Politics & Society

You've Been Scammed! Kept Politicians and Demobilized Americans in a System Without a Name

By |

We are, it seems, enmeshed in a new hybrid system, which fits the Constitution, the classic tripartite separation of powers, and the idea of democracy increasingly poorly. We have neither an adequate name for it, nor an adequate language to describe it. I’m talking here about the “real world” in which, at least in the old-fashioned American sense, you will no longer be a citizen of a functioning democracy.

Culture

Hyper-Masculinity, Twin Peaks, & Gendered Violence

By |

The reinforcing messages sent from “breastaurants” like Twin Peaks and Hooters are quite clear”: inscribed gender roles and promotion of socially constructed norms of female beauty, which are exclusionary hegemonic ideologies in terms of body size and shape and standards for skin and hair type. These establishments endorse a consumeristic colonization of women’s bodies for the edification of the objectifying male gaze.

Environment

The Navy's Great Alaskan 'War'

By |

The pristine waters in the Gulf of Alaska will be irreversibly damaged by the Navy’s Northern Edge war games. National security is the usual justification, but aren’t food, biodiversity, and a sustainable income part of national security as well?

Healing Israel/Palestine

"Israel" Is the Name of a People Also

By |

What does it mean, deeply and fully, for the People of Israel, as well as the State of Israel, to be named “Yisrael,” or “Godwrestlers”? Why does the Torah repeat so many times the command, “Treat strangers with justice and love, for you were strangers in the Narrow Land”? What are the relationships among love, admiration, and idolatry directed toward the State?

art

A Muslim's Reflections on Holocaust Remembrance Day

By |

I am a Contributing Scholar for the State of Formation, an online program of the Journal of Interreligious Dialogue. Earlier this month the State of Formation sent me and a few other scholars to the National Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. What’s the big deal, you ask? I’m Muslim who grew up in Pakistan, and I had never thought much about the Holocaust until this visit.

Politics & Society

Religious Freedom Restoration Acts Restore Bigotry & Repression

By |

So what can we infer from those religions that justify such discriminatory treatment of other human beings when, in reality, all religious doctrine stems from uncertainty and conjecture, from multiple Gods, hybrid Gods and humans? We must work to rescind Indian’s “Religious Freedom Restoration Act” because with it, no one is truly free since it only restores bigotry and repression.

Empathy

The Tikkun Passover Seder Supplement

By |

We understand God in part as the Transformative Power of the Universe – the force that makes possible the transformation from that which is to that which ought to be, the force that permeates every ounce of Being and unites all in one transcendent and imminent reality. And you are welcome at our Seder even if you think all of this makes no sense and there is no God.

Culture

Admissions: A Peace-Oriented Film About Israel/Palestine

By |

In 2011, the script for Admissions was given to Academy Award nominee and peace activist, James Cromwell, who graciously agreed to play the lead role. Admissions has won 26 international awards, been translated into Hebrew, Arabic, Farsi, and Spanish, and broadcast to 80 million people worldwide. As a result of the positive response, a number of peace organizations coalesced around the film’s message and several efforts were synergized. The result was a new mission to create Ministries and Departments of Peace in governments worldwide.