Journalist – Historian – Speaker
The problem isn’t religion. The problem is ideology. Every time I write about religion and violence, which is pretty often in general and regularly over the last week, I get a lot of bigoted anti-religion responses (and plenty of other hostile responses from believers, but let’s put those to the side for now). To which …
I’ve been meaning to write about the story of Leo Forrest for a few days now. The gist of the story ACCORDING TO THE FATHER is that his father (Samuel) got media attention based on the claim that Leo’s mother (Ruzan) demanded Samuel choose between Leo and her. Leo has Down syndrome. Ruzan, according to …
A number of conservative Crusades scholars, some people I consider friends, have told me how wrong my Guardian piece is. They have not, though, really told me why. I thought I would boil my piece down to six core arguments and number them, in hopes of receiving better feedback. Maybe a real discussion could break …
In an earlier post, I talked about crusades and memory, linking to my Guardian piece and talking about the meaning of the violence linked to Crusading. I suggested that historians might debate whether a given battle or moment of violence happened, or whether it happened because of religious hatred for “the other,” versus some other …
I have a new piece up at The Guardian on the recent right-wing fury over President Obama’s remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast (an event for which presidential involvement needs to be ended). While relatively few contemporary Christians are calling for the crusades these days (although crusader iconography is not uncommon in the US military), it’s …
Here are just a few resources I’m currently using: The president’s remarks in full. Here’s the key excerpt: We see sectarian war in Syria, the murder of Muslims and Christians in Nigeria, religious war in the Central African Republic, a rising tide of anti-Semitism and hate crimes in Europe, so often perpetrated in the name of …
I have a bunch of pieces I’m writing this morning, but didn’t want this story to go un-blogged. Tim Tebow is organizing proms for people with disabilities on Valentine’s Day. [my emphasis] The events — which are expected to draw some 7,000 people with disabilities — will each come complete with a red-carpet entrance, paparazzi, …
One of my frustrations with disability writing is that it’s often perceived as a niche, and a small one at that. Instead, it’s us. All of us. Not all of us at once. Not all of us now. But disability is a fundamental component of the human condition. And of course disability is also diversity, …
Yesterday, CNN published a piece of mine on the death of Kristiana Coignard. Here’s how she died [warning – the video is very disturbing, so follow the link with caution]: In late January, Kristiana Coignard, a seventeen-year-old woman with bipolar disorder and depression, walked into the police department in Longwood, Texas, with “I have a …
@Lollardfish I kept saying, “Show a gun. Show a gun. Show a gun.” Then I was mad they wussed out. — Jess Banks (@ProfBanks) February 2, 2015 Nationwide wants us to be afraid of the wrong things. This tweet was in reference to the nasty Nationwide ad that showed cute kids saying they never got …