Category: Challenges
Inter-Religious Diplomacy: Trustworthy Opponents Engaging in Respectful Contestation Yield Peaceful Tension
Historically, when people have found themselves in conflicts over the best way to live or the very purpose of life, they have often found a way to separate from—if not fight—each other to protect ... Read More
Video Blog: “Islamophobia: The New McCarthyism?”
Here is my interview with Odyssey Networks on why, as a Jew, I find the Peter King hearings so disturbing. Do you find them disturbing? If so, why? On the bright side, as noted in Religious Freedom U... Read More
Give Meaning to What is Positive, Not to What is Negative
I can say with complete honesty that I am not mean. In fact, I haven’t a mean bone in my body. So, why then, do I sometimes do mean things? Why do I sometimes surround myself with negative thoughts ... Read More
Bullying isn’t just for kids: why dialogue is essential in Wisconsin teachers’ strike
Over the past few weeks, I have been fascinated at the cat and mouse game that is happening just over the border from me in Wisconsin. The big bully Governor Walker is metaphorically taking away the... Read More
Harding University and The State of the Gay
Nestled in the heart of Arkansas west of the mighty Mississippi, but east of the Ozarks lies a quaint Southern town with a big college atmosphere. It’s quiet and hot (the humid type!) during the... Read More
Everything I Need to Know I Learned from a Tibetan Buddhist Mandala
I spent a lot of time at the Gyuto Monks’ mandala at the 2009 Parliament of the World’s Religions in Melbourne, Australia. The mandala is the traditional Tibetan Buddhist form of sandpainting, pra... Read More
25 Leading Rabbis (and two students!) Speak Out Against Islamophobia
Rabbi Rachel Kahn-Troster, Executive Director of Rabbis for Human Rights, may have said it best: Ever since the September 11, 2001 attack on the United States, hatred and discrimination against Muslim... Read More
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... Read More