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Muslim voting habits in America have changed in the past, and they are changing again. What issues might draw them to the political right or left? Dalia Mogahed has been studying Muslim Americans for decades. She is a senior scholar at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding and a former member of President Obama’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Tune in for an excellent discussion about the diverse ways in which American Muslims connect their faith and their politics.
LINKS
Dalia Mogahed comparing evangelicals and Muslims on religion and public life
https://www.ispu.org/muslims-more-private-religious-devotion-less-public-religious-assertiveness/
Dalia Mogahed’s key findings on American Muslims in 2022.
https://www.ispu.org/american-muslim-poll-2022-key-findings/
Dalia Mogahed’s podcast on the Qur’an
https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/quran-conversations/id1751858926
2024 election analysis by Dalia Mogahed on Muslim voter preferences and opinions in three key swing states.
https://www.ispu.org/winning-muslim-votes-2/
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In the wake of an assassination attempt on Donald Trump, he and his followers have been discussing the role of God in sparing his life. Reflecting on his good fortune, Trump has even speculated about potential changes in his nomination speech and broader campaign. In this episode, Shadi Hamid and Matthew Kaemingk delve into the religious and political issues at play. Did God actually save Donald Trump? Might God truly change Trump’s heart? Should citizens be optimistic or pessimistic about the potential redemption of their political opponents?
LINKS
“Is Trump’s near-death experience part of God’s plan?” by Shadi Hamid
https://wapo.st/4cFNteo“Donald Trump, Man of Destiny” by Ross Douthat
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/15/opinion/donald-trump-assassination-destiny.htmlOn the Death Penalty “A Catholic Socialist in a Secular World” with Elizabeth Bruenig
https://comment.org/podcasts/a-catholic-socialist-in-a-secular-world/Chesterton on Optimism and Pessimism
https://passionatelylovingtheworld.wordpress.com/2019/10/26/chesterton-pessimism-optimism-and-the-case-for-mirth/ -
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Our many differences in religion and politics are not problems to be solved. In this episode we interview John Inazu, the author of a new book titled Learning to Disagree. A professor of religion and law at Washington University in St. Louis, Inazu shares the critical lessons he’s learned about deep disagreement.
LINKS
John Inazu’s books on disagreement and pluralism:
Learning to Disagree: The Surprising Path to Navigating Differences with Empathy and Respect
https://bookshop.org/a/65404/9780310368014Confident Pluralism: Surviving and Thriving through Deep Difference
https://bookshop.org/a/65404/9780226592435 -
What is the political future of American evangelicalism? And what explains the rise of “secular” evangelical politics? Russell Moore is the editor-in-chief of Christianity Today and the author of Losing Our Religion: An Altar Call for Evangelical America. Together we discuss the surprising and tragic ways in which evangelicalism has become politicized and secularized through its engagement in American political life.
LINKS
Losing Our Religion: An Altar Call for Evangelical America, By Russell Moore
https://bookshop.org/a/65404/9780593541784We Don't Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Modern Ireland, by Fintan O'Toole
https://bookshop.org/a/65404/9781324092872The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism, By Tim Alberta
https://bookshop.org/a/65404/9780063226883
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Shadi Hamid and Matthew Kaemingk can't postpone the difficult question any longer. Do Muslims and Christians worship the same God? Their answers (and disagreements) might surprise you.
LINKS
Relevant articles on the “Same God” debate from:Gabriel Said Reynolds
https://churchlifejournal.nd.edu/articles/is-the-quranic-god-the-same-god-as-the-biblical-god/Joshua Ralston
https://www.abc.net.au/religion/the-same-god-or-the-one-god-on-the-limitations-and-implications-/10097414Miroslav Volf
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/12/17/wheaton-professors-suspension-is-about-anti-muslim-bigotry-not-theology/Francis Beckwith
https://www.thecatholicthing.org/2015/12/17/do-muslims-and-christians-worship-the-same-god/Peter Ochs
https://www.abc.net.au/religion/do-jews-christians-and-muslims-worship-the-same-god/10096120 -
Shadi Hamid and Matthew Kaemingk visited Wheaton College (the so-called evangelical Harvard) to discuss faith, politics, and deep difference. Interviewed by Alexander Massad, they were asked about their friendship, their deep disagreements, and why they did (or did not) want to convert one another.
Links:
Matthew Kaemingk, The Troubling Grace of a Muslim Friend
https://www.neighborlyfaith.org/the-troubling-grace-of-a-muslim-friendShadi Hamid, Christian Strangeness: A Muslim’s Faith and Friendships Across Deep Difference
https://www.neighborlyfaith.org/christian-strangeness-a-muslims-faith-and-friendships-across-deep-difference -
“Hell is actually pretty underrated. I mean it, when it comes to democratic life, a belief in hell is quite helpful.” Shadi kicked off a recent public lecture with this rather unexpected and provocative statement. In a time when democratic debate is becoming increasingly judgmental, where citizens wish to condemn and literally sentence one another to damnation, Shadi wonders (out loud) if a belief in a delayed judgment, one that belongs to God alone, could potentially lessen our need to exact total judgment in the here and now.
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How are American evangelicals and Muslims responding to the war in Gaza? More than half a year into the war, Shadi Hamid and Matthew Kaemingk discuss the (im)possibility of remaining neutral and the ways in which their own tribal loyalties push and pull on their positions. Matthew presses Shadi on how his Muslim identity influences his positions on Gaza. Shadi tries (his best) to understand how evangelical perspectives on Israel are influenced by biblical prophecy about the return of Jesus.
LINKS
How Israel and the United States suppress democracy in the Middle East
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/05/13/middle-east-israel-us-democracy/ -
We’re failing. The Israel-Hamas war is barely two weeks old and we are witnessing a collective religious failure. Christians, Muslims, and Jews alike are failing to live up to their own principles. The moral and ethical “rules of engagement” have been thrown out the window—be it on the battlefield or in public discourse. How should religious people of good faith interpret and respond to this political and religious cataclysm? Join Shadi Hamid and Matthew Kaemingk for a special episode of Zealots at the Gate. Together they discuss the war and the many ways in which the faithful are (mis)interpreting the underlying dynamics at play.
LINKS
Shadi Hamid’s article on humility amid the war:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/10/16/intellectual-humility-israel-palestine-debate/Reinhold Niebuhr’s book Moral Man and Immoral Society:
https://bookshop.org/a/65404/9781773237565 -
Political demons? Really? While everyone can agree that there’s something terribly wrong with America’s political culture, should we really describe it as “demonic” or even “demon-possessed”? Muslims and Christians have long recognized the presence and power of evil, but what does a belief in the “demonic” actually look like in modern political life? Join Shadi and Matt as they speak to Laura Fabrycky, a political theologian who is researching the ways in which citizens might begin to resist the temptations of both demonic politics and the politics of demonization.
LINKS:
Laura Fabrycky’s articles for Comment magazine:
https://comment.org/contributors/laura-fabrycky/
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Can Muslims be feminists? Should they be? This week, we speak with Hadia Mubarak, a self-described Muslim feminist, about the role and place of women in Islam. Professor Mubarak is the author of a groundbreaking new book titled Rebellious Wives and Neglectful Husbands. She fields a variety of tough questions from Shadi and Matthew: As a Muslim feminist, how do you interpret difficult texts about women in the Qur’an and the Hadith? How do you respond to sexism in the mosque? What is it like to wear the headscarf in a secular society? And how might your Islamic feminism differ from secular feminism? Mubarak also shares some of her own fascinating story of how she was shaped by the local Muslim community in an unlikely place—Panama City, Florida.
Links:
Hadia Mubarak’s new book Rebellious Wives, Neglectful Husbands:
https://bookshop.org/a/65404/9780197553305Matthew Kaemingk’s article on how headscarves are Islam’s gift to Western democracy:
https://comment.org/the-headscarf-islams-gift-to-western-democracy/Jessica Crispin’s book Why I Am Not a Feminist: A Feminist Manifesto:
https://a.co/d/31PmvSj -
Can the American Left make space for deep religious commitment? Elizabeth Bruenig, a 2023 Pulitzer Prize finalist, is one of the most prominent—and controversial—Catholic socialists in America today. In this episode, she joins Matt and Shadi to discuss how people of faith can contribute to secular politics while maintaining their rather “strange” religious identity. Matt asks both her and Shadi to reflect on what it was like to be committed Bernie Sanders supporters while also remaining committed to their Catholic and Islamic faiths. Together they each discuss a future where the Democratic Party could (re)learn how to embrace people of faith, including those who bring their religion to bear on abortion, sexuality, and the death penalty.
Links:
Elizabeth Bruenig’s reflection on Lent in The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/03/catholic-lent-sacrifice-reflection/673353/
Bruenig’s Pulitzer Prize-nominated features on capital punishment in Alabama: https://www.pulitzer.org/finalists/elizabeth-bruenig-atlantic
Tim Alberta on why Hispanics are leaving the Democratic Party: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2022/11/hispanic-voters-fleeing-democratic-party/671851/
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Americans are politically exhausted. Shadi happens to be one of them. But he’s taking action. In this special episode, our venerable co-host opens up about burnout, finitude, and his own struggles with meaning. In society more broadly, politically induced fatigue and even depression are spreading. Is there a way to find that meaning without religion—or is religion the only way?
Links:
The episode where Matt discusses thoughts and prayers:
https://comment.org/podcasts/prayer-is-political/Shadi on tying one's camel:
https://wisdomofcrowds.live/p/is-it-enough-to-tie-your-camel-andShadi’s essay in The Atlantic on breaking up with the news: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/03/information-news-addiction-liberal-depression/673351/
2022 study on political depression:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8759681/ -
Welcome to a frank and thought-provoking discussion of the modern sexual marketplace and its discontents. Our guest and guide is Washington Post columnist Christine Emba. Author of the widely acclaimed book Rethinking Sex: A Provocation, Emba argues that while the sexual revolution and the MeToo movement brought much good to the world, there is a growing suspicion that there is something profoundly unsatisfying about the modern sexual ethic. Do we need more religion to get sex right, after everything?
LINKS
Christine Emba’s book Rethinking Sex: A Provocation
https://bookshop.org/a/65404/9780593087565
Christine Emba’s article “Consent is not Enough”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/03/17/sex-ethics-rethinking-consent-culture/
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The coronation of King Charles will take place in a Christian church. Within the context of worship, Charles will be anointed, blessed, crowned, and enthroned as the head of England’s church and its state. As crown and cross intermingle and intersect so also do questions about the proper relationship between religion, politics, and power. Shadi Hamid and Matthew Kaemingk welcome Bishop Graham Tomlin to discuss the coronation of King Charles and its religious and political meaning.
LINKS
Graham Tomlin’s article on "What a monarch’s meeting teaches about politics and permanence” https://www.seenandunseen.com/what-monarchs-meeting-teaches-about-politics-and-permanence
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/society/60516/why-charless-coronation-could-be-a-spiritual-flop
https://www.newstatesman.com/ideas/2022/09/silence-reigns
http://Seenandunseen.com
Twitter: @gtomlin
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Neither Islam nor Christianity banned slavery. For the near entirety of human history, the greatest prophets, statesmen, and philosophers did not seem to realize a truth that seems only too obvious today—that slavery is an unqualified and indisputable evil. How is it possible that they failed to realize this, despite being the most morally upstanding individuals of their time?
This is the “slavery conundrum.” How should Muslims and Christians—or anyone who holds certain moral truths to be self-evident—make sense of this inconvenient history? Do humans become more moral with time or less so? Our guest and guide in trying to answer these fraught questions is Georgetown University’s Jonathan Brown, one of America’s leading Muslim intellectuals and the author of the illuminating (and controversial) book Slavery and Islam.
LINKS
Jonathan Brown’s book Slavery and Islam
https://bookshop.org/a/65404/9781786078391Tucker Carlson on George Washington and Statues for Slaveholders
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/tucker-carlson-if-we-want-to-erase-the-past-we-must-prepare-for-the-consequencesEphraim Radner on Christian Wrestling with Abraham’s Slaveholding
https://covenant.livingchurch.org/2020/07/31/abraham-and-sarah-slaveholders/ -
Ramadan isn’t going great for Shadi Hamid. Fasting in a secular city is hard. Everyone else is running around being productive and well-fed while Shadi’s feeling sluggish, hungry, and tired. Shadi’s discouragement with Ramadan kicks off a broader conversation with Matthew Kaemingk on the struggles both Christians and Muslims face in secular cultures. Is faith *really* supposed to be this hard? Can religion ever win out when it is constantly forced to swim against the secular current? Here they discuss a controversial proposal found in both Islam and Christianity—namely, that the state should accommodate and even support our spiritual practices.
LINKS:
The philosopher Oliver Traldi’s powerful thread on being overwhelmed by life’s choices:
https://twitter.com/olivertraldi/status/1643029259185803266Matthew Kaemingk’s article on secular spirituality:
https://comment.org/issues/cracks-in-the-secular/James Wellman’s book on conservative churches in the progressive city of Seattle:
https://bookshop.org/a/65404/9780195300123
Our episodes on the caliphate and Andrew Tate:
https://comment.org/podcasts/muscular-muslims-weak-christians-and-a-response-to-andrew-tate/https://comment.org/podcasts/does-the-world-need-a-caliphate/
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Muslims and Christians traditionally deny themselves during the holy seasons of Ramadan and Lent. To the modern mind, this might seem like an odd and unreasonable practice of self-denial. Why do believers fast? Why do they deny themselves? Perhaps the “unreasonableness” of fasting is precisely the point.
While many know about the spiritual and emotional benefits of fasting, Shadi Hamid and Matthew Kaemingk push the conversation deeper. Here they explore the surprising ways in which fasting could improve our economic and political lives. (It might even help save our democracy!) In an American culture that has grown increasingly fast-paced, selfish, and materialistic, maybe we need religion to “impose” significant constraints on our everyday behaviour. What does freedom within these constraints actually look—and feel—like?
Links:
• Kyle David Bennett on the politics of fasting
https://comment.org/church-practices-and-public-life-the-thickness-of-fasting/• Kyle David Bennet’s book on spiritual disciplines and public life
https://bookshop.org/a/65404/9781587434037• Tariq Ramadan on the Politics of Ramadan
https://www.abc.net.au/religion/the-politics-of-fasting-lessons-from-ramadan/10101262• Shadi’s piece from last Ramadan, “Against the Cult of Productivity”
https://wisdomofcrowds.live/against-the-cult-of-productivity/• Shadi on the benefits of fasting from the news:
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/03/information-news-addiction-liberal-depression/673351/ -
What is the connection between prayer and politics for Muslims and Christians? Shadi Hamid and Matthew Kaemingk challenge each other with a series of tough questions, and the results are illuminating. Should a life of prayer make us politically bold and zealous? Or should prayer make us humbler and politically submissive? Should prayer connect us to our national authorities and identities—or should it remind us that we identify with a higher authority beyond the nation? While there are deep differences between their prayer practices, Matt and Shadi leave the conversation deeply enriched. You might as well.
LINKS:
Shadi on the benefits of not following the news and caring less about politics: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/03/information-news-addiction-liberal-depression/673351/ CDC: “U.S. Teen Girls Experiencing Increased Sadness and Violence” https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2023/p0213-yrbs.htmlSEND US FEEDBACK OR ASK QUESTIONS:
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The caliphate is the traditional form of Islamic governance. Ever since the abolition of the last caliphate in 1924, Muslim thinkers have debated the revival of an Islamic state. In this episode we talk with one such thinker. Ovamir Anjum is the Imam Khattab Endowed Chair of Islamic Studies at the University of Toledo, and in 2019 he wrote a controversial essay in which he boldly called for the establishment of a new caliphate. Needless to say, Shadi and Matt had questions.
LINKS
Dr. Ovamir Anjum’s essay, “Who Wants the Caliphate?”:
https://yaqeeninstitute.org/read/paper/who-wants-the-caliphate
Anjum’s book, Politics, Community, and Islam in Islamic Thought:
https://bookshop.org/a/65404/9781107687110
Mohammad Fadel’s article on Islamic perspectives of salvation:
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1712972
Ummatics Colloquium, the Muslim research collective that Dr. Ovamir Anjum is part of:
https://ummatics.org - Daha fazla göster
