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Unique among nations, America is deeply religious, religiously diverse, and remarkably tolerant. In recent decades, however, the nation’s religious landscape has undergone several seismic shocks. American Grace is an authoritative, fascinating examination of what precipitated these changes and the role that religion plays in contemporary American society. Although there is growing polarization between religious conservatives…
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American society is rapidly secularizing—a radical departure from its historically high level of religiousity—and politics is a big part of the reason.
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On the cusp of the May elections, the most astute analysts of Turkish politics were confident that Erdogan’s two decade of ruling was coming to an end. Discredited by economic setbacks as well as by the high death toll of the February s earthquake, Erdogan political future seemed doomed.
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More than ever, France seems to be torn apart by identity-based fractures, which are not only maintained by the extreme right and patent racists. Over the past five years, the debate on islamophobia has become more acrimonious, less academic and more political. Based on her academic experience in the United States, Jocelyne Cesari analyzes the…
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Most of the time, religion is in the news for the bad—riots, political violence, discrimination, etc.—much less for the good. Either attention or neglect reflects the underlying conviction that religion and politics do not mix.
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The first contemporary occurrence of the term “Islamophobia” appeared in the 1997 Runnymede report Islamophobia: a challenge for us all to acknowledge discrimination against Islam and Muslim immigrants in the UK. Since 9/11, it has gained political traction over Europe and the US to decry all types of ethnic and religious prejudice against Muslims who…
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The debate continues unabated: Is political Islam decipherable through the tenets of the Islamic tradition—or is it a tool of secular actors who shrewdly misuse religious references? Is it an expression of modernity, or a return to the past? Eschewing these dichotomies, Jocelyne Cesari demystifies the continuous process of interaction between secular and religious actors…
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The relationship between secularism, democracy, religion, and gender equality has been a complex one across Western democracies and still remains contested. When we turn to Muslim countries, the situation is even more multifaceted. In the views of many western commentators, the question of Women Rights is the litmus test for Muslim societies in the age…
