Religious Extremism
What Makes a Good Fanatic? The Big Guns Get Philosophical
As a freelancer, I have a lot of jobs, but one of the most enjoyable is editing transcripts for the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. The task involves many solitary hours spent combing through the words of distinguished experts of religion. It’s an immersive experience, and I pay far more attention to the [...]
12Mar2008 | Andrea Useem | 1 comment | ContinuedSurviving Salafism: An American Muslim Recovers from Extremism and Makes a Difference
Editor’s Note: On June 25, 2009, the text of this post was removed at the request of Tariq Nelson.
12Dec2007 | Andrea Useem | 18 comments | Continued“A Misbegotten Martyr:” Ricky Rodriguez’s Tragic Quest for Justice
Last week, Don Lattin spoke with ReligionWriter about the evangelical influences behind the sexual theology of The Family International, a religious sect founded by leader David Berg in the late 1960s. Berg’s spiritual step-son, Ricky Rodriguez, was raised to be the group’s leader — Berg prophesied that Rodriguez would eventually sacrifice his life for the [...]
16Oct2007 | Andrea Useem | 3 comments | ContinuedThe Making of a Twisted Sexual Theology: Q+A on “Jesus Freaks”
The bizarre, tragic nature of his life began with his conception: Ricky Rodriguez was born as a result of “flirty fishing,” a practice of proselytizing through sex advocated by David Berg, the Jesus-quoting founder of the religious sect now known as The Family International (formerly The Children of God.)
Berg, the son of a well-known Pentecostal [...]
Humanizing Iran, and Other Ways to Save the World with Summer Reading
If you liked Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake, Monica Ali’s Brick Lane, Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, or any other novel strung poignantly between two continents, you’ll find much to like in Yamsin Crowther’s debut novel, The Saffron Kitchen, published several months ago by Penguin, which traces the bittersweet story of a young Iranian too headstrong [...]
25Jun2007 | Andrea Useem | 3 comments | ContinuedAuthor Profile: Eboo Patel on Making Pluralism Sexy
By Andrea Useem, Religion BookLine- Publishers Weekly, 5/30/2007 (reprinted here with permission.)
When most Americans look at Osama bin-Laden, they see a terrorist. Eboo Patel sees that and something more: To him, bin-Laden is a highly effective youth organizer.
“Al Qaeda has a phalanx of people who are focused on shaping the identities of young Muslims toward [...]
Muslim Identity Is Not Always About Religion, Two Novelists Show
By Andrea Useem, Religion BookLine — Publishers Weekly, 5/16/2007 (reprinted here with permission.)
With a title like The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Mohsin Hamid’s new novel (Harcourt, April) invites readers to expect a story of religion gone bad. But instead of radical preaching or religious fervor, the book details the transformation of Changez, an Ivy League-educated Pakistani, [...]
Economics of Religion: Suicide Bombing a Response to “Market Demand,” Says Scholar
What can the insights of economics tell us about the motivations of suicide bombers? A quick answer might be that the people (nearly all young men) who kill themselves while killing others are down-trodden, poor, and depressed by their limited circumstances in life.
Yet research does not bear out this out. Many suicide bombers, including the [...]