Dear Mr. Graham, I’d like to introduce you to some friends of mine. The first friend is Golnaz. Golnaz is a bright and beautiful young woman from Iran. My husband first met her while working on a project at Harvard…
Beating back ISIS
By Martin Accad Every few days, we seem to wake up to another massacre committed by ISIS. And these are, of course, only the ones that the media reports. ISIS, in reality, is committing massacres on a daily basis. We…
Why some question whether the President loves America
President Obama’s comments at the annual prayer breakfast sparked a tsunami of protest from conservative politicians and opinion leaders, but it’s not clear why. The president’s remarks were measured and carefully calibrated to the point of being banal. But two…
Truly knowing people simultaneously clears and blurs your vision
This subject, about which I have thought for many years, was stimulated by a recent Pew Research Center study referenced in an article entitled Americans Are More Likely to Like Muslims if They Know One. The research report from Pew…
Another shooting? Not again.
Not again. That was my first thought upon seeing countless posts on Twitter about a shooting in Chapel Hill. By now, many of you have heard about the shooting of Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, his wife, Yusor Mohammad, 21, and…
I am Charlie, I am Jewish, I am …
Baptists, of all people, are qualified-and should be motivated-to speak words of peace, reconciliation and encouragement to the religious divisions plaguing our world. Disenfranchisement is part of our DNA. We support free speech and free expression. We value religious liberty….
Critiquing Islam – and ourselves
When bad religion makes headlines
The recent hoopla over using the Duke University chapel for Muslim prayers raises interesting issues, and is just another sign of our highly-religious nation’s deeply troubled understanding of its own convictions. The value of religious principles to our nation’s values…
Redemption at Duke Chapel
Admittedly jarring in light of the recent tragedies in Paris and Nigeria was the news that on Fridays at noon the Muslim call to prayer will be chanted and broadcast from atop the Duke University Chapel bell tower. Having travelled…