After 1,700 years of complicated history, Germany's Jews look to the future

Just a few steps down from Erfurt’s famous Krämerbrücke and its boutique shops, bespoke ice cream, and local charm, you’ll a mikveh (bath used for ritual purification) that dates back to the 13th-century. It’s a testament to the rich, and long, history of Jews and Jewish life in the central German city.

As I was standing in Erfurt’s mikveh a few weeks ago, I took a silent moment to reflect on the immensity of 900 years of Jewish history in the city.

Staring at the steps, I imagined the women who would descend them to bathe in the Gera river’s waters and wondered what their lives were like, what stories they could tell, what histories were embedded in the dusty sandstone and murky water of the memorial right in the midst of Erfurt’s old town.

I was humbled by the immensity of that history, the honor of standing in such a space and being given the opportunity to share such stories.

Mühlhausen citizens Nancy Krug, Pastor Teja Begrich, and Dr. Antje Schloms, pictured here in the town’s 19th-century synagogue, are part of honoring the history of Jewish life in the city. PHOTO: Ken Chitwood.

Thankfully, there are plenty of opportunities to learn about Jewish history in Germany — from well-known museums and monuments in Frankfurt and Berlin to lesser-known, but equally valuable, synagogues in places like Mühlhausen and Berkach.

But for this piece, I wanted to learn about more than history. And so, I spoke to Jewish leaders, researchers, historians, and other experts to learn what their history can tell us today and what Jewish life looks like in Germany now and in the near future.

The result is my latest piece with Religion News Service: “Germany celebrates a historic milestone of Jewish culture — while looking forward.” 

*Many thanks go to the various people I spoke to for this piece. I am working on a couple of other articles related to this research, but for now I wanted to mention all the people who contributed background, provided coordination, or otherwise assisted with this piece: Kristin Luther with the city of Erfurt; Dr. Maria Stürzebecher, also with the city of Erfurt; Carolina von Stojentin with Thüringer Tourismus; Gundela Bach in the village of Berkach; Nancy Krug of the city of Mühlhausen; Pastor Teja Begrich of Mühlhausen; Dr. Antje Schloms of the Mühlhausen city archives, Prof. Dr. Annegret Schüle of Erinnerungsort Topf & Söhne; Prof. Dr. Carsten Schapkow of the University of Oklahoma; Alan Bern with Yiddish Summer Weimar; Helene Shani Braun in Berlin; Rabbi Alexander Nachama of the  Jüdische Landesgemeinde Thüringen; Manfred Levy, education director at Jüdischen Museum Frankfurt; Alexandra Husemeyer of the Tora ist Leben project; and Martin Kranz of the Achava Festspiele Thüringen.

"There's no issue more important": Chief Rabbi Rosen on Climate Change and Environmental Justice

When it comes to the twin issues of climate change and environmental justice, Chief Rabbi David Rosen is uncompromising.

“There’s no issue more important,” he said in a recent interview with KAICIID. “Of all the very significant things that need to be done in our world, what is their value if we are going to destroy it all? Our responsibility is a critical imperative for the survival of life on earth itself.”

A former Chief Rabbi of Ireland and senior rabbi of the largest Orthodox Jewish congregation in South Africa, Rosen is a prominent interreligious leader. As such, he is the American Jewish Committee’s International Director of Interreligious Affairs and a member of the KAICIID Board of Directors.

Chief Rabbi David Rosen speaking at the Religions for Peace 10th World Assembly in Lindau, Germany (PHOTO: Courtesy RfP)

Of all aspects of his work in interreligious dialogue and education, his greatest passion remains the care of the environment and the need to reform our lifestyles accordingly.

“As a religious practitioner, I believe that there is no issue today that is as compelling or imperative for religious people to be engaged with,” he said.

In addition to his work with KAICIID, Rosen has worked with Religions for Peace (RfP) and the Parliament of the World Religions on a variety of interreligious efforts aimed at combatting the calamitous effects of climate change. He frequently writes, speaks, and is actively engaged with multiple initiatives addressing the challenges posed by climate change.

Two of those initiatives are the Jerusalem-based Interfaith Centre for Sustainable Development (ICSD) and the Interfaith Rainforest Initiative — an international, multi-faith alliance that “works to bring moral urgency and faith-based leadership to global efforts to end tropical deforestation.”

Rosen's convictions arise out of a deep personal appreciation of the environment as a gift from God.

"No Victor but Allah": The Islamic Built Legacy of Puerto Rico

ولا غالبَ إلا الله

Wa la Ghalib Illa Allah

No hay vencedor excepto Allah. 

There is no victor except Allah. 

Walking past the pastel-colored façades of Viejo San Juan (Old San Juan), you might miss the arabesque arches and azulejo tile work that adorns buildings like the French restaurant at 311 Calle de Fortaleza or the elite cultural institution el Ateneo Puertorriqueño.

Both of these stunning buildings bear the remnants of a little-known, but resilient, slice of Puerto Rico’s history — that of how Islamic architecture came to shape the built environment of the island and other parts of the Americas during the Spanish colonial period and beyond.

The words above — “there is no victor except Allah” — are featured hundreds of times on the walls of the Alhambra in Granada, Spain. They can also be found on the façade of 311 Calle de Fortaleza or in the Ateneo Puertorriqueño’s lobby.

More than architectural curiosity, these vestiges of Islamic influence in Puerto Rican art, culture, and society become a strong identity referent for Puerto Rican Muslims who feel marginalized from more popular and sanctioned understandings of what counts as “Puerto Rican.”

This story forms a key part of a new podcast episode from “Kerning Cultures,” put together by Alice Fordham.

I got to consult on this project and am super excited that it is out in the world. I encourage you to listen to the podcast and learn more about how Puerto Rican Muslims make meaning through the island’s Andalusian and neo-Moorish architecture.

THANKS:

Thanks to Alice Fordham for reaching out about this piece and involving me in the process. It was an honor to contribute. Also, a huge shout out to Kemal Delgado and María (Maru) Eugenia Pabón. Kemal is one of the Puerto Rican Muslims I’ve learned much from over the last few years and Maru was a fellow participant in an in-depth Arabic language program in Amman, Jordan with my wife, Paula. Not only am I glad to see friends and colleagues produce such a beautiful, resonant story, but I am pleased to see the Puerto Rican Muslim experience find a broader audience. It’s a narrative I am humbled to share, in this way and more.

Spotlight on: Dr. Karoline Cook - Forbidden Passages: Muslims and Moriscos in Colonial Spanish America

Emigrants from the Atlantic world came to the Americas for various reasons, with many motives, and precipitated by myriad circumstances. Some were forced, some came to escape an old society or to build a new one, others came to acquire riches or set-up shop. Yet, as J.H. Elliott wrote in his tome Empires of the Atlantic World: Britain and Spain in America 1492-1830, “they all faced the same challenge of moving from the known to the unknown, and of coming to terms with an alien environment that would demand of them numerous adjustments and a range of new responses.” 

Furthermore, as Elliott continues, “to a greater or lesser degree, those responses would be shaped by a home culture whose formative influence could never be entirely escaped, even by those who who were most consciously rejecting it for a new life beyond the seas.” While the local context with its diverse ecological, material, political, socio-cultural, and religious environments shaped the contours of American colonization and conquest, the colonial world was simultaneously defined and influenced by its transatlantic nature. Significantly, the historical and legal dimensions of imperial statecraft conditioned the experience of various constituencies in even the most far-flung reaches of the American empires. 

It is within this transatlantic imperial nexus that Dr. Karoline P. Cook situates the narrative of Forbidden Passages: Muslims and Moriscos in Colonial Spanish America.

The following is an interview with Dr. Cook, lecturer in the history of the Atlantic world at Royal Holloway University of London about her previous and current work that provides multiple insights into the state of study on Islam and Muslim communities in Latin America and the Caribbean over the longue durée.

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Why did you set out to write Forbidden Passages? Where did the process begin?

I became interested in Moriscos in the Americas when I was still an undergraduate student at Bryn Mawr College, researching my senior thesis on enslaved Moriscas who were tried by the Spanish Inquisition for practicing Islam. The summer before my senior year, I received a grant from Bryn Mawr to conduct research for my thesis at the Archivo Histórico Nacional (AHN) in Madrid, but first spent a couple of weeks in Seville with my family. In Seville I stopped by the Archivo General de Indias (AGI) to apply for an ID card that was required at the time for all researchers who wanted to consult Spain’s national archives. The archivists told me that I wouldn’t find information about Moriscos at the AGI because during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries they had been prohibited from emigrating to the Americas. Because I was already familiar with the rich historiography on conversos who faced the same travel restrictions as the Moriscos, and who nonetheless settled in the viceroyalties of New Spain and Peru, I began to wonder whether the same might have been true of the Moriscos. This knowledge and the questions it raised prompted my interest in whether Moriscos emigrated to Spanish America and if so, what implications their presence could have for our understanding of colonial society. Upon graduating from Bryn Mawr, I was granted a Fulbright Fellowship to spend the following year in the Spanish archives to determine whether I could answer these questions. I found more sources than I had anticipated amongst the Inquisition records at the AHN and the Royal Audiencia records at the AGI, and I began applying to PhD programs to continue researching the topic.

In your opinion, how much tactical thought was behind the accusation of being a Morisco?

Accusations that someone was a Morisco or had Muslim ancestry were very tactical, often aimed at discrediting an opponent. They drew upon understandings of limpieza de sangre (blood purity) that could be invoked to prevent a rival from holding prestigious offices, practicing certain professions, or emigrating to the lands claimed by Spain in the Western Hemisphere. The reality was much more complex, and the accused could go to court to assert their status and negotiate their position in colonial society. This allowed for degrees of fluidity in the ways that individuals presented themselves. But it was also about access and the persistent vulnerability to accusation that would result in lengthy and expensive litigation.  

Are there any implications for today’s political landscape that we can draw from the colonialist’s fear of Moriscos undermining their agenda and the subsequent failure to exclude the latter from the ‘New World’?

The discourses invoked by colonial officials against Muslims and anyone they perceived to be a Muslim finds a great deal of resonance with Islamophobia and anxieties about emigration today. Trump’s ‘Muslim ban’ is one of the most recent examples, but this goes back much farther. My Fulbright year in Madrid coincided with September 11 and the US invasion of Afghanistan – when I returned home each evening after reading denunciations of Moriscos in the archives, I continued to read the newspapers full of reports of hate crimes against people perceived to be Muslims and generally heightened anxiety about Muslims who were viewed with suspicion and associated with terrorism in the media. These images have a much longer history, and it was one of the points I wanted to write about in my book.

If there are any implications that can be drawn it is the insidious persistence of hate speech – the ways that negative images of Muslims and emigrants have been invoked for a variety of political agendas. It is important to recognize the types and patterns of anti-Islamic discourse and be attentive to such images in order to challenge them both verbally and legally before they can gain traction. The ways that the label ‘Morisco’ functioned in the context of local disputes can also tell us something about early constructions of race and racism, and the different forms that racism can assume in contexts that both pre-dated and extend beyond the 19th and 20th century examples.

If the numbers in the sources are reliable, what is your estimate of how many Moriscos came to the Americas?

This is a very difficult question and something I am still working on in the background, even if it wasn’t the focus or main interest of my first book. To date I have found approximately 200 references to Moriscos in the context of denunciations before the ecclesiastical and secular courts for practicing Islam in secret or having Muslim ancestry. I am continuing to gather references for a future book that will attempt to grapple with the question of the ways that individuals who did self-identify as Muslims in Spanish America during the early colonial period might have formed communities or ties with each other. This would include not only Iberian converts from Islam but also Muslims from the Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa. 

That said, a focus on numbers alone can be problematic since it is often very difficult to determine who was or was not a Morisco, and such an approach risks replicating the concerns of inquisitors and colonial officials.

In the second half of the book you describe the Moriscos as providers of magical health services across all classes and castes. What implications do you see in this for understanding the colonial society as a whole?

There was a great deal of exchange at the local everyday level, where Moriscos were sought for remedies – their expertise was valued within their communities. We see this in a variety of contexts where multiple ritual specialists might be consulted if someone was ill or needed the intervention of a healer or a practitioner of love magic and divination. Morisco healers operated in the same local communities as indigenous and African healers, and alongside other broader Mediterranean traditions of healing. Inquisition denunciations could also operate as malpractice suits, but there were important differences between how someone denouncing a failed cure framed the event and the inquisitors’ propagandistic use of it in the context of pamphlets and autos de fe. Heightened political tensions or interpersonal rivalries created an environment where denunciations could occur. 

Read “From Disciples to Missionaries: The Trans-Continental Trajectory of the Khoja Shia Ithna-Asheri Community from South Asia to Latin America”

You use the term ‘Morisco’ for both, new Christian converts, and old Christians accused of descending from Moors. What was your reasoning behind this double connotation?

‘Morisco’ was a label that operated as a legal category with implications for someone’s rights and status. There is also little evidence that Moriscos in Spain referred to themselves by this label. I wanted to convey the tactical use of the term in disputes and lawsuits as well as highlight the multiple people who fell under this designation depending on the context. 

What has been the ‘afterlife’ of the book? In other words, what conversations has it inspired and what has it contributed to the study of Islam and Muslim communities in the Americas?

Since Forbidden Passages was published there has been more interest in the topic. It has inspired conversations about the presence of Muslim communities across the Americas. There are a number of young scholars now working on this topic from different perspectives, and it is gratifying to hear from them about their interests and their work.

If you would have the chance to rewrite the book today, what area would you include that is not covered in the first version?

I would write a lot more about Moriscas and gender generally. When I was researching Forbidden Passages I didn’t feel that I had adequate source material to do this well, but as time passes and I collect more sources I am increasingly incorporating gender analysis into my work.

What research project(s) are you currently working on?

I am working on two book-length projects, beyond the long-term project that I mentioned above that really won’t be ready to write for at least another ten years! My next book project examines constructions of nobility in the early modern Spanish Empire. I will focus on how a range of families who claimed descent from the Nasrid emirs of Granada, the Inca rulers of Peru, and the Mexica rulers of Tenochtitlan claimed noble status at a time when creole families in the viceroyalties of New Spain and Peru were also engaged in litigation regarding the perpetuity of their encomiendas, and they invoked and at times invented accounts of Christian-Muslim relations on the Peninsula in order to stake their claims. Broadly speaking I am interested in how such claims to noble status and representations of Muslims in the petitions and court cases can shed light on how ideas about race were taking shape in this period.

My other project is a microhistory that focuses on Cristóbal de la Cruz, a man who was born in Algiers and enslaved as a young boy after being captured on a fishing boat, taken to Seville and baptized. De la Cruz denounced himself before inquisitors in Barcelona, Seville, and Mexico City multiple times over a thirty-year period. I am comparing his testimonies between the 1650s and 1680s to analyse how he narrated his life story to inquisitors at the beginning of each trial, engaged them in theological debates, and recounted events and exchanges he had with Muslims and Christians in Spain, the Caribbean and in Mexico, all while expressing doubts about whether belief in Christianity or Islam would lead to his salvation. I have already written about De la Cruz in an article that appeared in The Americas in 2008.

To cite this article: “Spotlight on: Dr. Karoline Cook - Forbidden Passages: Muslims and Moriscos in Colonial Spanish America,” Latin America and Caribbean Islamic Studies Newsletter, Vol. 1, No. 2. (January 2021).

Facing diversity, one step at a time

If you've met me, it doesn't take long to figure out that I'm passionate about running. Whehter it's marathons, mountains, or just a morning jog -- I'm game..

And, by now, most everyone who visits this blog can figure out I am passionate about religion and helping others navigate religious diversity.

That's why I'm super excited to share Fauja Singh Keeps Going: The True Story of the Oldest Person to Ever Run a Marathon with you.

Not only does it tell a story about perseverance in the face of adversity, but it also opens up conversations about religious diversity, discrimination, and what we can do to better interact with our neighbors of different faiths and walks of life.

For this project, I partnered with Lutherans for Racial Justice -- a grassroots coalition of Lutherans that seeks to bring about both racial reconciliation and reform within the congregations and communities of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.

The video above features a reading of Fauja Singh Keeps Going. I encourage you to watch, give it a listen, and share it with your family and friends. Then, to go that much deeper into the discussion about humanity and humility, you can watch an interview with the author -- and my dear friend -- Dr. Simran Jeet Singh.

In the comments below, let me know what kind of discussions you have, what questions are raised, and how we can work together to continue the conversation.

Death & Dying the Buddhist Way

Krista Liang sat relaxed, but reflexive, on a wicker chair in front of the white-and-gold, bell-shaped stupa tucked into a small courtyard at the Bodhicharya Buddhist Center in Berlin, Germany. Taking a moment’s pause from her meditation, she started talking about death — of all things — with those around her. 

For Liang, death isn’t a taboo topic. From her Buddhist perspective, it is like any other facet of life — birth, marriage, or taxes. 

“Death and dying are vitally important in Buddhism, there’s a constant reminder of it,” said Liang, “the Buddha says that anything that is born on earth, dies.”

That is part of what attracted Liang to Bodhicharya in the first place. 

Meditative art at the Bodhicharya center in Berlin, Germany. (PHOTO: Ken Chitwood)

Located in Berlin’s hip, alternative Friedrichshain neighborhood, Bodhicharya isn’t only known for its meditation, yoga, and tai chi classes, but its mobile hospice service — Hospizdienst Horizont. 

Hospizdienst Horizont aims to maintain the quality of life of the critically ill and dying with a Buddhist orientation toward death as transition. Michaela Dräger, staff-member at Horizont, said their trained “volunteer companions” provide compassionate care for their patients’ mental, emotional, and spiritual health until the very end. 

Hospizdienst Horizont is part of a broader trend in providing Buddhist spiritual accompaniment for the critically ill and dying in Europe and North America. 

From Berlin to California, diverse communities are calling for Buddhist and other, non Judeo-Christian spiritual perspectives to be integrated into existing palliative care, hospice service, and chaplaincy programs. This “Buddhist end-of-life movement” not only testifies to an aging generation of Buddhists in the West — both converts and immigrants — but to the felt need of non-Buddhist patients seeking spiritual accompaniment at the end of life. 

It is also confronting conventional Western views of life and death.

A Worldwide Community of Peacebuilders: How Scouts across the globe are learning to talk to one another

While many might assume that Argentina is overwhelmingly Catholic, its demographics feature more pluralism than expected. With a historic Jewish population, a large “unaffiliated” community, the largest Muslim minority in Latin America, and a rising number of evangelicals, Argentina is a religiously diverse country.

That’s why university student and Scout Adult Leader Sol Conte Roberts of Buenos Aires, believes dialogue is so important.

Conte Roberts finds in dialogue “the possibility to really listen to 'the Other,' instead of judging based on our assumptions and misperceptions” across religious, cultural, gender, age, and class differences. “We need dialogue in all areas of society, to provide a safe space to know yourself and to know others,” she said.

Conte Roberts is one of the thousands of young people who have taken part in activities of the flagship Dialogue for Peace (DfP) Programme trainings, jointly developed by the International Dialogue Centre (KAICIID) and the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM).

Created for and with the help of young people, the programme aims to institutionalise dialogue as part of WOSM and create opportunities for Scouts and young people across the world to design their own local intercultural and interreligious dialogue sessions and approach.

By participating in activities, workshops, trainings, and demonstrating their dialogue skills in the real world, Scouts can earn one of three color-coded badges: a green badge for the “Personal Dialogue achievement” a red badge for “Dialogue Trainer Accreditation,” or a blue badge for “Facilitator Dialogue Accreditation.” Each badge highlights a different aspect of a Scout’s knowledge of, and commitment to, the promotion of dialogue.

As of June 2020, 9,000 people around the globe had been involved with trainings, sessions, workshops, dialogue circles and online webinars across all six Scout Regions, namely Africa, Arab, Asia-Pacific, Eurasia, Europe, and Interamerica. These events have produced a robust international pool of 40 accredited trainers and facilitators (holders of red and blue badges). Another 30 are in the process of accreditation worldwide.

Sol Conte Roberts leading a dialogue session with fellow Scouts (Courtesy Sol Conte Roberts)

Soon, with the help of these trainers and facilitators, scores of Scouts will be able to earn the Personal Dialogue green badges, with a systematic roll-out of “Scouts in Dialogue” on the national level planned to sustain the programme into the future. To get involved with DfP training, a Scout must contact their National Scout Organization (NSO) to begin.

What follows are stories from three different accredited dialogue facilitators and trainers — from Argentina, Tunisia, and Romania — that speak to the global impact of the programme. Each story highlights how the programme equips changemakers with the tools needed to build a culture of dialogue, contribute to reconciliation efforts, and dispel stereotypes in countries across the world

Building a culture of peace in Buenos Aires 

Conte Roberts joined the Scouts de Argentina, a member of the WOSM, at the age of nine. She appreciated the social opportunities, but enjoyed the education offered even more. In particular, she delighted in the opportunity for Argentines like herself to learn more about the world.

That is why she jumped at the chance to partake in a DfP training. In Houston and then at the World Scout Youth Forum in Azerbaijan in 2017 and in a follow-up training event in Panama in 2019, Conte Roberts interacted with Scouts from places as diverse as Sudan and Sweden, learning how to talk across cultural and religious differences in honest, respectful ways. Along the way, she earned a green “Personal Dialogue Badge” by not only taking part, but actively demonstrating her interest in, and knowledge of, dialogue in these activities.

Now, she serves as an ambassador for dialogue in Argentina and is working toward earning a “Dialogue Trainer Accreditation,” exhibiting the essential characteristics of dialogue: active listening, compassion, and openness to learn and to be changed; but also the skills to help others in their process of incorporating dialogue in their lives.

Not religious herself, Conte Roberts said dialogue creates a “safe space” for religious minorities to share openly about their experiences in Argentine society. This, she said, helps foster peace and justice in society as a whole.

“Here in Argentina, in the past, religion was a dangerous topic for us,” she recalls. “Now there are opportunities to talk more openly, and dialogue will help us do that.”

She hopes to launch a dialogue training course in her home country because “building a culture of peace is what Scouts do,” she said, “and the DfP Programme is a great way to make that happen.”

Tunis: “A sense of belonging to a wide community of peacebuilders”

Amal Ridene, 22, is a talented musician and high-powered graduate of the Tunis Business School, recently recruited as an analyst at a private equity firm in Tunis, Tunisia.

Amal Ridene leading a colorful dialogue session (Courtesy KAICIID/Amal Ridene)

Apart from her expertise in finance and her skills as a pianist, Ridene is also an active local member of Les Scouts Tunisiens. Globally, she serves as a Youth Advisor to the World Scout Committee and is the proud recipient of the red “Dialogue Trainer Accreditation” badge after completing coaching sessions and training at the Regional Arab DfP training in Cairo, Egypt, in 2019. 

The DfP accreditation attracted Ridene because “it carries a sense of belonging to a wide community of peacebuilders,” she said, “a responsibility that involves sharing what I learnt and acquired with others and a key language to use with global citizens — be they Scouts or non-Scouts.”

The process to earn the Trainer’s badge took her to Azerbaijan, Egypt, and India. “It involves participation in trainings, facilitating sessions in local groups and regional events, and a lot of interesting discussions with diverse groups of people, a self-discovery journey, and a learning process in shaping one’s training skills,” she said.

Through the dialogue training, Ridene learned that “openness is a key requirement for practicing dialogue, it is also important that one is aware about the other’s sensitivities and cultural and religious beliefs.” Whether in personal or professional settings, Ridene said, dialogue principles and values enable her “to give more value to everyday exchanges.”

Whether with colleagues, fellow musicians, or Scouts, Ridene said, “dialogue is a crucial tool in my daily tasks.”

Learning by doing in Bucharest

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced people to “shelter in place” across the world, Anca Burlacu of Romania knew dialogue could help individuals manage their mental health through challenging times. So, when the crisis hit, Burlacu launched an eight-week series of Dialogue Cafés for Romanian Scout leaders.

“They gave people across the world the opportunity to speak with someone about these difficult times,” she said, “people felt for the first time that they were being heard, being listened to. They felt comfortable to share their personal stories and struggles.”

Scouts learning dialogue, by doing dialogue (Courtesy Anca Burlacu)

Burlacu was able to lead the way in such a crisis after earning a blue, “Dialogue Facilitator Accreditation” badge through workshops, coaching sessions, and a demonstration of facilitation skills on multiple occasions in front of the WOSM-KAICIID DfP core team.

As a team leader, Burlacu has been part of multiple feedback sessions, one-to-ones, and dialogue training events, all the while learning the skills it takes to help others. “You have to know how to ask good questions, take notes, and apply the 10 Principles of Dialogue,” she said.

“Facilitation is a skill that you acquire and improve over time, you learn by doing,” she explained.

Burlacu is proud of the community she has seen form around sessions she facilitated. “Community is one of the most important things to help build real relationships,” she said, “if you want to manage conflict and create community, dialogue can help you and others live in a more peaceful environment.”

Ridene and Conte Roberts, with their set of unique experiences with dialogue, agreed with Burlacu. Each shared how dialogue creates a secure environment where individuals or groups can exchange views, knowledge, understandings, impressions, and perceptions of a certain topic or source of potential conflict.

Conte Roberts believes the DfP Programme is vital for a world in which diversity and difference tends to separate rather than unite. She said, “we all have something to say, and dialogue is a means of helping us say and share it with one another and create a more free and fair world in the process.”

"Said & Lody": Combatting hate with a one-two punch in Amsterdam

A Dutch rabbi and a Moroccan boxer walk down the streets of Amsterdam – what may sound like the beginning of a joke has formed the basis for one of the Netherlands’ most powerful interfaith partnerships.

A prominent leader in Holland’s Jewish community, Rabbi Lody B. van de Kamp is a former politician, and a member of the KAICIID-supported Muslim Jewish Leadership Council. In contrast, Said Bensellam recalls being a Moroccan youth from the borough of Bos en Lommer, adrift before he was admitted to the local kickboxing school. Today he is a self-made youth-worker and role model for his community, having been voted “Amsterdammer of the Year” in 2007.

Together, they form the duo “Said and Lody,” working to counter anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in their community – an inclusive partnership forged in the fires of hate and discrimination.

Bensellam and van de Kamp trace their first meeting back to a Nazi salute.

In 2010, while van de Kamp was serving as director of an Orthodox Jewish school in Amsterdam, he received complaints from students who reported facing discrimination and racial slurs during their daily walks home. Wanting to see for himself, van de Kamp and a partner brought a film crew on a 10 hour walk through the streets of Amsterdam. Both men wore traditional kippahs (head coverings for Jewish men).

During the walk, they encountered two explicit incidents of hate. At first, they were called names. Then, a teenager stood up in front of his friends and raised his arm in a Nazi salute while staring at van de Kamp.

The incident made national news and prompted renewed debates about integration, anti-Semitism and Muslims in Dutch society. Watching at home, Bensellam decided he had to do something on behalf of his community.

“After talking with Dutch authorities, I received a second call about the video,” said van de Kamp. “It was Said and he was asking me, ‘how can we solve this together?’” After much discussion, Bensellam reached out to the teenager, encouraging him to meet with van de Kamp. He then facilitated a reconciliation between them.

Said Bensellam makes up half the “Said & Lody” duo, fighting prejudice and discrimination in Holland. (PHOTO: KAICIID Communications)

The incident marked the beginning of a fruitful 10-year partnership. But, at times, Bensellam and van de Kamp admit they have faced an uphill battle. Over the last decade, the Netherlands has had to confront numerous public incidents of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. Jews and Muslims have faced both physical and symbolic dangers from wide sectors of society.

According to experts, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia are not distinct phenomena, but instead often reinforce one another in a twisting helix of hate. For example, anti-Semitism within the Muslim community can exacerbate Islamophobia in Dutch society as a whole and, in turn, embolden elements of the public to express anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic rhetoric side-by-side.

From the beginning, Bensellam and van de Kamp’s primary motivation has been to ensure that hostility is not allowed to fester in their communities. “How can we make sure that antipathy doesn’t arise? That hate doesn’t grow?” van de Kamp asked. “Our answer was that our communities do not know each other.”

Bensellam and van de Kamp started with their own friendship and invited others to join them. They also reached out to youth in each community who were facing exclusion and discrimination. Working with schools, government agencies, and religious institutions, the two men found a willingness and welcoming hospitality to work together on both sides.

Perhaps an unlikely pair, Said and Lody are more than collaborators, but friends. (PHOTO: KAICIID Communications)

Over the past decade, van de Kamp says there have been countless stories of inclusion and reconciliation. For example, when a group of Muslim boys were found playing football in one of Amsterdam’s historical Jewish cemeteries, “Said and Lody” reached out to help them make amends.

“The police got involved because a cemetery is usually not a place for football,” van de Kamp said, “but when Said asked the boys what they were willing to do to make things right, they said they would clean the cemetery.”

Bensellam and van de Kamp took the offer a step further, inviting 20 Jewish youth to join the 20 Muslim youth in their clean-up initiative. “The idea wasn’t just to clean, it was to bring the two communities together. To have a common project. To get to know one another as we worked together,” van de Kamp said.  

Dr. Matthew Kaemingk, professor of ethics who has written on Christian-Muslim relations in the country, says that in order to defend against stereotypes, misinformation, and aggression, different religious subcultures in the Netherlands must come together.

Referring to “Said and Lody,” Kaemingk said, “Judaism and Islam are profoundly different theologically, culturally, and politically. The temptation to ignore those differences is very real. They have to find ways to collaborate across their deep differences.”

Neither Bensellam nor van de Kamp deny these dividing lines. Still, they emphasise how their friendship has led to meaningful discussions and a lot of laughs along the way. “It’s not comedy, it’s just conversation. It’s not a formal dialogue, it’s not a system. It’s just getting to know each other. Being there for each other. When you live life together, it’s organic,” van de Kamp said.

It’s also contagious. Following “Said and Lody’s” example of reaching out to one another in times of crisis, a group of Dutch Muslims recently brought flowers to a Jewish retirement home in order to help elderly individuals suffering from loneliness due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This makes van de Kamp proud. “It’s not hard to reproduce the ‘Said and Lody system,’ if you want to call it that. This kind of work is not a luxury these days, it’s a necessity. What we do, anyone can do it,” he said.  

“And,” he emphasised, “they should be doing it.”

As societies across the world address the challenges and opportunities of globalisation, multi-ethnic communities, and alterations in national identity, Bensellam and van de Kamp’s influence has begun to extend beyond the Netherlands too.

When Dr. Amy Peloff and Dr. Nicolaas P. Barr of the University of Washington in the United States brought a group of 18 study abroad students to Amsterdam in June 2019, they spent an afternoon with van de Kamp. Barr said the students were struck by his gentleness, presence, and candor.

When it comes to dialogue between communities, I think that what Rabbi Lody embodies is the willingness to show up in a real way with, and for, others,” Barr said.

Barr says that although this doesn’t magically solve all disagreements, “it shows a willingness to hear where people are coming from, and building relationships with others, even if you don't agree on every single issue.”

Refugee Converts Aren’t ‘Fraudsters': the Fraught Politics of Convert Asylum in Germany

When you visit Trinity Lutheran Church in the Berlin district of Steglitz you’re going to meet a lot of different people, from all over the world: the German woman who thinks Mississippi is the greatest place in the world, the family from Bangladesh who comes to the English-language service every other week, the pastor — Rev. Dr. Gottfried Martens — who has learned Farsi in addition to English and German in order to minister to his community.

Then, you might get to know the hundreds of men and women who have found sanctuary at Trinity, seeking to remain in Germany and not be sent home to places as diverse as Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, or elsewhere.

This is a community whose lives are in limbo. They’ve applied for asylum on the basis of their conversion to Christianity and they claim that they will face religious, social, and political repercussions if forced to return to their countries of origin. Some fear for their lives.

Between 20,000 and 40,000 refugees are seeking asylum in Germany on the grounds of religious persecution because of their conversion to Christianity, according to a 2019 Open Doors report. Amid sharp national debates about anti-refugee sentiment, religious literacy, and religious freedom, a number of evangelical leaders have called for changes to the process of officially evaluating refugee conversion.

Currently, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) judges the sincerity of conversion and the severity of potential threats to asylum seekers’ lives. There is, however, a lack of explicit standards, clear criteria, or legal precedent for these examinations, and the BAMF grants asylum at significantly different rates in different parts of the country.

To say the least, this issue is fraught with multiple angles, opinions, and perspectives to consider. The process is mired by Islamophobic assumptions, a supposedly secular and neutral state making decisions in matters of religion, and the messy and mysterious question of “authentic faith.”

But for those seeking asylum, the issue is clear — “I’ve converted and my conversion puts my life, and the lives of those I love, in danger. I need asylum in Germany.”

Reporting on the topic for Christianity Today, I spoke with refugee converts, local pastors, evangelical leaders, scholars of Islamic law, government ministers, immigration authorities, and everyday Germans about how the issues around the question of judging asylum cases might be untangled.

The end result is that there is no clear answer, no silver bullet, no rubric that can be universally applied. Blame for the inefficiencies and failures of the process cannot be easily allocated — it isn’t an “Islam” problem, a secular government problem, or an evangelical Christian problem. It’s a shared problem, one that must activate multiple stakeholders with varying perspectives, postures, and positions on faith, the state, and religious freedom.

Nonetheless, in the course of my reporting, I did sense that there is the possibility for legal experts, politicians, government ministers, pastors, and religious actors to work together to seek the best solution for those involved.

These questions are not going to go away on their own. Instead, as the church body at Trinity Lutheran Church in Steglitz testifies, we are likely to continue to confront such questions in the years to come given the ongoing entanglement of people, traditions, and nations across the world.

Germany’s struggle offers a telling case-study for the issues we might encounter and the possibilities that lie before us. Perhaps, there is a “third way” that religious actors and the secular state can walk together to protect human rights and maintain peace and order.

Time will tell. For now, take a moment to explore an issue that is far more complex than it at first appears.

A short history of hajj cancellations

Saudi Arabia has urged Muslims to delay their plans for the hajj, amid speculation that the obligatory pilgrimage may be canceled this year due to the coronavirus.

Earlier this year, Saudi authorities halted travel to holy sites as part of the umrah, the “lesser pilgrimage” that takes place throughout the year.

Canceling the hajj, however, would mean a massive economic hitfor the country and many businesses globally, such as the hajj travel industry. Millions of Muslims visit the Saudi kingdom each year, and the pilgrimage has not been canceled since the founding of the Saudi Kingdom in 1932. 

But as a scholar of global Islam, I have encountered many instances in the more than 1,400-year history of the pilgrimage when its planning had to be altered due to armed conflicts, disease or just plain politics.

Coronavirus: How a Possible Epidemic is Shaping Muslim Pilgrimages

Coronavirus news, fears, and realities are impacting everything — even sacred pilgrimages.

Due to concerns over the global spread of the coronavirus – especially in nearby Iran – Saudi Arabia has temporarily suspended travel to its holy sites. Millions of Muslims visit the Saudi kingdom around the year for pilgrimage.

The current travel restrictions prevent the entry of both overseas pilgrims and Saudi citizens into the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. This has had a direct impact on the umrah pilgrimage, known as the “lesser pilgrimage,” that can be performed at almost any time of the year.

The question is whether or not the continuing spread of the virus will put a halt to the hajj later this year.

Click below to read about how past experiences with epidemics might shape the decision and understand the difference between umrah and hajj.

O For a Global Tongue to Sing: Why German Evangelicals Are Praising God in English

English is the first thing you notice at Hillsong Berlin. The church was meeting at the Kino in der Kulturbrauerei—a movie theater in a historic brewery, just one tram stop from the last standing section of the Berlin Wall—but on Sunday night the sign out front said, “Welcome Home.” A smiling cadre of young, fashionable, and diverse volunteers from around the world greeted people in accented English.

Inside, the entire service is in English, including the sermon and all the worship songs. Participants sing “Wake,” “What a Beautiful Name,” and “King of Kings.” Most international Hillsong churches translate their services from the local language into English. In Berlin, there is no translation. The service is just in English. That isn’t Hannah Fischer’s first language, but that’s part of why she comes to Hillsong Berlin.

“People from outside Germany can’t really understand how awkward it is to be Christian here,” she said. “I could never praise God like that in my language.”

Five hundred years ago, Martin Luther insisted that Christians needed to hear the gospel in their own language, in words they could understand. When the Reformation swept Germany, people abandoned Latin worship for German prayers and praise.

Today, however, German Christians like Fischer are turning from their own language to a more global tongue: English. They say the foreign language allows them to loosen their German identity, praise God in an uninhibited way, and connect with a global, cosmopolitan Christianity.

What is a caliphate? How the Islamic State tries to boost its legitimacy by hijacking a historic institution

Just days after the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on Oct. 27, the Islamic State named Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi as the new “caliph.”

In 2014, IS conquered vast swaths of Iraq and Syria and declared itself to be the “caliphate.” 

Defined and applied in different ways over the centuries, the fundamental idea behind the caliphate is the just ordering of society according to the will of God. 

The Islamic State’s caliphate was never widely recognized among the global Muslim community and no longer has significant territory. But the Islamic State still uses the history of the caliphate to push their claims.

As a scholar of global Islam, every time I teach my “Introduction to Islam” class, questions about the caliphate come up, in part because of IS’s claims. 

Caliph conundrums

The leader of a caliphate is called the caliph, meaning deputy or representative. All caliphs are believed to be the successor to Prophet Muhammad. Muhammad was not a caliph; according to the Quran he was the last and greatest of the prophets. 

That means no one can replace Muhammad as the messenger of God. The caliph, for example, is not always seen as holding special spiritual authority. But he is meant to preside over the caliphate in the absence of Muhammad.

The debate over who was the rightful representative of the prophet began immediately after his death. While the majority supported Abu Bakr – one of the prophet’s closest companions – a minority opted for his young son-in-law and cousin, Ali. 

Abu Bakr’s supporters would come to be known as Sunni Muslims, who believe that Muhammad did not leave instructions regarding his successor. Those who felt Ali was appointed by the prophet to be the political and spiritual leader of the fledgling Muslim community became known as Shiite Muslims. 

Abu Bakr was the first caliph and Ali the fourth. 

The second and third caliphs were Umar and Uthman. Under Umar, the caliphate expanded to include many regions of the world such as the lands of the former Byzantine and Sassanian empires in Asia Minor, Persia and Central Asia. Uthman is credited with compiling the Quran. 

That al-Baghdadi adopted the name of the first caliph was no coincidence. Together, Sunni Muslims call the first four caliphs the Rashidun, or the “Rightly Guided Caliphs,” because they were close companions or relations of Muhammad. They are also believed to be extraordinarily pious. This period lasted about 30 years. 

The complex history of the caliphate

After rebels assassinated Uthman in A.D. 656, Ali was elected caliph. However, a civil war soon broke out between Ali and Muʿawiya ibn Abi Sufyan. The civil war ended in Sufyan’s victory and the formation of the Umayyad caliphate in A.D. 661. 

The Umayyad dynasty lasted 89 years.

The Abbasid dynasty descended from Muhammad’s uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib, and succeeded the Umayyads.

These two caliphates oversaw the continuing expansion of the empire. Under them architecture, the arts and sciences flourished.

For example, the “Dome of the Rock,” a shrine in the Old City of Jerusalem, was built under an Umayyad caliph as a monument to the rising supremacy of their empire.

The Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem (PHOTO: Ken Chitwood).

The Grand Library of Baghdad, also known as the “House of Wisdom,” was supported by Abbasid patronage. The “House of Wisdom” is credited with being a center of translation, scientific study and academic exchange. This period of flourishing, from the eighth to the 14th century, is often referred to as the “Islamic Golden Age.”

Both before and after the fall of the Abbasids in A.D. 1258, a succession of various empires made overlapping and competing claims to the caliphate. These included the Mamluks of Cairo and the Umayyads in Cordóba, Spain. 

In 1517, the Turkish Ottomans amassed enough land and power throughout Asia Minor, North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and Eastern Europe to claim the title “caliphate.” Ottoman sultans, however, were not universally recognized as caliphs. Many Muslims believe that the caliphate effectively ended after the Mongol conquest of Abbasid Baghdad in A.D. 1258.

Nonetheless, the Ottomans effectively held on to that title until 1924, when the Turkish nationalist and secularist Kemal Ataturk abolished the caliphate. 

Resurrecting the caliphate?

The idea of the caliphate, which the Islamic State has forcefully promoted, recalls a time and a place when Islamic states flourished politically, economically and socially. It also summons up a spiritual vision of a supposedly more devout and dedicated Muslim community than exists today. 

Other modern-day Islamists have called for a resurrection of the caliphate, or at least its ideals, as a way to recapture the vibrancy of the past. However, only violent extremist groups such as al-Qaida or the Islamic State have tried to make it a tangible reality.

Killing al-Baghdadi has not quashed the Islamic State’s version of the caliphate. The idea lives on and continues to motivate its members in enclaves across the globe. It is worth mentioning that the name of their new caliph is an honorific title for a member of Prophet Muhammad’s family – “al-Qurashi.” This prophetic lineage is one more way IS is trying to resurrect the history of the caliphate for its destructive purposes.

What does the Hajj mean to millions of Muslims?

Nearly 2 million Muslims will gather in the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia on Aug. 9 for an annual pilgrimage known as the hajj. 

The five-day journey is a once-in-a-lifetime obligation for all Muslims who are physically and financially able to undertake it. It is considered the fifth pillar of Islamic practice, along with professing faith, saying five prayers daily, giving to charity and fasting during Ramadan. 

In calling Muslims to perform the hajj, the Quran says: “Proclaim to men the pilgrimage: they will come to thee on foot and on every lean camel, coming from every remote path.” 

The millions of Muslims from around the world who meet each year in Saudi Arabia dress simply to mask any differences in wealth and status. Women wear plain, white dresses and headscarves. Men drape themselves in seamless, unhemmed clothing.

As a scholar of global Islam, I’ve interviewed many Muslims who have gone on the hajj. They have described to me having profound experiences on the pilgrimage, both political and spiritual.

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!

Join me this summer to reimagine Islam and Christian-Muslim relations in Michigan!

What do you think of when you think of “Islam?” Whom do you picture when you think of Muslims? How might we envision ways to love our Muslim neighbor despite what we see in the news? How do we deal with the stunning diversity of the world and its presence in our lives via the rapid and constant movement of ideas, people, technologies, and religious practices?

This summer (June 22-29, 2019), I will be leading a one-week “dean and lecture” program posing, exploring, and unpacking these questions and more with participants at Camp Arcadia in Michigan.

Beyond considering the ways Christians have imagined Islam past and present, these sessions will aim to challenge what we think we know about Muslims, and invite us to reimagine our relationship with Islam and Muslims alike.  In addition, we will use the “case” of Muslim-Christian relations to re-imagine how we think about, live alongside, and engage with “others” in general.

I will be joined in the “dean and lecture” program by Heather Choate Davis, who will be presenting “God’s Visionaries: Seeing the Big Picture.” Heather is a writer, speaker, theologian, liturgist, and servant based in Los Angeles. In 2013, she received her MA in Theology from Concordia University Irvine, and is now completing a two-year intensive training in Christian Formation and Spiritual Direction.

I encourage you to consider attending and registering for Family Week 1 to join Heather and me at Camp Arcadia.

Camp Arcadia, located in Northwest Michigan, is a non-profit, Lutheran, family resort and retreat center on the sandy shores of Lake Michigan. Arcadia exists to provide a setting for families and individuals to enjoy a vacation together and be renewed in spirit, mind and body – enjoying the beauty of the lake surroundings and the community of fellow campers.

During a family week you might square dance, play basketball, shuffleboard, softball, tennis or soccer, create a craft, participate in a talent show, compete in family games or shoot archery. Every member of the family will be engaged spiritually through the daily morning study, presentations, and worship.

Each of the family weeks at Camp Arcadia is unique in that different speakers bring their knowledge and style to the program. While adults are in their program, children (age three through college) are engaged in their own study and activities led by our program staff. A nursery for those under three is also available. Daily programming also features activities (athletic, craft and nature) for children and adults to do on their own or in family groups.

You will find places at Arcadia to be by yourself, have intimate conversations with others, and be with small and large groups of people.  At Arcadia, you will find the time to experience each of these types of community.

Plus, maybe we can grab a meal or two together in the canteen. I hope to see you there.

"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.

What's the deal with #LutherCountry?

Ok, so I went on the trip.

I saw the sites.

I took the pictures.

I posted pretty much all of them on Instagram!

But, what did my dad and I actually experience? What did we think? What is there to learn about Luther and enjoy about Germany on a #LutherCountry tour? Is a trip like this worth it for someone like you?

Great questions!

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…

Religious Studies in Social Media: Promising Venues for Public Scholarship

Universities are not meant to be islands unto themselves. 

Instead, as Jaroslav Pelikan argued in his seminal work The Idea of the University: A Reexamination, every university has a duty to the societies in which it is situated — local, regional, and international. 

In an age of space and time compression thanks to advances in communications and digital technology those contexts are ever more immediate and expansive. 

The internet brings untold opportunity for universities to fulfill their duties to society. To share their research. To spread their knowledge. To engage in conversations. To develop its arts, humanities, and sciences for the fitness of the world.

That is why I believe that social media — and digital technology in general — provide prime platforms for scholars to share their ideas and innovations with the public. 

With that said, I am well aware that these media and technologies come with their own issues, dangers, and roadblocks — especially for women, people of color, and adherents of minority religions.  

To explore how scholars can best utilize social media as a means of sharing scholarship and engaging the major issues of our society I invite you to join me and a couple of other amazing scholars for an upcoming webinar. Even if you’re not a scholar you should join the conversation and share your perspective! 

The Religious Freedom Center of the Freedom Forum Institute’s October webinar, “Religious Studies in Social Media: Promising Venues for Public Scholarship” will be held October 18, 2018 from 12:00pm-1:00pm EST.

We will discuss how scholars of religion can engage different publics through social media to raise the visibility of their work. I will co-present with Kelly Baker, editor of Women in Higher Education and Simran Jeet Singh, post-doctoral fellow at the Center for Religion and Media (NYU). The webinar will include a presentation and extended Q&A.

The event is free and open to the public, but registration is required here: RSVP.

The Public Scholars Project is a joint initiative of the American Academy of Religion and the Religious Freedom Center of the Freedom Forum Institute. Through seminars and other resources, the Public Scholars Project equips scholars of religion to effectively communicate in the public sphere and foster religious literacy.

Be sure to take a look at their other webinars and events here.