Reviews
Where Do Evangelicals Stand on CEO Compensation?
In the spirit of this week’s question on how different religious groups relate to the massive financial troubles on Wall Street, I spent time this morning digging through resources on how evangelicals view the issue of CEO compensation. With the federal bailout package currently stalled in Congress ландшафтin part because of a debate over whether [...]
24Sep2008 | Andrea Useem | 5 comments | Continued
“Surprised by God:” On Falling in Love with Religious Law
Danya Ruttenberg’s memoir, Surprised by God: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Religion, about how she grew from an athiest-Jewish high schooler to an observant-Jewish 30-something rabbi is really fantastic: well-written, engaging, skating that line between the personal and the universal with surprising grace. While reading it, I had to restrain myself from [...]
10Sep2008 | Andrea Useem | 1 comment | Continued
What the Heck Is the Emerging Church? A “Velvet Elvis” Answer
I always like new ideas, and I relish nothing more than watching big, paradigm-shifting movements overturn the status quo. (This probably has something to do with my birth-order position as a “rebellious” second child, but anyways.) Emergent Christianity has tickled my interest recently because it is just that: a completely new way of doing things. [...]
16Jul2008 | Andrea Useem | 4 comments | Continued
When God Goes Bad: Shalom Auslander’s Memoir of Rotten Religion
Here’s something I don’t like doing: Writing frankly about my own life. Here’s something I love doing: Reading other people write frankly about their lives. As a result, I love Shalom Auslander’s book, Foreskin’s Lament, in which he writes with a hilarious, tragic clarity about his life as a recovering Orthodox Jew.
Luckily, Auslander is funny [...]
God and Forgiveness on the Bathroom Floor: Immaculee Ilibagiza and the Rwandan Genocide
Some books are so powerful, so disturbing, I almost hesitates to recommend them or pass along a copy to a friend. Left to Tell, a spiritual autobiography written by a survivor of the Rwandan genocide, is one such book. A friend who read it at her church lent it to me, and the book spent [...]
17Jun2008 | Andrea Useem | 5 comments | Continued
When Orthodoxy Is Good for You: Making Sense of the “Hajj Effect”
Headlines about Islam usually write themselves: A Muslim blowing up innocent people is dog-bites-man. A Muslim acting thoughtful or funny or anything besides angry is man-bites-dog. The obvious headline from a recent academic study, “Estimating the Impact of the Hajj: Religion and Tolerance in Islam’s Global Gathering,” fell into the latter category: Three economists [...]
10Jun2008 | Andrea Useem | 7 comments | Continued
Is Obama’s Real “Faith Asset” His Ability to Speak the Language of American Civil Religion?
Last June, at the Wharton Leadership Conference, Richard Greene, a well-known public speaking coach, offered his prediction that Barack Obama would win the Democratic nomination on the basis of his amazing strengths as an orator. Glossing over the fact that Greene said Romney would win the Republican nomination for the same reason (great speaking skills), [...]
4Jun2008 | Andrea Useem | 3 comments | Continued
Neuroscience is Not Just for Buddhists: Reflections on the Physiology of Belief
Mega-pundit David Brooks has been talking a lot about neuroscience and religion lately. His column, “The Neural Buddhists,” was on the New York Times‘ “Most Emailed” list, and at this month’s Faith Angle conference in Key West — where the Pew Forum on Religion & Public LIfe invites the nation’s elite journalists to talk religion [...]
29May2008 | Andrea Useem | 3 comments | Continued
Mormon American Idol, Church on Second Life and Barack Obama in Indiana
It’s been a big night, yet another Tuesday evening of clicking back and forth between American Idol and Democratic primary results. So first things first: It looks like America is going to have its first-ever Mormon American Idol in 17-year-old David Archuleta. The three judges, Randy, Paula and Simon, go crazy for Archuleta’s earnest crooning, [...]
6May2008 | Andrea Useem | 6 comments | Continued
The Most Mysterious Haggadah: Q+A with “People of the Book” author Geraldine Brooks
A sweeping narrative set in multiple locations with a myriad cast of characters, People of the Book, a novel by Pulitzer-prize winning author Geraldine Brooks, is held together by one thing – a powerful fascination with a deceptively tattered book. The maxim “don’t judge a book by its cover” couldn’t be more applicable as the [...]
24Apr2008 | Shona Crabtree | 7 comments | Continued
mormonism is good 
Hi,
I wanted to ask you for some advice on writing about religion in the West. I wanted to try ...
Thanks for sharing this story, and for your boldness! God Bless. For more on the bible check out ...
Dr Liepert writes:
"I read the Qur’an, and it described my faith exactly. But there were aspects of Muslim practice I ...
Hi! I was surfing and found your blog post... nice! I love your blog. :) Cheers! Sandra. R. 
Assalamaolekum!...I don't know why such a fuss about the meaning of one word...there are so many hadiths advicing the men ...
I stumbled upon this rather late, so I write this for future stumblers. I found the discourse rather humorous. ...
I have had lds missionaries in my home many times. Although I've tried to show the utmost respect to them, ...
Salam- I don't see why people should leave the faith if they don't agree it every aspect of it. People ...