In the 1520s and 1530s, a man named Esteban de Dorantes, known as Estevanico, walked across the deserts of what is now Texas, New Mexico and Arizona – decades before the English founded Jamestown in 1607 and a full century…
Baptists need to speak up again for religious liberty
As people spent the Fourth of July holiday with friends, family and local community, the United States continues to experience a slide away from universal religious liberty and a shift toward authoritarian government targeting religious beliefs and actions. The Baptist public theology…
What I wish Christians knew about Sharia Law
Recently in Houston, Mohamed Hussein walked into the Texas Republican Convention as a delegate. He walked out in tears. Hussein, a conservative-leaning Muslim American whose family came from Egypt in 1992, attended not as a protester but as a participant…
CAIR links San Diego murders to Republican-fueled Islamophobia
It’s hardly a surprise that the shooters who killed three people at a California mosque May 18 were motivated by hate, said the Council on American-Islamic Relations. CAIR made the statement after authorities revealed the two San Diego teens met…
Greg Abbott is on a campaign against religious liberty
One year ago, I wrote about how Texas Gov. Greg Abbott amplified a racist, Islamophobic tweet to further a conspiracy theory about a North Texas Muslim community. The conspiracy was that the planned community, EPIC City, was going to enact…
And to think I saw it in a Buc-ee’s parking lot
I would have been less surprised seeing an elephant walking past — carrying a Raja, with rubies, perched high on a throne. I certainly would have felt less nervous for the elephant’s and the Raja’s well-being. What I saw took…
Texas interfaith coalition speaks up for Muslims’ religious freedom
As Republican elected leaders in Texas seek to limit the activities of Muslim organizations, an interfaith coalition has issued a plea to defend Muslim neighbors and their religious freedom. The open letter was created by George A. Mason and Nancy…
Letter to the Editor: When Muslims sound more like Jesus than the Christians
I live in Alabama where, apparently, a number of aspirants to political office are operating on the sad assumption that a majority of Alabama voters will reward them for being xenophobic, in general, and Islamophobic, in particular. Last week, in…
Will Zohran Mamdani institute Sharia law in New York?
Zohran Mamdani is the mayor-elect of New York City, the largest city in the United States, and will take office on New Year’s Day 2026. Mamdani was born in Kampala, Uganda, and became a naturalized American citizen in 2018. He…
Tommy Tuberville versus the tenderness of true faith
Right-wing news outlet Newsmax reported Nov. 7 that, in reaction to Zohran Mamdani’s election as mayor of New York City, Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama predicted the city will be “completely Muslim in three or four years.” I’m sure…
Christian nationalists and some Jews foresee doom in Mamdani’s win
Christian nationalists are losing their minds over the election of Zohran Kwame Mamdani as the first Muslim mayor of New York City. Before and since Mamdani’s Nov. 4 victory, evangelicals, right-wing politicians and conspiracy theorists expressed fears the Ugandan-born immigrant would…
A Town Reluctantly Let a Mosque Expand. Then Came the Backlash.
When a Long Island town last month agreed to settle a lawsuit over a mosque’s plans to upgrade its modest facilities, it appeared to end a seven-year fight in which the town had opposed basic renovations at every turn.