Perhaps I should begin with what's right with the media coverage of the attacks and protests taking place across the Middle East. What's right is how well the media has captured the almost universal consensus among politicians, religious leaders, and ordinary people around the globe that the attacks on the...

One year ago, Muslims across Norway and indeed Europe held their collective breath as news broke of bomb explosions in downtown Oslo and a killing spree on the island of Utøya. They had reason to be concerned. In a post-9/11 world, Muslims are prime suspects whenever reports surface of bombs...

In a 2010 speech at St. Thomas University in Houston that marked the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy's famous address on religious liberty, Rick Santorum noted that "Kennedy's speech was historic because it did offer a teachable moment." Unfortunately, it does not appear that Santorum learned any...

Dear Mr. Niblock:

As Iowans dedicated to promoting respect for religious diversity and interreligious cooperation, we are writing to express our extreme disappointment over Lowe's recent decision to withdraw its advertising from TLC's "All-American Muslim."

This decision, influenced in part by the efforts of the Florida Family...

The scandal at Penn State that grabbed headlines this past week certainly begs the question of this article. Courage was lacking for more than a decade among key figures in positions of power and authority at Penn State and its football program. As allegations about Jerry Sandusky's sexual abuse of...

What exactly does a Christian terrorist look like? I know, the question doesn't sound quite right. After all, there's no such thing as a Christian terrorist. The two words don't go together, unlike "Islamic" and "terrorist." This is certainly true in much of the public and political discourse in Europe...

I struggled with the decision to write a response to Herman Cain's recent appearance on Fox News Sunday in which he declared that local communities across the U.S. have the right to ban the construction of mosques. His statements were so ludicrous, so bigoted and so fundamentally at...

Where is Islam's Martin Luther? It's a question that many of us who speak or write about Islam in public forums encounter repeatedly. It's also a question that permeates newspaper editorials and the blogosphere. The question occasionally comes from Muslims, but I hear it more frequently from Protestant Christians who...

It is no secret that Sarah Palin's new book, America By Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith, and Flag (HarperCollins Publishers), is one more stepping stone on Palin's way to a formal declaration of her candidacy for the presidency. The book comes at a time in which Palin is receiving increasing...

Over the summer, I took a brief vacation to Paris. The biggest problem I have when I vacation is leaving my day job behind, and as a religion scholar with particular interest in the place of Islam in modern Europe, my hijab and burqa radars were on high while in...

Many Americans find it difficult to believe that the U.S. has anything to learn from Europe when it comes to religion. The recent controversies over mosques suggest otherwise. That's because this is a story that has been playing out in Europe for some time, with results ranging from restrictions on...