Six N.Y. Senators Don Hoodies for #Trayvon Martin

Maybe I’m more aware of this now that I have kids, but do politicians always sound like kids’ cartoons? In the movie Beauty and the Beast, the character Gaston says “you’re either with us or against us.” Sarah Palin sounds like the squirrel from Higglytown Heroes, ya betcha. And of course, Barack Obama channels Bob the Builder with “Yes we can.” Election 2008, kids shows

Interview with Wajahat Ali | FPIF. Basically, the reason they’re taking place now is that this is an unprecedented time in American history for the mainstreaming of Islamophobic sentiment and rhetoric. What was once allowed to operate on the fringes and by fringe actors has been co-opted by mainstream political actors and parties to capitalize on people’s fears, panic, and hysteria. You see this pattern in American history. When there is a moment of panic and fear around an economic downturn, politicians and people in cottage industries turn on minorities. It has happened with Jews and with African Americans in…

My on-line chat with the PrepareNY community about religion and politics is now up on the site. PrepareNY is an interfaith coalition, convened to help NY around the 10th anniversary of 9/11. June 21st Chat with Hussein Rashid – Prepare New York. Hussein is an academic, activist and lecturer. He has an extensive background in theology, interfaith dialogue and political consulting. So we thought he would be the perfect person to talk to about the role of Religion in Politics today!