Popular Articles
The nature of news can make the world feel grimmer than it is
“One response, and perhaps the most important one, which should fundamentally shape our lives, is simply refusing to concede that what is given in our news is the way the world is. It is a medium that, among its exemplary reports, also emphasizes the unusual, the conflictual, the dramatic, not the usual, the routine, the everyday, that marks most of our lives. It does not reflect the world that we actually live in each day.
May 6, 2020 Religion Unplugged
Implications of the Hagia Sophia’s Conversion to a Mosque
“Hagia Sophia’s conversion is the culmination of Erdoğan’s long campaign to transform Turkey into a neo-Ottoman state or even empire…. On March 31, 2018, Erdoğan himself recited the first verse of the Quran there, dedicating his words to the “souls of all who left us this work as inheritance, especially Istanbul’s conqueror.”
Erdoğan’s reference to the conqueror of then Constantinople, Mehmet II, was quite deliberate and illustrates his desire to imitate the Ottoman sultan. As part of its reopening under the COVID-19 pandemic, Turkey had planned to reopen its mosques on June 12, but Erdoğan pushed for the reopening to take place on May 29 instead, the 567th anniversary of Constantinople’s capture by the sultan. Hence, the mosques’ reopening would also be a celebration of the act of conquest.”
Had good reaction to this article. Ambassador Brownback expressed his appreciation, and their was good feedback from Vice President Pence’s office. On Friday July 31, it was circulated on Capitol Hill.
July 13, 2020 Providence
Turkey is moving toward a neo-Ottoman regime with calls to convert Hagia Sophia
Turkey has established military bases in Qatar and Somalia, deployed armed drones in northern Cyprus. It has made repeated military incursions into Syria and Iraq, and has likely made covert weapons shipments to terrorists in Nigeria.
There is also increased repression at home. Turkey leads the world in the number of imprisoned journalists. One aspect of this propaganda effort has been to threaten the status of Hagia Sophia, which was, for a millennium, the greatest church building in the world.
These events might play well at home, but have increased animosity to Turkey abroad and have left the country looking for friends where it can find them.
June 25, 2020 Religion Unplugged
Growing Animus Toward Religious Schools in Sweden
My latest article with Jacob Rudenstrand (that’s his photo–he’s the lead author) on pressure on religious schools and other religious institutions in Sweden.
“The government schools have their own beliefs. One detailed study shows “a secularist discourse was hegemonic in the classroom practice and implied [a] norm of talking about religion, religions and worldviews as something outdated and belonging to history. A non-religious, atheistic position was articulated as neutral and unbiased in relation to the subject matter and was associated with being a rational, critically thinking person.”
June 5, 2020 Cornerstone
Why these Christian missionaries donated to a mosque in Indonesia
Part of my ongoing series on positive Muslim and Christian and other religions relations in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim country, with more Muslims than the entire Middle East. I don’t deny ongoing persecution, usually covering it in my more documented, scholarly studies, which I have linked to previously, but these articles are to give the usual flavor of everyday life in the country.
May 21, 2020 Religion Unplugged
What the Coronavirus and Lockdowns Can Teach Us about Politics
“Politics is inevitably judging between not only legitimate and illegitimate demands but also between legitimate demands, which are usually much harder to dismiss. And we are often, probably usually, judging based on uncertain information, even ignorance.
I could list many politicians whom I think are doing stupid things…. But rest assured there is no right answer to these complex issues lying out there in some neo-Platonic universe waiting simply to be found and implemented.
Politics is itself hard: it is arguing and competing and fighting over contested, often differently valued, and often underinformed, issues and policies.
But if you want to abandon the jarring messiness of politics, then Vladimir Lenin, Adolf Hitler, Mao Zedong, and Xi Jinping would be happy to suggest some alternatives.”
May 16, 2020 Providence
Muslims and Evangelicals Form Joint Working Group to Tackle Extremism
“On April 20, members of the world’s largest Muslim organization and one of the world’s largest Christian organizations announced the creation of a joint working group to counter two threats to religious freedom and to society more broadly: religious extremism and secular extremism.
The Muslim participants represent the Humanitarian Islam, or Islam Nusantara, movement, which is rooted in the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), with an estimated 90 million followers, primarily in its home country of Indonesia.The Christian participants are from the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), which, due to the massive global growth of evangelicalism over the last century, has become one of the world’s major Christian bodies, drawing together over 600 million Christians in national alliances in 130 countries.”
April 27, 2020 Providence
The Jew of Tondano
“We sat by the side of the road in the hills near Tonado, the heat and humidity offset by wonderful mangoes from the local roadside fruit stand, whose owners simply plucked them from their trees thirty feet away. We were waiting for Toar Palilingan, the leader of the only functioning synagogue in Indonesia. Since his family was mostly from the local Minehasa people, we hoped we could recognize him when he arrived. But recognition was no problem. He was hard to miss. Wearing a black suit despite the tropical heat, white open-necked shirt, pointy black shoes, tzitzit, and topped with a sharp black fedora. I thought: ‘We’re in Brooklyn; but, no, we were in the beautiful tropical highlands of the Northeast corner of the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia.”
Apr 8, 2020 Ami Magazine, Pesach Edition 2020 Volume 2, 176-179,
Praying Together, Even When Divided
Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work, or watch, or weep this night, and give your angels charge over those who
sleep. Tend the sick, Lord Christ; give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the
joyous; and all for your love’s sake. Amen.
April 4, 2020 Religion Unplugged
Changes in Gambia Threaten Its Traditions Of Pacifist Islam
“Gambia’s draft constitution may further undermine its traditional Islam. The late, great Christian scholar at Yale, Lamin Sanneh, describes it in his magisterial Beyond Jihad: The Pacifist Tradition in West African Islam. Note the word ‘pacifist.’ Lamin was himself from Gambia and was a convert to Christianity from Islam, so he was also personally aware of the subject.”
Received thanks for the article from the Gambia Christian Council, who is now distributing it (on the day it was published).
March 7, 2020 Religion Unplugged.
The Muslim ‘Amish’ environmentalists of Indonesia
February 24, 2020 Religion Unplugged
Britain’s most rampant rapist ignites homosexuality debate in Indonesia
February 3, 2020 Religion Unplugged
New Christian-Muslim Political Alliances
On the growing alliance between European (mainly Christian Democratic) parties and Indonesian Muslims. Republished by the Religious Freedom Institute, and distributed by Nahdlatul Ulama, the world’s largest Muslim organization.
February 3, 2020 Providence
Substituting Values for Laws: Warnings from Canada
Addressing religious freedom issues in the West, especially trends in Canada. “One of the reasons for forbidding government discrimination on matters such as religion is precisely so that private institutions will be able to discriminate, appropriately and justly, according to their own particular beliefs as to what supports their distinctive mission. Governmental neutrality is intended to be a foundation for a lively and diverse societal pluralism, not for society to become a mirror of the government itself.
January 30, 2020 Cornerstone, Religious Freedom Institute
Baylor Professor Assesses the Main Factors in Christian Persecution
An interview on why the persecution of Christians is often downplayed.
December 19, 2019 National Catholic Register
Warriors as Exemplars of Faith
August 23, 2019 Juicy Ecumenism
The Many Charms Of West Sumatra: Grandmas With Eight Husbands, Teens Studying Plato And The Best Food In The World
This is part of my ongoing series on Indonesia’s religious relations.
August 23, 2019 Religion Unplugged
This Indonesian village tradition has kept peace between Christians and Muslims
This is part of my ongoing series on Indonesia’s religious relations.
July 31, 2019 Religion Unplugged
Religious freedom has never drawn a bigger crowd (from all walks of faith)
I was an invited participant in the State Department-hosted July 16-18, three-day high level “Ministerial” on religious freedom. The Ministerial was launched by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and hosted by Ambassador-at-Large for Religious Freedom Sam Brownback. The official conference drew 1,000 invited people, and invitations had to be closed off months in advance. I describe the whole Ministerial in my article.
July 22, 2019 Religion Unplugged
“From DC to Mecca: Should ‘Human Dignity’ Be the New ‘Religious Freedom’?”
Quoted in “From DC to Mecca: Should ‘Human Dignity’ Be the New ‘Religious Freedom’?”
July 22, 2019 Christianity Today
A Review of Steve Waldman’s Sacred Liberty: America’s Long, Bloody, and Ongoing Struggle for Religious Freedom), Christian Century
“Steven Waldman has something new to say about religious freedom in the US: His narrative includes heroes and villains on both sides of the political divide.”
July 15, 2019 Christian Century
The State Department’s Commission on Unalienable Rights: Concerns and Five Recommendations
July 15, 2019 Providence
Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein Calls for Religious Freedom in Full, for Individuals and Institutions
June 13, 2019 Religious Freedom Institute
Robert Kagan and the Many Meanings of Liberalism
In this article, I want to address how Westerners, especially Americans, including Christians, are currently addressing politics. The level of discourse is now quite abysmal (much worse than even two decades ago). One major problem for many is that politics is reduced to a simplistic binary—liberal/non liberal—while Christians often lack any theory of the task of government.
May 1, 2019 Providence
Indonesian Presidential Election Win for Jokowi Is Good News
April 19, 2019 Providence
Muslim leader Yahya Cholil Staquf: Need to address “problematic elements of Islamic orthodoxy
After Christchurch attack.
April 3, 2019 Religion Unplugged
Religious Tensions on the Rise in Indonesia
As noted above, ReligionUnplugged, is a newly-launched news service on the importance of religion in everyday life. It is a project of The Media Project.
March 4, 2019 Religion Unplugged
Goodbye Ahok, Hello “BTP”: Inside Indonesia’s Convoluted Politics
February 7, 2019 Providence
How a Catholic thinker made human rights universal
I did not write this, but it is largely an interview with me exploring the Catholic roots of much of the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Angelus is the magazine of the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the country’s largest, with 5 million professing members, and it is a very professional publication. The piece has received strong positive responses and comments, especially from senior Catholics, including Archbishop Chaput of Philadelphia, Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre, and Ambassador Joseph Ghougassian. Jim Haninck, President of the American Maritain Society, forwarded it to his mailing list and posted it on his own website.
Jan. 23, 2019 Mike Aquilina, Angelus
Indonesia, Google and the Surveillance State
January 3, 2019 Cornerstone (Religious Freedom Institute)
European Court of Human Rights Verdict Will Exacerbate Religious Conflict
December 16, 2018 The Media Project
Blasphemy Returns as a Political Weapon in Indonesia
October 31, 2018 Providence
Kipling’s “The Ballad of East and West” is Hardly Racist
A defense of Nobel-Prize-winning author Rudyard Kipling from charges of racism by those who appear never to have read his work.
August 7, 2018 Providence
Conflicts in Indonesian Islam
May 31, 2018 Current Trends in Islamist Ideology
Pence Meets Indonesia’s Top Muslim Leader After Church Attacks: The US supports major Sunni group’s efforts to fight radicalization
Quoted extensively in Christianity Today article by Kate Shellnut.
May 18, 2018 Christianity Today
Cause for Alarm? Indonesia’s Weekend of Violence Prompts Vigilance and Concern
May 14, 2018 Providence
When Blasphemy Runs Amok
May 1, 2018 Providence
Former Jakarta Governor Ahok, Convicted for Blasphemy, Finally Appeals
March 23, 2018 Cornerstone (Religious Freedom Institute, Washington DC)
The Ambiguities of Religious Freedom in Indonesia
March 6, 2018 The Review of Faith & International Affairs Volume 16, Number 1, 85-96,
Indonesia’s Religious Freedom, Constitutional Court, and Ulama Council
December 5, 2017 Providence
Indonesia’s Constitutional Court Strikes Major Blow Defending Religious Freedom
November 7, 2017 Providence
Saudi Influence and Islamic Radicalism in Indonesia
There were various commentaries on this article, for example https://www.worldwatchmonitor.org/coe/indonesia-saudi-influence-behind-rise-in-islamic-extremism-as-churches-continue-to-be-closed/.
September 2017 Lausanne Global Analysis, Volume 6 / Issue 5,
Political Islam in Indonesia
June 6, 2017 Weekly Standard
Indonesia’s Blasphemy Conviction Threatens Muslim Democracy. But I Still Have Hope.
May 11, 2017 Christianity Today
An Indonesian Antidote To ISIS
April 24, 2017 The Media Project
In Jakarta, a Key Test of Tolerance Looms for the Muslim World
March 2, 2017 National Review
Tolerating Blasphemy: Lessons from An Indonesian Election
February 16, 2017 Cornerstone
Among the Believers
September 4, 2015 Weekly Standard
The Southeast Asian Front
April 5, 2004 Weekly Standard
Terror’s Not New to Indonesia
October 15, 2002 New York Post
Jihad comes to Indonesia; Bin Laden’s Allies Attempt a Hostile Takeover
December 31, 2001 Weekly Standard
Home Away from Home: Lamin Sanneh has journeyed from Africa to the West, and from Islam to Christianity
January 2, 2013 Christianity Today
John Stott, Scholar and Pastor
Reflections on the death of John Stott.
July 28, 2011 National Review Online
Russian Recognition
With Scott Palmer. On recognizing Russia’s sacrifices in World War II.
May 9, 2005 National Review Online
Fundamentalists and Other Fun People
Reflections on the 2004 U.S. elections and the widespread use and misuse of the “fundamentalism.
November 22, 2004 Weekly Standard
God Led Me in Unexpected Directions
Biographical reflections in the magazine of the Billy Graham Association on how I ended up where I am, working on religious freedom.
March 2000 Decision
True Pluralism is founded in God’s Patience
Reflections on pluralism and the parable of the wheat and the tares.
April 27, 1993 Christian Week
The Thought Police
An extended, 7,000 word, and thoughtful review of Silenced. The essay was selected by New York Times columnist David Brooks for one of his annual “Sidney Awards” for the most informative columns of the year. See David Brooks, “The Sidney Wards: Part 2,” The New York Times, December 28, 2012. Read Article Here.
March 14, 2012 The New Republic
The State Department vs Free Speech
December 5, 2011 Wall Street Journal
Blasphemy in Pakistan
January 24, 2011 Weekly Standard
The Murder of a Muslim Moderate
January 4, 2011 National Review Online
“Blasphemy, “Islamophobia,” and the “Repression of Dissent”
November 30, 2007 InFocus (Jewish Policy Center)
Muzzling in the Name of Islam
September 29, 2007 Washington Post
Endangered Salman
July 9, 2007 Weekly Standard
The Mohammed Cartoons
February 13, 2006 Weekly Standard
Living Like Gerbils
April 26, 1992 Christianity Today
Work and Vocation: Some Historical Reflections
Sept. l980 Reformed Journal 30, no. 9, 16‑20
Countering Extremism in Indonesia and Beyond
June 22, 2018 Cornerstone (Religious Freedom Institute)
Misunderstanding Al Qaeda
December 1, 2003 Weekly Standard
Radical Islam’s Move on Africa
October 21, 2003 Washington Post, October 16, 2003, reprinted as “Saudi-Backed Radical Islamists Batter Africa,” Newsday
World Silence Over Slain Muslims
October 13, 2003 Boston Globe
Sirens Over Africa
August 28, 2003 National Review Online
The Global Rise of Islamic Extremism
November/December 2002 American Jewish Congress Monthly
This War We’re in: Taking Extremist Islam Seriously
November 26, 2002 National Review Online
Terror’s Not New to Indonesia
October 15, 2002 New York Post
The Next Hotbed Of Islamic Radicalism
October 8, 2002 Washington Post
Motive for Massacre
September 27, 2002 Wall St. Journal
Radical Islam in Nigeria: the Talibanization of West Africa
April 15, 2002 Weekly Standard
Religious Freedom and the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights
2001 Teresa R. Wagner and Leslie Carbone, eds., Fifty Years After the Declaration (Lanham: University Press of America)
Readings
July - Sept., 1994 Poimen (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
Western Christians’ response to Denials of Religious Freedom
Spring 2017 Review of Faith and International Affairs,” Vol. 15, Number 1
Letting the World Pass Us By
Sept - Oct 2010 Religion and Liberty
A civil debate about religious freedom
A review of John Corvino, Ryan Anderson, and Sherif Gergis.
January 10, 2018 Debating Religious Liberty and Discrimination (Oxford University Press, 2017) - Christian Century
Conceptual Issues in Religious Freedom Research
2013 International Journal for Religious Freedom, Volume 6, Issue 1/2
Why Religious Freedom Must Be a Top Priority
Winter 2011, 36-46 Policy in Public, Volume 4, No. 4
Possible Dimensions of Religious Freedom
2009 International Journal for Religious Freedom, Vol. 2 issue 2
“Religious Freedom” & “Persecution and Martyrdom”
2008 William A. Dyrness, Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, eds. Global Dictionary of Theology (Downer’s Grove: Inter Varsity Press)
Religious Freedom in the World
A one-hundred country survey of the treatment of all religions, with essays on patterns, regions and trends. (edited, with three chapters)
2008 Religious Freedom in the World (Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield)
Worship at Will
Article using statistics from Religious Freedom in the World.
July 11, 2007 Religious Freedom in the World, Economist
Patterns of Religious Freedom” A Global View
Spring 2007 Insights on Law and Society 7.3 (American Bar Association)
Patterns and Contexts of Religious Freedom and Persecution
2004-2005 Brandywine Review of Faith and International Affairs, Vol. 2, issue 3.
Religious Freedom and the Role of NGOs
107-112 of Tajeldin Hamad, Anne Smart, Frederick Swarts, eds.
2003 Culture of Responsibility and the Role of NGOs (St. Paul: Paragon)
Religious Freedom
2002 Human Rights and Religion: A Reader (Brighton: Sussex Academic Press)
Religious Freedom in the World
Summer 2001 American Educator (published by the American federation of Teachers)
First Freedom under Siege
April 2001 First Things
Keeping the Faith: Religion, Freedom and International Affairs
131-140 of Calvin M. Logue and Jean DeHart, eds.
1998-1999 Representative American Speeches
Battle Urged Against Religious Persecution
Article by Lee Romney on my work.
October 20, 1997 Los Angeles Times
Politicizing Religion?
On why it is commonly wrong to say that something is political (or social, or economic) not religious.
October 1, 2018 Religious Freedom Institute
Politics and Democracy
The book is for the 100th anniversary of the Maluku church.
2015 Elizabeth Maarantika et al, eds., Delapan Dekade GPM: Teologi GPM dalam Praksis Berbangsa dan Bermasyarakat through Salatiga, Satya Wacana Press
The Travails of Evangelical Politics
2009 God and Governing: Reflections on Ethics, Virtue, and Statesmanship
