Sightings Articles
Rethinking Blasphemy in Indonesia and the Fiqh Tradition
World media have reported on the blasphemy conviction of Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, the Christian governor of Jakarta known as Ahok, with familiar oppositions of liberal-democratic norms and hardline Islam. Fears of the sharīʿa transgressing into the pu...
June 8, 2017
Why Milo Scares Students, and Faculty Even More
Editor's note: For a collection of responses to this piece, please see “A Packet for Rachel Fulton Brown” (March 2, 2017). On Wednesday, February 1st, there was a riot at the University of California, Berkeley. The College Republicans had invited ...
February 16, 2017
Redefining the American Civil Religion
Editor's note. This is the third in a series of essays on the Trump phenomenon—or "Trumpism," if such a thing can be defined—and what it reveals about the relationship between religion and politics in America today. Be sure to check out the previous ...
October 6, 2016
#JeSuisCharlie: Blasphemy in Hinduism and Censorship in India
Free speech, under attack in France, is also contested in India, where violence ignited by videos or messages deemed “blasphemous” or “insulting” by orthodox Hindus has long been a reality. In 2014 alone, eighty-five religion-related attacks on the m...