BY DAVID M. KRUEGER Pope Francis has arrived in the U.S. and is soon to arrive here in Philadelphia, a city that carries the moniker the “Birthplace of America.” The nation’s founding documents might have been signed here, but something that isn’t so obvious to those familiar with America’s establishment is that there is a … More The Kensington Rune Stone Legend and the Catholic Church
Q&A with Leigh FondakowskiEmmy-nominated coscreenwriter for the adaptation of The Laramie Project for HBO Leigh Fondakowski spent three years traveling the U.S. to interview survivors of the Jonestown massacre, many of whom have never talked publicly about the tragedy. Using more than two hundred hours of interview material, Fondakowski creates intimate portraits of these survivors … More Most things written about the Jonestown saga end on Nov. 18, 1978, the day more than 900 Americans died. "Stories from Jonestown" begins on that day.
ANOUAR MAJIDProfessor of English and director of the Center for Global Humanities at the University of New England in Maine The violence that has erupted throughout the Muslim world in the wake of the release of a short film on YouTube, one that depicts the Prophet Mohammed as a heartless fraud, is a wake-up call … More Imagining an Islam Without Red Lines
The “I’m a Mormon” campaign appears on a billboard in Times Square in New York City. Image source. BY HOKULANI AIKAUAssociate professor of indigenous and Native Hawaiian politics at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa If you live in New York City, Atlanta, Minneapolis or any of the other 20 cities in which “I’m a … More The "I’m a Mormon" Campaign: Reconfiguring the myth of an American melting pot
BY KATHY RUDYAssociate professor of ethics and women’s studies at Duke University Ellen DeGeneres recently launched a national campaign endorsing veganism, and I give her a lot of credit. Along with people like Jonathan Safran Foer and many other media stars, she is putting the question of eating meat on the table as a significant … More With veganism and animal-rights causes, a middle ground is always best.
Today’s post is by architectural historian Paula Lupkin, who is in the American Culture Studies department at Washington University in St. Louis. Lupkin is author of Manhood Factories: YMCA Architecture and the Making of Modern Urban Culture. ——- It isn’t often that conservative Christians and the Village People find themselves in agreement, but marketing strategies … More Same as it Ever Was: Rebranding the YMCA
In case you missed it … Last week Jeanne Halgren Kilde, director of religious studies at the University of Minnesota, interviewed with MPR with regard to the U.S. Presbyterian Church’s largest decision-making meeting last week, which was held in Minneapolis. One little-known Minnesota trivia fact: Macalester College, one of the state’s most prominent liberal arts … More Jeanne Halgren Kilde reveals how Macalester College’s religious connections have changed.
