On Nov. 17, 1999, I met Muhammad Ali. It was at the Cathedral of the Assumption on 5th Street in Louisville, Ky., in a Cathedral Heritage Series of ecumenical gatherings. I was the preacher for an interfaith Thanksgiving service, and…
Editor rebuked for saying Muslims don’t deserve religious freedom
A Baptist expert on religious liberty rebutted a Baptist state newspaper editorial suggesting American Muslims do not qualify for the free exercise of religion guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Brent Walker, executive director of the Baptist…
Baptist editor says Muslims don’t deserve religious freedom
A Baptist state newspaper editor criticized a Southern Baptist Convention official for defending the building of a New Jersey mosque, suggesting that Islam should not be given First Amendment protection. Gerald Harris, editor of the Georgia Baptist newspaper Christian Index, wrote an…
For some imams, Ramadan is a month-long revival, Muslim style
Imad Enchassi likens the Muslim holy month of Ramadan to what some Christians described as getting some of that old-time religion. “I call it a revival camp” for Muslims, said Enchassi, imam of the Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City….
The world is getting more religious, because the poor go for God
Far from being the century in which religion went away, for both Christianity and Islam, the 20th century was numerically the most successful century since Christ was crucified and Muhammad gave his farewell sermon on Mount Arafat.
Baptist-Muslim scholar swap produces dialogue on Jesus, the Trinity and religious violence
A scholar swap between a Baptist seminary in Georgia and an Islamic university in India uncovered a mirror image of mistrust and confusion between Christians and Muslims in both countries. The professors — Loyd Allen of Mercer University’s McAfee School of…
In North Carolina and Syria, the politics of ‘home’ is real
I haven’t lived in the place where I was born and raised in a long time. But sometimes a quality of “home” embedded in my consciousness is suddenly awakened — a visceral sense of rootedness in a place, among a…
American Muslim writer notes predictable media reactions to terrorism
In a tweetstorm on March 22, Moroccan-American and Muslim writer Laila Lalami bemoaned scripted American media reactions to terrorism and mass shootings.
Christians, Muslims fear backlash from Brussels attacks
The deadly explosions in Brussels Tuesday morning had some American Muslims and Christians awaking with dismay. “I’d like to say I was surprised, but I wasn’t,” said Joe Bradford, founder of the Houston-based nonprofit American Muslims Care. The previous arrests…
Not all evangelicals afraid of dialogue, Muslims and Christians say
A new study illustrates in numbers what many already know intuitively: evangelicals aren’t big on dialoguing with anyone but themselves. “Evangelicals seem to have a particularly difficult time talking to those outside their group,” the Barna Group reported in a March…
When religion turns hateful, it loses its moral voice
In this craziest of presidential primary seasons, I have not mentioned the Republican candidate with the “best plumage,” the colorful description offered by Marilynne Robinson. I have found his words so offensive, his narcissism so egregious, and his attitude toward…
Where is the ‘I’ in ‘we’?
The charter of the United Nations begins with “We the people.” The U.N. is the one organization that ostensibly ties all of the world’s people together. And yet I’m sure that swaths of human beings don’t identify themselves as a…