As I noted in August, one in five Americans mistakenly believes that President Obama is secretly a Muslim. Yet more disconcerting than the fact that this propaganda has been so widely disseminated, is that one of Obama's most recent strategies for combating the problem is simply giving in.
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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.
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Saba Mahmood on religious freedom and the Middle East
by Jessica PolebaumOn October 4, Saba Mahmood spoke at Georgetown's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs on "Politics of Religious Freedom and the Minority Question: A Middle Eastern Genealogy."
October 28, 2010
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Secularism and atheism: a discussion at the Institute for Advanced Study
by Charles GelmanStefanos Geroulanos’s An Atheism that Is Not Humanist Emerges in French Thought---the subject of an ongoing forum here at The Immanent Frame---was taken up for discussion last week by participants in the yearlong seminar on secularism being held at the Institute for Advanced Study, in Princeton, NJ, and conceived and directed by Joan Wallach Scott.
October 29, 2010
events
An intellectual and political memorial for Claude Lefort, tomorrow at the New School
by Charles GelmanIn memory of philosopher and political theorist Claude Lefort, who died on October 3, Constellations and the New School will hold a memorial symposium tomorrow. For details, including the program, see here.
October 29, 2010
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“Leadership and Leitkultur”
by Charles GelmanIn The New York Times, Jürgen Habermas discusses the current political situation in Germany and the general challenge to liberal democracy enfolded in attempts to define and defend a national culture.
October 31, 2010
events
“States of Devotion” conference, Nov. 4-5, Hemispheric Institute, NYU
by Grace YukichThe Hemispheric Institute of New York is holding a conference this Thursday-Friday (Nov. 4-5), called "States of Devotion: Religion, Neoliberalism and the Politics of the Body in the Americas," on "the changing role of religious discourses and practices in the wake of the transformations wrought by neoliberal globalization upon communities, societies, and polities across the Hemisphere."
November 2, 2010
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“Serving Two Masters”? Not in Oklahoma…
by Jessica PolebaumLast week, Stanley Fish contemplated the compatibility of religious and constitutional law in the secular state, ultimately offering a short review of the forthcoming edited volume Shari'a in the West. "Must a devout Muslim (or orthodox Jew or fundamentalist Christian)," he asked, "choose between his or her faith and the letter of the law of the land?
November 3, 2010
books
Habermas and Religion
by The EditorsEdited by Craig Calhoun, Eduardo Mendieta, and Jonathan VanAntwerpen, Habermas and Religion presents a series of original and sustained engagements with Habermas’s writing on religion in the public sphere, featuring new work and critical reflections from leading philosophers, social and political theorists, and anthropologists. Contributors to the volume respond both to Habermas’s ambitious and well-developed philosophical project and to his most recent work on religion. The book closes with an extended response from Habermas—itself a major statement from one of today’s most important thinkers.
November 3, 2010
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The persistence of the religious right
by John D. BoyDespite the trend among younger Americans to turn their backs on organized religion to protest its right-wing excesses, the religious right will continue to dominate in the United States. That is the argument made by progressive evangelical sociologist Tony Campolo in a recent contribution posted to The Huffington Post.
November 8, 2010
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What sort of “values” are we talking about?
by Charles GelmanAt Trans/Missions, Richard Flory looks at the interplay of matters of principle and matters pecuniary among religious voters in last week's mid-term elections.
November 8, 2010