This Friday, April 30, the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics at New York University will hold a day-long symposium entitled "The Traffic in Policy: Religion, Sexuality, and the State." Complete details are available here.
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Announcements, events, and opportunities related to topics of interest to TIF readers are posted here. Additionally you may find round-ups of news items and brief commentary on current events.
For a listing of all of the events announcements, click here.
For a listing of announcements regarding books, click here.
events
U.S. Relations with the Muslim World: One Year After Cairo
by Jessica PolebaumThe Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy will hold it's 11th annual conference this Wednesday, April 28, on "U.S. Relations with the Muslim World: One Year After Cairo."
April 26, 2010
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South Park’s politics of religion
by Sam HanLong known for lambasting religious groups and celebrities alike (Scientology, thus, being one of the producers' favorite targets), South Park, the long-running animated series on Comedy Central, made some news recently, when it depicted the Prophet Muhammad during its 200th episode. The episode deliberately blurred the lines of what is understood by "representation" or "depiction" of the Prophet, a question that has been especially touchy in the wake of the Danish cartoon incident.
April 26, 2010
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Made in America
by Charles GelmanClaude S. Fischer discusses his latest book, Made in America: A Social History of American Culture and Character, at Rorotoko.
April 27, 2010
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Demography and de-secularization
by John D. BoyProfile Books recently published Shall the Religious Inherit the Earth?, an analysis of the demographic contradictions of modern capitalist societies, by Eric Kaufmann, a British sociologist and political scientist. Its general argument is familiar to those who have read the work of Norris and Inglehart: religious populations have higher birthrates, which offset secularizing tendencies. Says Kaufmann, “I am trying to force a certain rethink of the idea that we are moving naturally toward secularism. To shake up our complacency and, perhaps, stir up some debate.” That he has.
April 27, 2010
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A right to home-school?
by Ruth BraunsteinAt Miller-McCune, Michael Scott Moore reports on a German family that was granted asylum by a federal immigration judge in Tennessee, who found they "were at risk of persecution by German authorities because they wanted to home-school their kids." The family was represented by the Home School Legal Defense Association, which took on the case "in the name of homeschoolers around the world."Although the organization argues that the "Western nation should uphold basic human rights, which include allowing parents to raise and educate their own children,” Moore seeks to contextualize Germany's schooling policy in light of these claims.
April 27, 2010
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Lived religion, British-style?
by Sam HanOver at the British weekly The Observer, Peter Stanford reviews Is God Still an Englishman?, the latest from Cole Moreton.
April 28, 2010
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“Hegemonic Secularism, Dominant Communalism”
by Jessica PolebaumIn the January issue of Rethinking Marxism (sub. req.), Saroj Giri explores the underlying assumptions that drive the conceptions of Indian secularism employed by both its critics and its advocates.
April 28, 2010
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Beck, Falwell and “Christian America”
by John SchmalzbauerBack in 2004, evangelical educator Richard Mouw brought a message of friendship and reconciliation to Mormon America, speaking to a packed house at the Salt Lake City Tabernacle. Apologizing for the way conservative Protestants had treated Mormons, Mouw said, "We evangelicals have sinned against you." Six years later, a very different speaker will cross over in the other direction. On May 15, Mormon broadcaster Glenn Beck will deliver the commencement address at Liberty University, the Virginia school founded by the late Jerry Falwell.
April 29, 2010
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The crucifix controversy and the contradictions of German secularism
by John D. BoyLast week, the prime minister of Lower Saxony, a member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), replaced several ministers in his cabinet. The new holder of the portfolio that includes social, health, and family policy, women's affairs, and integration, is a 38-year-old woman called Aygül Özkan, also a Christian Democrat. She is not only the first minister of Turkish descent to serve in a German state government, but also the first Muslim to hold an executive office at this level in Germany. What does the reaction to her first public statements reveal about the nature of German secularism?
April 30, 2010