I read a news story this week about dozens of children sex trafficked at an auto show in Detroit. I read about a young man getting no jail time for sexually assaulting a six year old girl… sex traffickers targeting… Read More ›
American History
The Hate U Give by Esther Nelson
These days I live in a perpetual state of simmering outrage given the popular support of the “goings on” and happenings within our current administration. The lies, the deceit, the xenophobia, the racism, the misogyny, the homophobia, the anti-intellectualism—things that… Read More ›
Just Show Up by Katie M. Deaver
Happy Midterm Election Day 2018!! The first article I ever wrote for Feminism and Religion, (“I Never Thought That I Would Need to Be a Part of History,”) ran just a couple of weeks after the inauguration of the current… Read More ›
What to do with Trump? by Barbara Ardinger
The United States used to get some respect. But now, except for the most gullible Trumpeters, people all over the world are seeing the damage the Troll-in-Chief is doing to our nation with his narcissism and corruption. What can a… Read More ›
The Cost by John Erickson
Brett Kavanaugh is a piece of shit.
Vengeance Is Mine, Saith the Holy: Fear, Faith, and Divine Wisdom by Tallessyn Zawn Grenfell-Lee
Be afraid. Be very afraid. That seems to be the refrain these days, particularly in politics. The more you terrify people, the more likely they are to vote, protest, and otherwise engage in political activism. Well, maybe not. Apparently, hammering… Read More ›
It’s All About Control by Vibha Shetiya
When I first moved to America, I was shocked to learn of the high rate of domestic violence here. Surely, American men weren’t like that. Besides, American women were strong – they would never take BS from their husbands, fathers… Read More ›
Will Donald Trump Go to Heaven? by Gina Messina
Having seen the image of a toddler crying while law enforcement questioned her mother, my daughter was filled with fear, anxiety, and confusion. After tearfully asking if she would be taken away from me, my nine year old followed up… Read More ›
America’s Two National Goddesses by Barbara Ardinger
I bet almost no one knows this secret: the United States is being watched over by two goddesses! One of them stands on top of the Capitol dome in Washington, D.C. The other stands on an island in New York… Read More ›
Priestess at the Crossroads by Joyce Zonana
In order to transform what is happening at the Mexico/U.S. “border” (and elsewhere) we must first break down the borders within our heads—all the borders in all our heads. Mr. Trump tells us “If you don’t have Borders, you don’t have a Country”; my response today is: “Who needs countries? Who needs genders? Who needs races or competing religions? What we need is Coatlicue.”
In These Dark Times, a Bit of Goodness in the World by Karen Leslie Hernandez
In my almost 52 years, I feel as if this is the darkest time we have ever witnessed. I don’t need to name it all here, because we know. I, like many of us, am struggling. Struggling to make sense… Read More ›
Don’t Look Away by John Erickson
Why can’t social media be fun anymore? Why can’t we spread happy pictures of puppies, babies, and rainbows? While the answer may be simple to many of us, let me state it plainly to my relative: Because the world is on fire and we have a racist in the White House creating edicts that call for babies and children to be placed in ‘tender age’ facilities.
I Dated an American Sniper by Karen Leslie Hernandez
“Happy Memorial Day!” Did you hear that this past Monday? I find this “celebration” confusing. Memorial Day isn’t a celebration, it’s a remembrance. It’s about more than BBQ’s and parades. It’s about honoring those who’ve died while serving our country…. Read More ›
Long Beach, California – 2018 Pride! by Marie Cartier
Last year I published a photo essay with pictures of Long Beach, CA’s Pride week-end. You can see last year’s photo essay here. I also published a photo essay of the Los Angeles Resist March from last year here. It… Read More ›
Bible Study Back in the White House after 100 Years – And… They Still Hate Gays and Women! by Marie Cartier
So, I am perusing my twitter feed and I come across this headline: White House Bible Study Led by Pastor Who Is Anti-Gay, Anti-Women and Anti-Catholic The opening paragraphs read like my LGBTQ+ religious studies nightmare: “The first Bible study… Read More ›
We Don’t Need Armed Guards, We Need Grandmas by Karen Moon
(Written the day after the Parkland high school, Florida shooting.) Last night, my husband and I went outside to our driveway to sit in the car and have a beer. Those of you with lots of children will understand that… Read More ›
A Dream Home by Joyce Zonana
Forty years ago, I abandoned my own inner quest to establish myself as a writer/translator, discouraged by the voices of publishers who told me the book was unmarketable, worried about making a living and reassuring my family (whom I had broken from when I was seventeen) that I was “okay.” I chose the relatively safer path of becoming an English professor, and I worked for more than thirty years helping others to find their voices. I do not regret taking that path. It has led me here.
Goddess Spirituality and Women’s Leadership by Jessica Bowman
As a public school administrator, and a human, I feel tremendous grief for the tragedy generated in the latest school shooting. The impact is devastating and disastrous. Immediately after such a calamity is the public outcry for change and the… Read More ›
Activism Helps You Heal: #RESIST #NeverAgain by Marie Cartier
Here we are, as I write this, a week after the horrible shooting of 17 students and teachers in Parkland, Florida. And the beginnings of a new student led movement: #NeverAgain—never another school massacre like what happened in Florida. Today,… Read More ›
Considering Our Spaces in the Pursuit of Justice by Elise M. Edwards
This past summer, my friend and I were perusing the exhibits at the National Museum of African-American History and Culture when she urgently called for my attention. “Psst… Isn’t this where you are from?” she asked, pointing at a placard… Read More ›
Exploring Muslimness in the Aftermath of September 11, 2001 by Stephanie Arel
In my last post, I addressed the deeply personal accounts of Haroon Moghul’s self- and religious exploration in his memoir How to be a Muslim: An American Story. This post will broaden that reading to consider an October 2017 interview… Read More ›
Looking for a Mouth to Tell the Story by Esther Nelson
In Chinua Achebe’s novel, THINGS FALL APART, Okonkwo, a proud, hard-working, albeit quick-tempered tribesman living in the village of Umuofia, fires a gun at Ekwefi, one of his three wives, almost killing her. Chielo, a widow with two children, who… Read More ›
Of Monument(al) Importance by Esther Nelson
I remember being blown away when I read Judith Plaskow’s book, Standing Again at Sinai: Judaism from a Feminist Perspective, shortly after it was published in 1990. She writes, “The need for a feminist Judaism begins with hearing silence.” She… Read More ›
Kneeling as Protest by Anjeanette LeBoeuf
In a previous FAR post, I talked about the newest trend in sports of including women in marketing strategies for American football. Today I have decided to throw my hat into the ring regarding the recent polarizing “Kneeling” protest taking… Read More ›
Nobel Peace Prize 2017: ICAN and Those Who Can’t by Lache S.
If there is any sanity in the world, it has come from the Nobel Peace Prize of 2017, which was awarded to ICAN, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. They received the award for the work they have done… Read More ›
Hillary Clinton, What Happened and What Happens Now? by Marie Cartier
“In the past, for reasons I try to explain, I’ve often felt I had to be careful in public, like I was up on a wire without a net. Now I’m letting my guard down.” —Hillary Rodham Clinton, from the… Read More ›
The Spirit and Jarena Lee: Inspiration to Break Boundaries by Elise M. Edwards
I am so frustrated that we are still fighting to affirm women’s place in leadership. I’ve been thinking about this struggle in the context of church ministries (especially preaching) and social activism, seeing a stark contrast between the way institutional… Read More ›
On the Removal of the Confederate Statues by Stephanie Arel
In the wake of Charlottesville, and following Xochitl Alvizo’s recent post on the topic, I review the May 2017 speech from New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu who made a compelling case for the removal of confederate statues from public view… Read More ›
Making America What Again? Reflections for the 4th of July by Sara Frykenberg
I find myself asking (again), when the religious right, evangelicals, and Christian fundamentalists hear Trump say, “Make America Great Again,” do they really hear him saying, “Make America Christian Again?” How can the really hear him saying that in light of what this man has actually said and actually done? The answer: because of the same mythical purity that erases the violence, slaughter, and atrocity attached to this “Christian nation’s” founding.
The Trees and We Breathe Bombs Long Gone by Lache S.
I wish that in our pursuit of finding cures for illnesses we would do more as a collective species to prevent the causes, sometimes environmental ones. Why do we vote for people to make decisions that represent us but that… Read More ›
