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“This book is mainly about the problem of freedom in Islam. I argue that Islam, as its very core, is a religion that liberated the individual from the bond of the tribe and similar collective bodies. But I also show how the initial impetus of the faith was partly overshadowed as a result of some early theological controversies, and, moreover, political decisions. This also means that some of those early debates can be reopened, and coercive elements in Islamic law and culture can be reformed. And I am saying all these within a particularly Turkish outlook, as I explain the little known history of ‘Muslim liberalism’ that emerged in the late Ottoman Empire and modern-day Turkey.”

Religious right’s “phony martyr” claims activist for military religious freedom is anti-Christian.

Claims Tea Party has some lessons to learn from religious right political organizing and “Christian nation” ideology.

Televangelism is not the sole domain of the white religious right. In his new book, Jonathan Walton looks at the cultural creativity and impact of black religious broadcasting.

Are believers in God crazy? Are atheists? Philosopher Eric Reitan explains why he finds the ideas of the Dawkins-Hitchens crowd wanting and why readers—atheist or theist—who want to cheer and pump their fists as “their guy” strikes back against the opponent should read something else.

Roman Polanski’s 1968 horror flick—among others in the ’60s and ’70s—may provide some surprising insights into the GOP’s “War on Women.”

CBS’s hit show just reinforces the economic inequities we’ve ignored for a century—at the peril of our children’s lives. But where have the religious been?

Benedict urges Catholic priests to use digital tech to teach and to evangelize, but the Holy Father may be underestimating the power of the non-hierarchical ethos of social media. Here’s hoping we might actually see a Vatican 2.0.

In the 1990s angels became a spiritual accoutrement for prosperous yet troubled baby-boomers adrift in a suburban wasteland of McMansions and Lincoln Navigators. Do the angry angels of the new film Legion, with their roots in angelmania, mean that for many Americans God is absent? And do these creatures, heavenly and horrific, fill the vacuum?

Time to take tragedy seriously.