.D student in Homiletics and Liturgics and fellow in The Program in Theology and Practice at Vanderbilt. She is an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). She lives in Nashville with her husband, two cats and twenty Divinity school students at the Disciples Divinity House.
Chris StedmanChris Stedman is the former Managing Director of State of Formation at the Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue. He is also the Interfaith and Community Service Fellow for the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard, a columnist for the Huffington Post and Washington Post On Faith, and is currently writing a book on religious-nonreligious engagement.