Young evangelicals listen to their pastors. Do pastors listen to them?

“When students come back at semester breaks, that’s when the conversations really pick up,” said Jon-Michael Phillips, 35, a youth pastor at a nondenominational church in Jackson, Michigan, a city of about 31,000 between Ann Arbor and Lansing, the state’s two big college towns.

As students from the University of Michigan and Michigan State return home for the holidays, Phillips is less concerned about college football rivalries than about the political discussions he is bound to have. “Every year, students want to talk to me about things they are struggling with,” he said, “and one of the topics a few are sure to bring up is politics.” 

Phillips said students often share that when it comes to LGBT issues, the environment or the Republican Party, they increasingly feel at odds with the politics they often heard from the pulpit as they grew up or what was shared at home. 

As they become more politically aware and active, Phillips said, they start to question how their evangelical Christian parents and pastors have presented these issues and others. 

“The nice thing is they still want to talk and want to know what I think,” Phillips said. “The question is what I can do with these conversations.” 

Special Guest Episode at the Maydan

Podcasts are fun.

They’re even more fun when you get to do them with a valued colleague.

A couple of months ago, Wikke Jansen and I sat down to talk about my book The Muslims of Latin America and the Caribbean. Wikke is a visiting fellow at the Berlin University Alliance Project “Global Repertoires of Living Together (RePLITO) and received her Ph.D. in Global Studies from the Institute of Asian and African Studies at Humboldt University Berlin, where we got to know one another through the Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Societies.

Wikke not only carefully read my work, but also asked some poignant and pointed questions about what its points might have to say to other themes in the study of global Islam and decolonization.

The result is a special guest episode at the Maydan, an online publication of Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies at George Mason University, offering expert analysis on a wide variety of issues in the field of Islamic Studies for academic and public audiences alike, and serving as a resource hub and a platform for informed conversation, featuring original articles and visual media from diverse perspectives.

Going Hungry for God: Why Do People Fast?

“I wonder what it would be like to fast in Siberia,” my friend Mohammed asked.

Mohammed had always enjoyed Ramadan in the company of family and friends in Jordan — a Muslim-majority country in the Middle East. He was curious what it might be like to fast in places where Muslims were in the minority or where daylight hours extended late into the night, extending the fasting period beyond the limits he was used to.

According to Islamic tradition, fasting is required during Ramadan, the ninth month of its lunar calendar. In 2022, Ramadan is likely to start on April 2. For thirty days, those fasting are obligated to abstain from drinking, eating, or engaging in other indulgent activities (like sex, smoking, and activities considered sinful) from just before sunrise to sunset. Depending upon where you are in the world, that can mean fasting 10 or up-to-21 hours. It was the idea of fasting for such a potentially long time that prompted Mohammed’s ponderous question about fasting in Siberia.

Muslims are far from the only religious actors who fast. Bahá’ís fast during daylight hours during the first three weeks of March in preparation for the Naw-Rúz Festival. As this post goes to press, Christians the world over are still in the midst of their Lenten fasts and looking forward to Easter. Jews fast as part of Yom Kippur — the Day of Atonement — as a means of repentance and solemn preparation. Some Hindus regularly practice fasting as a means of willful detachment and devotion.

With such a wide range of similar aesthetic practices, one might wonder: why do so many different religious people choose to go hungry for god?

What is "Religion" Anyway?

In 2013, the Disciples of the New Dawn started posting highly offensive memes on Facebook. They attacked everyone from Pagans and steampunk fans to women who had C-sections.

Tapping into fears about religious fundamentalism and public obsession with “cults,” their vitriolic posts went viral.

As the posts were shared with increasing frequency, some started to wonder whether Disciples of the New Dawn were a real religious community or just a cabal of internet trolls goading us into digital outrage (it turns out, they were the latter).

When I teach courses on religious studies, I like to use the case of the Disciples of the New Dawn as an opportunity for students to wrestle with the concept of religion itself. It prompts them to consider questions like: what makes a religion real? Or, what makes a religion ”religious” at all?

While we may feel like “we know religion when we see it,” we generally struggle to be exact when it comes to determining what counts as religion. Even if we have a vague idea, defining religion feels like pinning jello to a wall.

Which makes things difficult. Because, before can begin to dig deeper into the topic of religion, we first have to define the object of our study.

So, what is this thing we call “religion” anyway?

ReligionLink: Seven religion stories for 2022

When I met Mary Gladstone, ReligionLink’s Assistant Editor, back in 2012 I knew that someday I wanted to help put the publication together.

Why? Because ReligionLink is the ultimate resource for journalists reporting on religion.

A service of the Religion News Association and its Foundation, the monthly newsletter delivers free tools and tips for writing about religion with balance, accuracy and insight. Our source guides and story ideas provide insight into headlines on specific faiths and topics from around the world.

Ten years later, I am proud to announce that I am ReligionLink’s new Editor!

Now, I’ll be part of putting together comprehensive source guides and story ideas on the most timely and controversial issues in religion and ethics.

For my first edition, I tried my hand at a bit of religion news “prophecy.”

From The New York Times to The Economist, pundits and news “prophets” have been predicting that 2022 will be the year of “adjusting to new realities.” This not only means adjustments in daily life, but broader shifts in politics and technology, economics and, of course, religion. 

My first edition of ReligionLink explores seven issues that may deserve attention this year, including resources and potential sources to help you cover them:

• Democracy, autocracy and … aliens

• Major SCOTUS decisions

• Endemic religion

• Religious communities and climate change

• The continuing rise of “spirit tech”

• Religious economies

• International sporting events and human rights

December 2021 Book Giveaway!

Looking to get that religion nerd in your life something unique for the holidays?

Interested in exploring the vibrancy and diversity of Muslim life and experiences in Latin America and the Caribbean?

In the market for an effective sleep aid? ;)

Well, I’ve got extra copies of my new book The Muslims of Latin America and the Caribbean and I’d like to give one away!

To enter to win a copy sent to the address of your choice, simply do any of the following between now and December 14, 2021:

1) Sign up for my Religion+Culture E-Newsletter;

2) Sign up for the Latin America and Caribbean Islamic Studies Newsletter;

3) Share news about the book and/or the book giveaway and tag me on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

Entries are open until December 14. Multiple entries allowed.

Questions, comments, or conundrums? Send me a note.

Gracias a Dios, alhamdulillah, and great thanks to each and every one of you

The acknowledgements section of my book was extremely gratifying to write. It is even more gratifying to share it here with you.

Perhaps this has become trite to say, but after such an undertaking, I can attest that completing this book would have been impossible without the help of others. I am indebted to each and every one of the following individuals and to many others. 

The debts of gratitude and appreciation that I have accumulated are vast, and I ask forgiveness from all those I neglect to name here. And, it must be said, any errors in this book are solely my own and are not the responsibility of those who provided input throughout the process.

First, to the students in my spring 2017 Islam in the Americas course at the University of Florida: You gave me the idea for this book. Thank you also to the graduate students in my course at Otto Friedrich Universität Bamberg in Germany. Beyond inspiration, you helped develop, think through, critique, and expand some of the ideas that formed the backbone of this work. You also researched and wrote your own papers, which informed my knowledge and expanded my understanding of the landscape of this field. Best of all, you challenged me with your questions, comments, and critiques. You are already contributors to this field, and I thank you for your continued engagement with it.

To those I spoke with at the Latin American Studies Association Congress, the Caribbean Studies Association Conference, the American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, the University of Florida and its Center for Global Islamic Studies, the Florida Caribbean Students Association, Florida International University, Otto Friedrich Universität Bamberg, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, and Freie Universität Berlin: My presentations at these venues helped me to elucidate and elaborate on some of the themes in this book. Preparing these presentations also allowed me to work out some of the devils hiding in the details. Thank you to the participants, presiders, and panelists for your critical feedback and insightful questions.

Thank you to the editors of the extraordinarily helpful Critical Muslim series and Hamsa: Journal of Judaic and Islamic Studies. Thanks also to Frank Usarski and the International Journal of Latin American Religions and its editorial team for publishing an early review of literature that came to form the basis for this book’s outline. Thank you also to Celso Luiz Terzetti Filho for recommending me for its inaugural issue. Thank you to the people behind The Encyclopedia of Latin American Religions—senior editor Henri Gooren, the contributors to my section, and the editorial staff at Springer—for allowing me to serve as a section editor for the entries on Islam and Judaism in Latin America and the Caribbean. Readers will note that I have referenced entries from the encyclopedia in this book, which is a testament to the essential nature of the work, especially with regard to its emphasis on religions too often ignored (Islam, in particular) when surveying religion in the region.

To the Muslims and others who invited me into their homes and mosques, who told me their stories, or who shared their insights and experiences with me: I dedicate this book to you for good reason. There would be no book without you, plain and simple. I am humbly honored to learn from you in each conversation and new experience that I stumble and bumble my way through. Thank you for your patience, your confidence to speak, and your permission to allow me to share these stories. Gracias a Dios, alhamdulillah, and great thanks to each and every one of you. This book is my perspective on your narrative, and I respectfully submit it to you for critical feedback. I look forward to the conversations to come.

To the many scholars whose work I turn to in this book: This is your book, as well. As I state in Chapters 1 and 11, the book is meant to be an overview of an ongoing conversation in which you are all vital parts. Thank you for allowing me to be a co-collaborator in this field. I hope the book helps all of us continue to teach, learn, and delve deeper into the topic. Specifically, I would like to thank several individuals whose work I reference or allude to and with whom I was able to speak about their particular areas of expertise and research: Carlos Jair Martínez Albarracín, Patrick Bowen, Philipp Bruckmayr, Karoline P. Cook, Kevin Funk, Michelle Romero Gallardo, Juan Galvan, Hazel Gómez, Cynthia Hernández González, Nik Hasif, Aisha Khan, Aliyah Khan, Schuyler Marquez, Arely Medina, Harold Morales, Alaina Morgan, Madelina Nuñez, Luciana Garcia de Oliveira, Lucía Cirianni Salazar, Omar Ramadan Santiago, and others. As I recently said to Schuyler Marquez, “A win for one of us is a win for all of us” in this emerging field.

To my family and friends: Thank you for your cheerleading, encouragement, and forbearance as I talked about my project, retreated into my writing cave, or cut you off as I jotted down an idea that popped into my head. Thanks especially to my parents, Bob and Sandy: You have always encouraged me, no matter what I have done. When I was worried, stressed, or overwhelmed, you gave me proper perspective and the support to keep me supple to the strain of life and work. You gave me life—literally, figuratively, and spiritually. Thank you to Brett, who taught me the meaning of perseverance in the face of adversity and can always make me smile. Thank you to my German family and friends, including Karl Knaack (also known as Stefan Müller) and his electronic music, which helped me work through hours of manuscript writing, editing, and research. Thank you to Michael and Emily Knippa for a lovely stay in St. Louis, where I was able to write the bulk of Chapter 9. Thank you also to Andy and Faye Scott, whose lovely farmhouse in Bend, Oregon, permitted me to write the concluding chapter in peace and comfort while admiring the cloud-covered Cascade Mountains. 

Despite my weaknesses as a writer, I would like to thank all those who taught me how to research, write, and edit my way through an essay, a paper, a blog post, a news story, or a book: Mrs. Kelly, Mrs. Campbell, Mrs. Davis, and editors at the various papers, magazines, and portals in which I have had the honor to be published. Thanks also go to professors, mentors, and colleagues at Concordia University Irvine, who specifically helped refine my academic research and writing skills—Christine Lawton, Eshetu Abate Koyra, Korey Maas, James Bachman, Steven Mueller, and Jack Schultz, among others. I still have much to learn, and any shortcomings in my syntax or style are solely my responsibility. 

I am forever thankful for the pure privilege it was to conduct research with, learn from, and grow alongside the faculty, staff, and fellow researchers at the University of Florida, its Department of Religion, the Center for Latin American Studies, and the Center for Global Islamic Studies. Terje Østebø, Anna Peterson, Benjamin Soares, Efraín Barradas, David Hackett, Robin Wright, Whitney Sanford, Zoharah Simmons, and others provided the space for me to explore the themes of this book and write its first draft during my time in Gainesville. Thanks also to Barbara Mennel and Sophia Krzys Acord at the Center for the Humanities and the Public Sphere and their sponsorship of my attendance at the 2018 Writing Retreat at the Austin Cary Forest Learning Center, where I was able to put the final touches on the first draft.

I would also like to thank those who provided funding to support revisions of the manuscript. First, thanks to Ermin Sinanović and the Center of Islam in the Contemporary World at Shenandoah University for a grant that supported significant revisions in fall 2019. Thank you also to the Fritz Thyssen Foundation for funding my research at the Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Societies at Freie Universität Berlin, where I was able to make final revisions (even amidst the Covid-19 pandemic) with the full security of a research position in a supportive environment of colleagues. In particular, I thank Konrad Hirschler and Lars Ostermeier for their leadership and direction, Nadja Danilenko for writing tips, Antje Müller for taking care of the logistics of my position, Giulia Brabetz for her assistance and critical feedback on the manuscript along the way, and the fellows who participated in my Theorizing Global Islam reading group, in which we discussed this book’s main arguments and themes.

Thank you to the team at Lynne Rienner Publishers. I appreciate (and tremble a bit at) being able to follow in the footsteps of Judith Elkin, who published The Jews of Latin America with the same independent academic publishing house years ago. While my work cannot hope to compare, Lynne Rienner, Caroline Owen Wintersgill, Nicole Moore, Sally Glover, Allie Schellong, Diane Foose, and others were gracious throughout the process as we sought to provide a companion to such a seminal work. My thanks also go to the anonymous reviewers who provided critical, detailed, and constructive feedback that improved the final version of the text significantly. Unfortunately, that type of review feedback can be a rare commodity in academic publishing. Therefore, I am extremely grateful.

Finally, Paula, how can a paragraph express how much you have given to me in life and how much you have contributed to this book? In short, it cannot. Let this suffice for now: Thank you for your fierce intellect, constant encouragement, contagious joy, and for providing proper rhythm in life. Thank you for allowing me time to explore mosques and other sites of interest in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Brazil, New York, Iowa, Florida, the Bahamas, and elsewhere. Thank you also for reading the manuscript and providing feedback, specifically in matters related to Arabic. You were gracious to take time out of your schedule to do so. What’s more, every time I finished a chapter, wrote a few thousand words, or just stared at the computer for a while trying to figure out where to go next, you were always ready with an encouraging word, an insightful comment, or an offer to get snacks. You are the most amazing best friend and partner I could ask for.

Public Lecture: What hath ethnography to do with religion journalism?

Diversity and difference continue to pose a pronounced challenge to the public understanding of religion.

For decades, both religion scholars and journalists have striven to address religious pluralism and advance religious literacy through a range of critical research and explanatory reporting. One shared aspect between them has been the use of immersive techniques in order to offer more nuanced, contextual, and longform narratives of the miscellany of religious traditions.

On the one hand, ethnographers of religion have produced textured analyses of religious individuals, socialities, rituals, and material cultures, further refining and complicating our understanding of what “religion” is and how it is lived in particular places. On the other hand, some religion newswriters are afforded the opportunity to take deep dives into religious actors’ lives and contexts and tell their stories in popular fashion via features, podcasts, and video stories.

Despite their differences, qualitative religious studies scholarship and religion journalism have more in common than usually acknowledged.

As part of the series "Erfurt Monday Lectures: New Topics in Religious Studies” at the University of Erfurt, I will share some insights and reflections as both an ethnographer and a journalist and how my research and reporting on religion has led me to explore questions related to the ethics, norms, and aesthetics of both fields and how they might work together to shine light on how religion and spirituality function in the lives of religious actors and socialities in a diverse array of locales and from multiple points of view.

The event will be Monday, 21 June 2021 at 5:00 pm Central European Time (11:00 am EDT/8:00 PDT). You can learn more about the event HERE, register ahead of time via e-mail, or simply attend the event at the link below (requires WebEx software).

If you have any questions, be sure to reach out to me as well: k.chitwood@fu-berlin.de.

Waiting for Justice: for over four years, World Vision employee has remained imprisoned without fair trial

Every day, at least once and sometimes more, Khalil el-Halabi logs on to Twitter and posts pictures, videos, and appeals on behalf of his son Mohammad.

Tagging people he believes might come to his aid—human rights lawyers, politicians, and journalists—he calls for justice and mercy. On January 4, he posted, “To our Israeli neighbours. My son will be brought to court for the 154th time Tuesday facing a charge he has not committed without any credible evidence.”

He closed the tweet with a quote from Amos 5:24: “Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”

Khalil’s son Mohammad el-Halabi is the former Gaza director for World Vision International. He was arrested by Israeli authorities in 2016 on allegations of aiding terrorists by diverting millions of dollars from the evangelical humanitarian aid group to arm militants in Gaza—charges Mohammad el-Halabi, still employed at World Vision as a zonal manager, adamantly denies.

After more than four years, Halabi is still awaiting justice. He hasn’t had the chance to defend himself or even see much of the evidence against him. Human rights experts with the United Nations say Halabi has also been denied access to his lawyer and tortured. His case is causing consternation among politicians and legal experts and has cast a cloud over evangelical organizations doing charitable work in Gaza and the West Bank.

Introducing the Latin America & Caribbean Islamic Studies Newsletter

The study of Islam & Muslim communities in Latin America and the Caribbean is a field on the rise and features an ever-expanding network of scholars.

This newsletter is one way for us to be connected.

The idea behind the Latin America & Caribbean Islamic Studies Newsletter is simple: to bring together persons interested in the study of Islam and Muslim communities in Latin America, the Caribbean, and the networks that exist across, between, and beyond the Americas. The goal is to increase knowledge and encourage further scholarship on the topic.

The quarterly newsletter will not only communicate information on research opportunities and contribute relevant resources, but also serve as a platform to connect and collaborate.

The Latin America and Caribbean Islamic Studies Newsletter is secular, academically independent, and non-confessional. Its main aims include gaining recognition for the field, creating a network of scholars with the hope of one day creating a formal membership organization, generating further interest in the topic, and producing data, analysis, and insights on the subject from various fields of research and the public sphere.

The General Editor for the newsletter is Dr. Ken Chitwood and the Editor is Ms. Giulia Brabetz, both of the Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures & Societies at Freie Universität Berlin. Contributions will include work from a range of scholars working in various fields. While the newsletter will be predominately in English, specific articles and resources will be provided in Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, French, Arabic, and other languages. 

The first newsletter will be sent mid-October, 2020. 

If you are interested in learning more about the newsletter or have specific questions or concerns, please contact k.chitwood@fu-berlin.de. 

Otherwise, we invite you to subscribe and share this invitation with other potentially interested people in your network. 

Plague Started Their Passion Play in 1633. COVID-19 Canceled It in 2020.

As an epidemic raged across Europe, a picturesque German village in the mountainous south of Bavaria decided to do something about it. 

Having already lost 80 of their own to the plague, the villagers of Oberammergau pledged to perform the Passion of Jesus Christ—his suffering, death, and resurrection—every tenth year, so that no one else might die. 

So goes the historical legend of the origins of the Oberammergau Passion Play, an almost four-centuries-old tradition that takes place once every 10 years. 

The year of the pledge was 1633, not 2020. The Pest—German for plague—was the so-called “Black Death,” not the COVID-19 pandemic.

But, in an ironic twist of fate, the 42nd Oberammergau season—set to run between May 16 to October 4, 2020—was postponed last week due to measures taken by local government authorities in response to the new coronavirus outbreak. 

For my latest story in Christianity Today, I spoke to organizers, tour operators, locals, and potential pilgrims about their hopes, fears, and the realities of what it means to postpone a once-in-a-decade ritual in light of COVID-19’s rapid spread across the globe.

Amid Ramadan celebrations, Jordanians fear an uncertain future

Traveling in Jordan during Ramadan presents a buffet of both blessings and challenges.

On the one hand, it’s a joy to experience the alternate rhythm of a nation fasting from food, drink, and the pleasures of life from sunrise to sunset and to observe how that changes the daily schedule and provides margins of time and space for spiritual reflection and rejuvenation.

On the other hand, it can be hard to grab lunch at that café you heard about in Abdoun because almost nothing is open for business during the holy month of fasting.

On the whole, I truly enjoyed my time in Jordan and the opportunity to experience the fasting and the feasting with Jordanians who quickly became friends. During iftars — meals in the evening to break the daily fast — and in a couple of local mosques, I got the chance to talk to young Jordanians about the country’s present and its potential futures.

The result is my latest piece with Religion News Service, which explores the many reasons why young Jordanians are uncertain about their kingdom’s future.

Find out why and read more by clicking below:

Fellowship with Spiritual Exemplars Project

What role does religion play in motivating exemplary individuals to commit their lives to humanitarian work? How does engaged spirituality sustain their work in the face of great challenges?

These are the questions I will help the University of Southern California’s (USC) Center for Religion and Civic Culture (CRCC) explore as a journalist-fellow reporting on, “Spiritual Exemplars: A Global Project on Engaged Spirituality.”

I am humbled, honored, and terribly excited to join a team of top-notch journalists from around the globe to help report on and write profiles about individuals working on humanitarian causes, such as poverty and  human rights.

The journalist-fellows for the Spiritual Exemplars Project. (PHOTO: USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture)

These “exemplars” are often inspired and sustained by their spiritual beliefs and practices. Whether they are Buddhist, Muslim or Christian — or do not adhere to any particular tradition — their spirituality compels them to be engaged with the world.

Religion and spirituality matter. They motivate us. They move us inwardly and outwardly and move with us across the globe. Throughout the annals of time and over vast geographic boundaries, religion and spirituality have helped humans express their deepest questions, confront some of the most critical issues of life, and influenced virtually every human society, civilization, or culture since the dawn of human history. 

Despite their ubiquity and importance, religion and spirituality are still relatively misunderstood. Even if they are valued, there remains a blind spot in our critical, but compassionate understanding of how religion and spirituality function in the lives of some of humanity’s most inspiring individuals and compelling communities. In the U.S., but also abroad, we suffer from what scholar Stephen Prothero calls, “religious illiteracy.” 

That is why it is important for us to seek to understand religion and spirituality in all of its vast diversity and from a variety of perspectives. 

The USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture studies, documents and helps communities understand the changes that shape religious cultures in Southern California and across the globe.

My writing, teaching, and speaking have been geared toward addressing religious illiteracy since I started with my first blog back in 2007. Given that the USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture studies, documents and helps communities understand the changes that shape religious cultures in Southern California and across the globe, I saw working with their Spiritual Exemplars Project as a prime opportunity to continue that work. Through my work over the next couple of years I aim to continue to shine light on how religion and spirituality function in the lives of exemplars and their communities in a diverse array of places and from multiple points of view.

If we want to understand our world and how the complexities of the human condition inform behavior in changing contexts, we must pay attention to the role of religious traditions and spiritual practices. Not only will this allow us to better appreciate the human condition and apperceive its highest shared values, but it might improve the possibility of addressing some of humanity’s most urgent shared challenges. 

Although the foundations of modern religion are shifting and spirituality as we have long known it is undergoing daily transformations, neither shows any signs of going away. Religion and spirituality will remain tenaciously important and will continue to impact human societies for the foreseeable future, playing a role in addressing the world’s most intractable problems — both for good and for ill. 

For these reasons and more, I am beyond thrilled to be a journalist-fellow with the Spiritual Exemplars Project and look forward to the stories, reports, and scholarly work that comes out of our work together over the next two-and-a-half years.

Be on the lookout for stories from the project on this website. If you have not already, be sure to sign up for my e-mail list so you can stay up-to-date with all the latest religion and culture news!

"Brewery church" story goes down smooth, but questions still bubble up

If you know me at all, you know that my interests in beer and religion are both relatively high.

That’s why when I came across Castle Church Brewing Community in Orlando, Florida I jumped at the opportunity to report on the “brewery church” for the Religion News Service (RNS).

Beyond the surface phenomena (and all the beer+religion puns like, “frothy faith”) there was a deeper resonant story at Castle Church that I wanted to tell — a story of church changing as we know it, of 30-somethings looking for home, and issues surrounding notions of class, gender, and race.

The story I wrote for RNS touches on these themes and invites you to reflect a little more on the significance of a brewery that is a church, a church that is also a brewery. As you read the story, enjoy the gimmick. Sure. But beyond the “beer church” novelty, take a moment to reflect on questions such as:

• What can a “brewery church” tell us about American religion? American Christianity?

• Why — at this moment in time — is such an idea popular let alone feasible?

• Who might be attracted by such a model? Why?

• Who is potentially marginalized by such a model? Women? People in the neighborhood north of Orlando International Airport that can’t afford craft beer? Good ole’ Florida boys looking for a Budweiser? Is this just a place for cis white males who want to play Settlers of Catan, drink beer, and debate Augustine?

These questions and conversations are still fermenting in my own mind (sorry, couldn’t help another beer pun!) and I don’t have any ready answers after my reporting. Furthermore, each of the people I interviewed for this story — Rev. Jared Witt, Dr. Annie Blazer, Jeremy Carnes, and others — had also thought about these issues and had some weighty and worthwhile comments to make on each.

With that in mind, I invite you to share your thoughts, send your questions, or post a comment on this blog or at ReligionNews.com by clicking the link below.

Museums’ mislabeling can leave visitors with misconceptions of biblical -- or 'quranic' -- proportions

With its long and tangled history, biblical iconography is a minefield for misattribution and mislabeling, especially as even casual knowledge of the Bible and other sacred texts is on the decline.

Some museums and organizations have had to admit some pretty embarrassing faux pas in recent weeks, wrote Menachem Wecker for the Religion News Service (RNS).

In his excellently reported piece, I had the opportunity to build on the biblical blunders and share about how Islamic subjects are also vulnerable to error.

Read the entire piece to find out about the epic mislabeling about topics in the Bible and the Qur’an that can lead to major misconceptions among museum goers…

Explaining the Hajj pilgrimage

Nearly 2 million Muslim pilgrims are gathering in the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia for the Hajj. This five-day pilgrimage is a once-in-a-lifetime obligation for all Muslims who have the physical and financial ability to undertake the journey.

Millions of Muslims come from countries as diverse as Indonesia, Russia, India, Cuba, Fiji, the United States and Nigeria – all dressed in plain white garments.

Men wear seamless, unstitched clothing, and women, white dresses with headscarves. The idea is to dress plainly so as to mask any differences in wealth and status. 

The pilgrimage is considered to be the fifth pillar of Islamic practice. The other four are the profession of faith, five daily prayers, charity and the fast of Ramadan.

What is the religious and political significance of this annual pilgrimage?

Lessons Learned Teaching Intro. to Islam Online

Like drinking water from a firehose.

That was the warning I gave to 75 students who signed up for the University of Florida's first ever online "Introduction to Islam" course (in conjunction with the Department of Religion, the Center for Global Islamic Studies, the Center for Instructional Technology and Training [CITT], and UF Online). 

For those who remained, they soon found out what it was like to learn the basics of Islamic belief and practices through an examination of Islamic history, law, and an array of theological orientations as articulated in the traditions of teachings of various traditions in just six weeks! 

As they reflected at the end of the course, they not only confirmed the intensity of the course but its value in challenging their stereotypes and enabling them to talk to others about the diversity of Islam and Muslim communities across the globe. 

The course also took time to explore Islamic practices in the contemporary period and expose students to reflect on the realities of religious everyday life and religious change through their readings, lectures, discussion boards, essays, and final class project -- an op-ed, commentary, or news analysis piece that they developed over the course of the semester. Not only did the students learn through this process, but I also gained new perspectives and lessons through the online teaching experience. 

As I walked to work this morning I listened to the news and heard three references to the place of Islam and Muslims in various contexts: about whether Islam is a part of Germany amidst their current asylum discussions; the SCOTUS decision on the "Muslim ban" in the U.S.; and the role of Islam in the peace process between Palestine and Israel. The news only impressed upon me the importance of giving students the ability to critically analyze the impacts of Islamic beliefs and values on social and cultural practices, and the formation of institutions, communities, and identities. Furthermore, I hoped to challenge students to grasp the complex relationship between the discursive traditions of a major world religion as well as the ambiguities of some key terms of Muslim religious thinking.

We were aware that this summer course could not amply cover the full extent of Muslim traditions across the ages and around the globe, but the expectation was that students would come away with a fuller appreciation for the richness and variety of Islam while also possessing a foundational understanding of its core concepts and practices.

On their final exam, I asked them to write regarding, "one thing you would like to tell someone about Islam and Muslims that you did not know before this course and you think is important for others to know." Overwhelmingly, students highlighted their learning about the diversity of Islam. 

One student wrote:

“I was led to believe that Islam was one monolithic religion and everyone followed it as is, save for the extremists. However, after learning more about the faith and its history over the last few centuries, I realize that Islam can manifest in different ways among various cultures, and that while set apart from other forms of Islam, the same core tenets remain. There are Muslims who visit shrines of saints, who use talismans with Quranic verses on them, and who push for either reform and/or maintaining current tradition as is. It goes to show [that] Muslims worldwide are an international community that cannot be defined in just one, overly general way.”

Another student learned about the various motivations that Muslim women have for choosing to veil in public. They wrote, "I think it is important for others to know this because the stereotypes of an oppressive Islam cause people to dislike Islam and cause them to create a largely negative image of Islam...I think if people knew the reasons that Muslim women chose to veil and how these women felt about it, some of this negativity surrounding Islam would disappear. I think it is important for people to be knowledgeable of ["women in Islam"] because it helps them create their own opinions of Islam based off of more than what they hear in the news."

There was some humor as well as one student quipped, "if you thought the name Muhammad was not popular before, think again!"

Lightness aside, other students discussed how their stereotypes about women in Islam, violence and jihad, and the modernization and Westernization of Islam were flipped on their heads or given new context and meaning. Overwhelmingly, students identified 9/11 as the key prism through which they had previously known Islam and Muslims and also set it aside as the centrifugal moment in contemporary global history. They recognized that the way the world sees Islam and Muslims -- while certainly influenced by historical perspectives and stereotypes -- is largely shaped by 9/11 and the subsequent "War on Terror." Not only that, but students appreciated how the media, government policies, and cultural tropes have seriously warped our understanding of what Islam is and is not and how Muslims live, act, and think across the globe. 

Reflecting on the current cultural and political climate one student said, "we shouldn’t treat Muslims as foreigners or people following an evil, alien culture. They aren’t so different from the average person you might meet on the street." 

These gleanings were also reflected in their final projects. Students shared their opinions and analyses on a variety of topics including the #MosqueMeToo movement, Islam and Muslim communities in Africa, and the parallels and dissimilarities between Zen Buddhist traditions and Sufi mystic beliefs and practices. We took the semester to help students develop their project from idea to thesis, outline to draft, and draft to final copy and were rewarded with fine-tuned arguments, clear perspectives, and in-depth analyses. 

In the coming weeks, I hope to publish a couple of these pieces and to share with you some of the things that students passed on to me. These projects reflect the ongoing need for individuals, teachers, and students in educational institutions and in the public sphere to commit themselves to learning about religion -- Islam or otherwise. These projects also reflect how even in the course of six weeks a student's understanding of the world can not only change but come to be expressed eloquently and shared widely with others. 

Indeed, in a time of increasingly negative rhetoric around the topic of Islam and Muslims, it is heartening to know that education -- whether in-person, experiential, or via online portals -- can help counter stereotypes and reverse negative opinions.

My experience with this course reinforces something I recently read in the article, “Muslims Love Jesus, Too? Corrective Information Alters Prejudices Against Islam.” In this article, researchers in Germany found that "opinions towards Islam were largely negative at baseline but improved significantly after [the] presentation of the correct answers." Furthermore, they wrote that this "suggests that prejudices against Islam are partially fueled by knowledge gaps."

As a lifelong learner and educator, it is my passion to fill knowledge gaps -- those of my own and those of others. It was an honor to work with these students over the last month-and-a-half to fill gaps and enhance their knowledge about Islam and Muslims across the globe. I learned a lot as well and benefitted from their messages, corrections, challenges, questions, and one-on-one conversations about their projects, their struggles, and their inquiries. 

Educators concerned with religious literacy should take heart that their instruction can, and does, work. It can have a positive impact. It can -- in small and large ways -- change the world. 

Systems are unjust, broader forces may be malevolent, and the world may be chaotic; but teaching others, filling knowledge gaps, and engaging in important conversations about Islam and Muslims can play a crucial role in bringing justice, goodness, and kindness to bear in our world. 

At least that's what I learned this summer teaching "Introduction to Islam" online. 

First Ever "Introduction to Islam" Online Course Offered at UF

"Punish a Muslim Day” was supposed to be a thing. 

Letters distributed to homes, lawmakers, and businesses around London back in March encouraged individuals to “take action” against Muslims who have “made your loved ones suffer.” It offered a points-based system advocating for hurling verbal abuse, bombing or burning a mosque, or throwing acid in the face of a Muslim. The date was set for April 3. 

The Washington Post reported, “As April 3 approached, many took to social media to share their thoughts on the hate campaign. Some posts urged British Muslims to take care and look out for one another. Others were determined that the letters would not cause them to change their daily habits.”

Others responded on social media with counter-campaigns such as #PublishAMuslimDay or #LoveAMuslimDay. The counter-campaigns won the day, but the uncomfortable questions still remain: 

• How could such an advertisement not cause more general concern and outrage? 
• What kind of philosophies, postures, and politics lie behind such blatant and brutal hate? 
• Why would someone go to the trouble to print and distribute such a disturbing piece of mail in the first place? 

Islamophobia — the ignorant fear and hatred of Islam and Muslims, often leading to anti-Muslim rhetoric and possibly anti-Muslim actions — is the root cause of such flagrant hate and viscous verbosity. 

By definition, Islamophobia is fueled by ignorance and misunderstanding of Islam and Muslim communities. It’s also fueled by “Orientalism” — the representation of Asia, especially the Middle East, in a stereotyped way that is regarded as embodying a colonialist attitude. These attitudes help fan the flames of anti-Muslim rhetoric, Eurocentrism, and racism in the U.S. and abroad. 

If you know me, a lot of my efforts and work are aimed at combatting Islamophobia and Orientalist imaginings of Islam and Muslim communities. It’s in that spirit that I have helped develop an online “Introduction to Islam” course for the University of Florida. It’s the first of its kind. 

The course provides an overview of basic Islamic beliefs and practices through an examination of Islamic history, law, and an array of theological orientations as articulated in the traditions of teachings of various traditions. The course also examines Islamic practices in the contemporary period and thereby exposes students to reflect on the realities of religious everyday life and religious change. The course aims to give the students the ability to critically analyze the impacts of Islamic beliefs and values on social and cultural practices, and the formation of institutions, communities, and identities. The course also aims to challenge students to grasp the complex relationship between the discursive traditions of a major world religion as well as the ambiguities of some key terms of Muslim religious thinking.

This course will lead students into an exploration of the basic history, contemporary expressions, concepts and phenomena, beliefs and rituals, communities and common experiences of Muslims across the globe. While such a course cannot amply cover the full extent of Muslim traditions across the ages and around the globe the expectation is that students engaged with this course will come away with a fuller appreciation for the richness and variety of Islam while also possessing a foundational understanding of its core concepts and practices.

As an academic study of the Islamic Tradition and the civilization(s) that it evolved this course is not one of Islamic theology per se (a religiously committed intellectual discipline). Instead, this is an academic investigation of this great religion, which will use an intellectually rigorous and critical lens that draws on history, sociology, anthropology and critical hermeneutics in our study. For those looking for a theology course that sets out to show that one religious tradition is superior to the others or has “the truth," this is not the class that you want. Also for those wanting to demonize the tradition, you too will find yourself challenged and confronted. This course aims to present a critical, but balanced, picture of Islam and Muslims across time and in the world today. 

If you are interested in taking this course as a UF student or want to learn more, take a look at the course syllabus or click HERE to find more information about registering for the course. 

Insta to World Religions Launches Tuesday 1/23!

In an op-ed written for the Orange Country Register right before the holiday season, Joel Kotkin — the R.C. Hobbs Presidential Fellow in Urban Futures at Chapman University — wrote that, “it is hard to deny that we live in an increasingly post-religious civilization.”

While he admits that there are emerging alternative, non-institutional, forms of religion and spirituality and decries the dangers of the potent religion-plus-politics mix, his argument is an old one — that traditional religions are in terminal decline in the industrialized world. 

He couldn’t be more wrong. 

Religion has always been with us. And it still is. 

Throughout history, it has expressed the deepest questions human beings can ask, and it has taken a central place in the lives of virtually all civilizations and cultures. As we think all the way back to the dawn of human consciousness, we find religion everywhere we turn. And it hasn’t gone away. 

In the spirit of understanding religion — what it is, why it is, where it is, how it develops, changes, and shapes our world even as it is shaped by it — I am launching a new, public, platform for religious literacy: INSTA TO WORLD RELIGIONS. 

If you’re interested in learning more about religion, curious about various religious traditions, or just like pretty pictures, videos, and stories on Instagram this course is for you. 

The idea is to teach the equivalent of an introduction to world religions course via images, videos, stories and blogs and do so through Instagram.

I will kick off the course on Tuesday January 23rd! 

Each week, from Tuesday to Thursday, I will post photos, videos, stories, and blogs to explain the basic worldviews, rituals, material culture, and beliefs of Hindu, Jain, Buddhist, Chinese, Japanese, Indigenous, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim traditions as well as New Religious Movements and “religion beyond religion.” 

The course will also include an exploration of the very category of “what religion is” and dive into the social, political, and cultural elements that come into play in the development and understanding of the religions we are studying. It is my hope that our course will provide a way for you to not only learn more about other religions, but also engage with your own perspective and promote a posture of respectful curiosity and imaginative empathy toward learning more about religious traditions other than your own. 

I invite you to join me next Tuesday to start the course by talking more about WHY we should study religion in this day and age and how despite the overblown claims of some, religion is powerful and persistent, and shows no signs of disappearing. 

Public lecture shines light on little known Muslim populations

From Panther Now, a publication from Florida International University: 

Muslims have had a significant impact on Latin culture, politics, and society, with 3,000 Spanish words having historical connections to Arabic, such as the words “pantalones” (pants) and “arroz” (rice). Their influence, however, has been unnoticed because of the lack of conversation around the topic, according to a professor. 

Ken Chitwood is a [religion scholar] at the University of Florida. For the past six years he’s been studying Islam in the Americas and other subjects. But like many people, there was a time he was unaware of Islam’s influence in the west, he said. 

Chitwood was writing a weekly report during a mosque visit when he met a man dressed in a tunic who told him of how he converted to Islam in New York, he said. It was then that Chitwood decided to research conversion stories, and after researching 135 conversion stories, he soon noticed a pattern: they had connections to Latin America. 

He knew there was a large amount of research done to show Islam’s ties to Latin America, but people weren’t paying attention to it. When he taught a course on the subject years later at the University of Florida, students found it difficult to research. There were plenty of documents and statistics, but it was hard to piece together an “overall narrative.”

Through the event “Islam in Latin America,” which [was] held at [Florida International] University on Tuesday, Nov. 7, Chitwood [spoke] about Islam’s heavy presence in both Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as Islam and Muslim communities’ influence in the past and present.