Sherman A. Jackson
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195180817
- eISBN:
- 9780199850259
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195180817.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This chapter examines the so-called Third Resurrection and the transition from Black Religion to historical Islam as the basis of religious authority in American Islam. It suggests that while the ...
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This chapter examines the so-called Third Resurrection and the transition from Black Religion to historical Islam as the basis of religious authority in American Islam. It suggests that while the basis of religious authority shifted, African American Muslims remained objects rather than subjects in this development. It compares this situation with Edward Wilmot Blyden's 19th century argument that if White European and American missionaries in Africa did not transfer religious authority to African Christians in a timely fashion, the latter would ultimately regurgitate Christianity.Less
This chapter examines the so-called Third Resurrection and the transition from Black Religion to historical Islam as the basis of religious authority in American Islam. It suggests that while the basis of religious authority shifted, African American Muslims remained objects rather than subjects in this development. It compares this situation with Edward Wilmot Blyden's 19th century argument that if White European and American missionaries in Africa did not transfer religious authority to African Christians in a timely fashion, the latter would ultimately regurgitate Christianity.
Sherman A. Jackson
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195180817
- eISBN:
- 9780199850259
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195180817.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This chapter examines the history of Black Orientalism and its relation to African American Muslims and American Islam. It describes and criticizes three typologies of Black Orientalism, including ...
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This chapter examines the history of Black Orientalism and its relation to African American Muslims and American Islam. It describes and criticizes three typologies of Black Orientalism, including National Black Orientalism, Academic Black Orientalism and Religious Black Orientalism. It discusses the manifestations of Black Orientalism as seeking to cast the Arab/Muslim world as a precursor and then imitator of the West in the latter's history of anti-blackness, and as rendering the Muslim world not only as the source of anti-black racism, but also of the of the most toxic reactions to this which continued to infect the otherwise civil approach of non-Muslim Black Americans long after the propriety and usefulness of black radicalism in America had passed.Less
This chapter examines the history of Black Orientalism and its relation to African American Muslims and American Islam. It describes and criticizes three typologies of Black Orientalism, including National Black Orientalism, Academic Black Orientalism and Religious Black Orientalism. It discusses the manifestations of Black Orientalism as seeking to cast the Arab/Muslim world as a precursor and then imitator of the West in the latter's history of anti-blackness, and as rendering the Muslim world not only as the source of anti-black racism, but also of the of the most toxic reactions to this which continued to infect the otherwise civil approach of non-Muslim Black Americans long after the propriety and usefulness of black radicalism in America had passed.
Nadia Marzouki
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780231176804
- eISBN:
- 9780231543927
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231176804.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
Chapter one explores the principal historical and sociological characteristics of Muslims in America, and show that from a legal point of view, what they seek is no different from what other ...
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Chapter one explores the principal historical and sociological characteristics of Muslims in America, and show that from a legal point of view, what they seek is no different from what other religious minorities request.Less
Chapter one explores the principal historical and sociological characteristics of Muslims in America, and show that from a legal point of view, what they seek is no different from what other religious minorities request.
Nadia Marzouki
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780231176804
- eISBN:
- 9780231543927
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231176804.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
Islam: An American Religion demonstrates how Islam as formed in the United States has become an American religion in a double sense—first through the strategies of recognition adopted by Muslims and ...
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Islam: An American Religion demonstrates how Islam as formed in the United States has become an American religion in a double sense—first through the strategies of recognition adopted by Muslims and second through the performance of Islam as a faith. Nadia Marzouki investigates how Islam has become so contentious in American politics. Focusing on the period from 2008 to 2013, she revisits the uproar over the construction of mosques, legal disputes around the prohibition of Islamic law, and the overseas promotion of religious freedom. She argues that public controversies over Islam in the United States primarily reflect the American public's profound divisions and ambivalence toward freedom of speech and the legitimacy of liberal secular democracy.Less
Islam: An American Religion demonstrates how Islam as formed in the United States has become an American religion in a double sense—first through the strategies of recognition adopted by Muslims and second through the performance of Islam as a faith. Nadia Marzouki investigates how Islam has become so contentious in American politics. Focusing on the period from 2008 to 2013, she revisits the uproar over the construction of mosques, legal disputes around the prohibition of Islamic law, and the overseas promotion of religious freedom. She argues that public controversies over Islam in the United States primarily reflect the American public's profound divisions and ambivalence toward freedom of speech and the legitimacy of liberal secular democracy.
Sherman A. Jackson
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195180817
- eISBN:
- 9780199850259
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195180817.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This chapter describes the nationalism and spirituality of African American Islam. It explores the religious incentives for African American protest and resistance, with specific reference to the ...
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This chapter describes the nationalism and spirituality of African American Islam. It explores the religious incentives for African American protest and resistance, with specific reference to the challenge this poses to religion in general and to African American Islam in particular. It discusses the spirituality of African American Muslims and explores the influence of Sufism on the development of personal piety, spirituality, and God-consciousness among African American Muslims.Less
This chapter describes the nationalism and spirituality of African American Islam. It explores the religious incentives for African American protest and resistance, with specific reference to the challenge this poses to religion in general and to African American Islam in particular. It discusses the spirituality of African American Muslims and explores the influence of Sufism on the development of personal piety, spirituality, and God-consciousness among African American Muslims.
Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad, Jane I. Smith, and Kathleen M. Moore
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195177831
- eISBN:
- 9780199850716
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195177831.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This chapter deals with the public leadership roles being adopted by Muslim women which are vital in the process of defining, and redefining, the meaning of American Islam. It also discusses Azizah, ...
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This chapter deals with the public leadership roles being adopted by Muslim women which are vital in the process of defining, and redefining, the meaning of American Islam. It also discusses Azizah, a magazine written by and for Muslim women presenting a broader set of images than do many of the other Islamic journals.Less
This chapter deals with the public leadership roles being adopted by Muslim women which are vital in the process of defining, and redefining, the meaning of American Islam. It also discusses Azizah, a magazine written by and for Muslim women presenting a broader set of images than do many of the other Islamic journals.
Michael Muhammad Knight
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190851279
- eISBN:
- 9780190943028
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190851279.003.0012
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This chapter explores the idea of American Islam, a unique expression of Islam articulated by a range of American Muslim thinkers. Special attention is given to the ways in which constructions of ...
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This chapter explores the idea of American Islam, a unique expression of Islam articulated by a range of American Muslim thinkers. Special attention is given to the ways in which constructions of American Islam intersect with notions of U.S. exceptionalism to imagine the U.S. as a setting in which Muslims can recover and revive the “true” and “original” Islam. The claim that American Islam would thus be the most authentic and universal Islam, informed by the racial history of the U.S. and white privilege, has been employed to diverse ends by a variety of actors that includes conservative neo-traditionalists, progressive and feminist Muslims, and Muslim supporters of George W. Bush. This chapter investigates the development of these discourses to argue that notions of American Islam ultimately privilege white convert men as the ideal embodiments of universal Islam.Less
This chapter explores the idea of American Islam, a unique expression of Islam articulated by a range of American Muslim thinkers. Special attention is given to the ways in which constructions of American Islam intersect with notions of U.S. exceptionalism to imagine the U.S. as a setting in which Muslims can recover and revive the “true” and “original” Islam. The claim that American Islam would thus be the most authentic and universal Islam, informed by the racial history of the U.S. and white privilege, has been employed to diverse ends by a variety of actors that includes conservative neo-traditionalists, progressive and feminist Muslims, and Muslim supporters of George W. Bush. This chapter investigates the development of these discourses to argue that notions of American Islam ultimately privilege white convert men as the ideal embodiments of universal Islam.
Justine Howe
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780190258870
- eISBN:
- 9780190258894
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190258870.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This chapter examines how the Webb community imagines itself as an alternative to practices of ethnic particularism in Chicago’s mosques. In particular, the community offers a third space for ...
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This chapter examines how the Webb community imagines itself as an alternative to practices of ethnic particularism in Chicago’s mosques. In particular, the community offers a third space for participants to challenge extant visions of American Islam as practiced in mosques. Webb members reimagine the United States as an ideal site of religious practice, carrying the hope of its participants that American Islam could someday be “seamless.” The United States, they believe, holds the promise of an Islam free of racial and ethnic divisions, if only they can disencumber American Islam of its immigrant ethos and show other Muslims the value of embracing cultural norms of American society. Focusing on the accounts of seven Webb participants, this chapter demonstrates how American Muslim identity is an ongoing, dynamic process of talk and practice, which are enmeshed in complex racial, gendered, and classed dynamics.Less
This chapter examines how the Webb community imagines itself as an alternative to practices of ethnic particularism in Chicago’s mosques. In particular, the community offers a third space for participants to challenge extant visions of American Islam as practiced in mosques. Webb members reimagine the United States as an ideal site of religious practice, carrying the hope of its participants that American Islam could someday be “seamless.” The United States, they believe, holds the promise of an Islam free of racial and ethnic divisions, if only they can disencumber American Islam of its immigrant ethos and show other Muslims the value of embracing cultural norms of American society. Focusing on the accounts of seven Webb participants, this chapter demonstrates how American Muslim identity is an ongoing, dynamic process of talk and practice, which are enmeshed in complex racial, gendered, and classed dynamics.
Sally Howell
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199372003
- eISBN:
- 9780199389285
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199372003.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
The conclusion draws parallels between the early 1980s and the post-9/11 period, when the possibility of reimaging Muslim American history has become urgent and necessary once more. It suggests that ...
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The conclusion draws parallels between the early 1980s and the post-9/11 period, when the possibility of reimaging Muslim American history has become urgent and necessary once more. It suggests that popular attitudes about old Islam (and lack of reliable knowledge about it) are constantly feeding into the discourses about American Islam that are prevalent among non-Muslims, a synergy driven by deeply held assumptions about the supposed incompatibilities between America and Islam as ideas, lifeworlds, and contexts of political belonging. The ability to historicize these assumptions and describe how they shift and repeat themselves over time has the potential to help Muslims and non-Muslims realize the extent to which their identities are connected and mutually reinforced within a complex array of Americanizing projects.Less
The conclusion draws parallels between the early 1980s and the post-9/11 period, when the possibility of reimaging Muslim American history has become urgent and necessary once more. It suggests that popular attitudes about old Islam (and lack of reliable knowledge about it) are constantly feeding into the discourses about American Islam that are prevalent among non-Muslims, a synergy driven by deeply held assumptions about the supposed incompatibilities between America and Islam as ideas, lifeworlds, and contexts of political belonging. The ability to historicize these assumptions and describe how they shift and repeat themselves over time has the potential to help Muslims and non-Muslims realize the extent to which their identities are connected and mutually reinforced within a complex array of Americanizing projects.
Justine Howe
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780190258870
- eISBN:
- 9780190258894
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190258870.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This chapter explores the suburban religious landscape, educational networks, and narratives of the American Muslim past out of which the Webb community emerged. It demonstrates how the suburbs are a ...
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This chapter explores the suburban religious landscape, educational networks, and narratives of the American Muslim past out of which the Webb community emerged. It demonstrates how the suburbs are a vital site to study broader dynamics in the American Muslim community. At its heart, the Webb Foundation is built on the idea that the Chicago suburbs can be the ideal place to practice Islam. Its core membership consists of young parents who are very committed to upper-middle-class norms of intensive parenting, such as supervising homework, shuttling kids between after-school activities, and maintaining an active presence in their social lives. The American Islam they seek to create fits into these constructions of family life, enabling children and adults alike to become American Muslims in ways they believe earlier generations were either unable or unwilling to be.Less
This chapter explores the suburban religious landscape, educational networks, and narratives of the American Muslim past out of which the Webb community emerged. It demonstrates how the suburbs are a vital site to study broader dynamics in the American Muslim community. At its heart, the Webb Foundation is built on the idea that the Chicago suburbs can be the ideal place to practice Islam. Its core membership consists of young parents who are very committed to upper-middle-class norms of intensive parenting, such as supervising homework, shuttling kids between after-school activities, and maintaining an active presence in their social lives. The American Islam they seek to create fits into these constructions of family life, enabling children and adults alike to become American Muslims in ways they believe earlier generations were either unable or unwilling to be.
Justine Howe
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780190258870
- eISBN:
- 9780190258894
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190258870.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
Suburban Islam explores how American Muslims have created new kinds of religious communities, known as third spaces, to navigate political and social pressures after 9/11. This book examines how one ...
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Suburban Islam explores how American Muslims have created new kinds of religious communities, known as third spaces, to navigate political and social pressures after 9/11. This book examines how one Chicago community, the Mohammed Alexander Russell Webb Foundation (Webb), has responded to the demands of proving Islam’s compatibility with liberal democracy and embracing the commonalities of their Abrahamic faith. Through dynamic forms of ritual practice, such as leisure activities, devotional practices such as the mawlid, and communal reading of sacred texts, the Webb community offers an alternative vision of American Islam. Appealing to an overarching American culture, the Webb community celebrates religious pluralism and middle-class consumerism, opens up leadership roles for women, and reimagines the United States as an ideal location for the practice of “authentic” Islam. In the process, they also seek to rehabilitate the public image of Islam. Suburban Islam analyzes these efforts as one slice of American Muslims’ heterogeneous and contingent institutionalizing practices in the twenty-first century. Suburban Islam examines how some American Muslims have intentionally set out to enact an Islam recognizable to others as American. Even as Webb intends to build a more inclusive and welcoming space, it also produces its own exclusions, elisions of extant racial and gender hierarchies, and unresolved tensions over the contours of American Muslim citizenship. As a case study, the Webb community demonstrates the multiple possibilities of American Islam. Through evolving practices and overlapping sets of relationships, this group continues to work out what American Islam means to them during a time in which Muslim and American are repeatedly cast as incompatible categories.Less
Suburban Islam explores how American Muslims have created new kinds of religious communities, known as third spaces, to navigate political and social pressures after 9/11. This book examines how one Chicago community, the Mohammed Alexander Russell Webb Foundation (Webb), has responded to the demands of proving Islam’s compatibility with liberal democracy and embracing the commonalities of their Abrahamic faith. Through dynamic forms of ritual practice, such as leisure activities, devotional practices such as the mawlid, and communal reading of sacred texts, the Webb community offers an alternative vision of American Islam. Appealing to an overarching American culture, the Webb community celebrates religious pluralism and middle-class consumerism, opens up leadership roles for women, and reimagines the United States as an ideal location for the practice of “authentic” Islam. In the process, they also seek to rehabilitate the public image of Islam. Suburban Islam analyzes these efforts as one slice of American Muslims’ heterogeneous and contingent institutionalizing practices in the twenty-first century. Suburban Islam examines how some American Muslims have intentionally set out to enact an Islam recognizable to others as American. Even as Webb intends to build a more inclusive and welcoming space, it also produces its own exclusions, elisions of extant racial and gender hierarchies, and unresolved tensions over the contours of American Muslim citizenship. As a case study, the Webb community demonstrates the multiple possibilities of American Islam. Through evolving practices and overlapping sets of relationships, this group continues to work out what American Islam means to them during a time in which Muslim and American are repeatedly cast as incompatible categories.
Justine Howe
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780190258870
- eISBN:
- 9780190258894
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190258870.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This chapter demonstrates the dynamic and improvisational character of ritual performance in third spaces, focusing on the performance of mawlids in the Webb community in 2011 and 2014. These rituals ...
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This chapter demonstrates the dynamic and improvisational character of ritual performance in third spaces, focusing on the performance of mawlids in the Webb community in 2011 and 2014. These rituals highlight Webb’s appeal to a broader network of Chicago’s Muslims across multiple generations. Webb mawlids build on traditions of female authority in domestic performance to elevate women’s participation and leadership in a public space. Within the framework of Webb as a third space, the mawlid is among the most important rituals for the construction of female religious authority. Shifts in ritual elements, namely music, language, and texts, reflect the conscious efforts of Webb members to cultivate American Muslim “spirituality” and produce an authentic American Muslim culture. This chapter also explains the limits of such ritual experimentations, showing how debates over the mawlid are part of broader contemporary Muslim concerns over authority, authenticity, and the boundaries of the Islamic tradition.Less
This chapter demonstrates the dynamic and improvisational character of ritual performance in third spaces, focusing on the performance of mawlids in the Webb community in 2011 and 2014. These rituals highlight Webb’s appeal to a broader network of Chicago’s Muslims across multiple generations. Webb mawlids build on traditions of female authority in domestic performance to elevate women’s participation and leadership in a public space. Within the framework of Webb as a third space, the mawlid is among the most important rituals for the construction of female religious authority. Shifts in ritual elements, namely music, language, and texts, reflect the conscious efforts of Webb members to cultivate American Muslim “spirituality” and produce an authentic American Muslim culture. This chapter also explains the limits of such ritual experimentations, showing how debates over the mawlid are part of broader contemporary Muslim concerns over authority, authenticity, and the boundaries of the Islamic tradition.
Justine Howe
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780190258870
- eISBN:
- 9780190258894
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190258870.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
The conclusion examines the significance of third-space religious communities for religious studies, American religions, and the study of American Islam. It argues that scholars should be more ...
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The conclusion examines the significance of third-space religious communities for religious studies, American religions, and the study of American Islam. It argues that scholars should be more attentive to these marginal communities to more adequately account for the contingency and unpredictability of lived religious practices. Looking beyond more visible institutions and dense urban neighborhoods enables researchers to track the ways in which communities are formed, how they seek to create a space of belonging for their members to inhabit, and how these attempts to create community simultaneously reinforce discourses of exclusion and marginalization. The chapter concludes with reflections on the possibilities and constraints of American Muslim selfhood and identity as Barack Obama’s presidency came to a close.Less
The conclusion examines the significance of third-space religious communities for religious studies, American religions, and the study of American Islam. It argues that scholars should be more attentive to these marginal communities to more adequately account for the contingency and unpredictability of lived religious practices. Looking beyond more visible institutions and dense urban neighborhoods enables researchers to track the ways in which communities are formed, how they seek to create a space of belonging for their members to inhabit, and how these attempts to create community simultaneously reinforce discourses of exclusion and marginalization. The chapter concludes with reflections on the possibilities and constraints of American Muslim selfhood and identity as Barack Obama’s presidency came to a close.
Sylvester A. Johnson and Steven Weitzman
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780520287273
- eISBN:
- 9780520962422
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520287273.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter explains on how the FBI’s relationship with various American religious groups complicates the typical category of religion-and-state issues. It begins with the post-9/11 era then relates ...
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This chapter explains on how the FBI’s relationship with various American religious groups complicates the typical category of religion-and-state issues. It begins with the post-9/11 era then relates the long history of the FBI engaging with religion. The chapter explains how the bureau has practiced skepticism toward religion at times while also seeking an alliance with religion at other times. The chapter argues for the importance of situating the post-9/11 era within a longer history of the FBI’s interaction with America’s religious communities.Less
This chapter explains on how the FBI’s relationship with various American religious groups complicates the typical category of religion-and-state issues. It begins with the post-9/11 era then relates the long history of the FBI engaging with religion. The chapter explains how the bureau has practiced skepticism toward religion at times while also seeking an alliance with religion at other times. The chapter argues for the importance of situating the post-9/11 era within a longer history of the FBI’s interaction with America’s religious communities.
Sylvester A. Johnson
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780520287273
- eISBN:
- 9780520962422
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520287273.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter explains how the FBI’s interaction with Muslims predates 9/11 by many decades, going back to the early history of the FBI. It examines the FBI's efforts to surveil and infiltrate the ...
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This chapter explains how the FBI’s interaction with Muslims predates 9/11 by many decades, going back to the early history of the FBI. It examines the FBI's efforts to surveil and infiltrate the Moorish Science Temple of America, from the 1930s until 1960. Racial assumptions shaped the FBI’s response to this group, particularly following their refusal to conform to the Selective Service Act during the Second World War. The chapter demonstrates how the FBI’s attitudes to race and religion intersected to produce a clear pattern of hostility toward this religious group despite the FBI’s repeated findings that the group was not a threat to national security.Less
This chapter explains how the FBI’s interaction with Muslims predates 9/11 by many decades, going back to the early history of the FBI. It examines the FBI's efforts to surveil and infiltrate the Moorish Science Temple of America, from the 1930s until 1960. Racial assumptions shaped the FBI’s response to this group, particularly following their refusal to conform to the Selective Service Act during the Second World War. The chapter demonstrates how the FBI’s attitudes to race and religion intersected to produce a clear pattern of hostility toward this religious group despite the FBI’s repeated findings that the group was not a threat to national security.
Jeffrey Guhin
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- December 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780190244743
- eISBN:
- 9780190244767
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190244743.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society, Religious Studies
In Agents of God, sociologist Jeffrey Guhin describes his year and a half spent in two Sunni Muslim and two Evangelical Christian high schools in the New York City area. At first, these four schools ...
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In Agents of God, sociologist Jeffrey Guhin describes his year and a half spent in two Sunni Muslim and two Evangelical Christian high schools in the New York City area. At first, these four schools could not seem more different, yet they are linked by much: these are all schools with conservative thoughts on gender and sexuality, with a hostility to the theory of evolution, and with a deep suspicion of secularism. And they are all also hopeful that America will be a place where their children can excel, even as they also fear the nation’s many temptations might lead their children astray. Guhin shows how these school communities use boundaries of politics, gender, and sexuality to distinguish themselves from the outside world, both in school and online. Within these boundaries, these communities have developed “external authorities” like Science, Scripture, and Prayer, each of which is felt and experienced as a real power with the ability to make commands and coerce action. For example, people can describe Science itself as showing something or the Bible itself as making a command. By offloading coercion to these external authorities, leaders in these schools are able to maintain a commitment to religious freedom while simultaneously reproducing their moral commitments in their students. Drawing on extensive classroom observation, community participation, and interviews with students, teachers, and staff, this book makes an original contribution to religious studies, sociology, and education.Less
In Agents of God, sociologist Jeffrey Guhin describes his year and a half spent in two Sunni Muslim and two Evangelical Christian high schools in the New York City area. At first, these four schools could not seem more different, yet they are linked by much: these are all schools with conservative thoughts on gender and sexuality, with a hostility to the theory of evolution, and with a deep suspicion of secularism. And they are all also hopeful that America will be a place where their children can excel, even as they also fear the nation’s many temptations might lead their children astray. Guhin shows how these school communities use boundaries of politics, gender, and sexuality to distinguish themselves from the outside world, both in school and online. Within these boundaries, these communities have developed “external authorities” like Science, Scripture, and Prayer, each of which is felt and experienced as a real power with the ability to make commands and coerce action. For example, people can describe Science itself as showing something or the Bible itself as making a command. By offloading coercion to these external authorities, leaders in these schools are able to maintain a commitment to religious freedom while simultaneously reproducing their moral commitments in their students. Drawing on extensive classroom observation, community participation, and interviews with students, teachers, and staff, this book makes an original contribution to religious studies, sociology, and education.