Beth Shakman Hurd
@bethhurd.bsky.social
Professor of Global Politics & Religion at Northwestern. New book: Heaven Has a Wall https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/H/bo248382196.html Elizabethshakmanhurd.com
A friendly reminder that submissions to American Religion's annual dissertation prize are due in THREE days by Sunday August 30!! For further information see: www.american-religion.org/announcements
Announcements — American Religion
american-religion.org
“At the end of the day it’s not radical to believe that people should be able to afford their groceries,” he told NBC’s Meet The Press. “It’s not radical to believe that you should have healthcare in this country.“
Abdul El-Sayed embraces Trump claim he represents ‘very different’ America
Michigan nominee, who spoke to Obama after primary win, vows to fight inequality as president ‘makes billions off you’
theguardian.com
What can borders tell us about democracy? Alessandro Ferrari.
"From the Sacred Wall to the Rights-Permeated Border: Reading Heaven Has a Wall from Mediterranean Europe" by Alessandro Ferrari - Canopy Forum
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, visited the migrant hotspot in Lampedusam, Italy © European Union, 2026 (CC BY 4.0). I would like to read Elizabeth Shakman Hurd’s Heaven Ha...
canopyforum.org
🧵on the AAUP endorsement of Dr. Abdul El-Sayed for U.S. Senate in the Michigan Democratic primary, the first-ever electoral endorsement in the organization's 110-year history. 1
According to the Pew Research Center, a majority of Americans now hold a negative view of Israel, including majorities of adults under the age of 50 in both political parties. Among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, that number rises to 80%.
Mamdani Calls Netanyahu a ‘War Criminal’ and Calls on U.S. to Arrest Him
Mayor Zohran Mamdani challenged the United States to execute an international arrest warrant against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, which New York itself cannot do.
nytimes.com
When I lecture about Hobby Lobby and the Museum of the Bible people are often puzzled by a story in which government, finance, and religion are so tightly interwoven. Reading Blanding’s book makes the combination of these elements in Hobby Lobby seem not just understandable but inevitable.
Michael Blanding’s The Gospel According to Hobby Lobby
When I began this blog back in 2017, the mysteries surrounding Hobby Lobby and its biblical manuscripts were really driving some aspects of my research. Over the last decade, there has been thoroug…
brentnongbri.com
The estimated $200 billion we’ve spent on the war in Iran could have paid for everyone on Medicare to get free dental, vision, and hearing care for six years. It could have paid for a check to every American household for $1,500. It could do school lunches for all kids for 18 years.
Joan Scott on the dismal situation at Princeton.
Academic Freedom and the Palestine Exception at Princeton
BY JOAN W. SCOTT Princeton University President Christopher Eisgruber has carefully curated his public reputation as a defender of free speech and academic freedom against the wanton attacks by the…
academeblog.org
When the U.S. brokered a ceasefire last year, Israel controlled half of Gaza. Now Israeli forces have pushed deeper, and Palestinians are paying a deadly price.
9 months into a ceasefire, Israel now controls nearly 70% of Gaza
When the U.S. brokered a ceasefire last year, Israel controlled half of Gaza. Now Israeli forces have pushed deeper, and Palestinians are paying a deadly price.
n.pr
This Resolution in Solidarity with Gaza was proposed by American Academy of Religion members and then debated and adopted (98% vote in favor) during the Annual Business Meeting on June 23, 2026.
Resolution in Solidarity with Gaza - AAR
The Resolution in Solidarity with Gaza was proposed by AAR members and then adopted during the Annual Business Meeting on June 23, 2026.
aarweb.org
Many thanks to Amy Fallas for this generous and thorough review of “Martyrs and Migrants” for American Religion! muse.jhu.edu/pub/3/articl...
Stephanie Saldaña reviews Heaven Has a Wall for The Christian Century.
The bipartisan religion of the US border
Borders are not only political spaces, argues Elizabeth Shakman Hurd. They are also sacred...
christiancentury.org
A different understanding of what it means to be American, from the left but for everyone.
Opinion | The Left’s Reckoning on Gaza, Elites and American Power
nytimes.com
“faculty criticized what they view as Columbia’s implication that all Jews identify with the state of Israel as “textbook antisemitism”, and argued that by repressing pro-Palestinian speech in the name of Jewish safety, the university turned Jews into “scapegoats”.
‘We were attacked as bad Jews’: Columbia faculty who supported Gaza protests file claims with Trump’s antisemitism fund
Faculty who support Palestinian rights are applying for compensation, claiming they faced harassment as Jews for their positions
theguardian.com
In our current @Theosthinktank Reading our Times series on the rise of religious nationalism, we come to one of the most difficult topics, in conversation with Hannah Strømmen, namely how the far right weaponises the Bible. Sober listening. tinyurl.com/2nr9893a
How does the Far Right weaponise the Bible? In conversation with Hannah Strømmen
Podcast Episode · Reading Our Times · 2 June · 42min
tinyurl.com
“Section 224 lays the groundwork for bilateral research and development, co-production of weapons, joint ventures, licensing agreements, and seemingly every manner of U.S.-Israeli military-industrial complex cooperation.“ AmericaIsrael.
Congress quietly moves to integrate US and Israeli militaries
In the first step towards shifting aid further into the shadows, the House's 2027 NDAA would all but fuse the two countries' armed forces together
responsiblestatecraft.org
The voices of ordinary seafarers stranded in the Strait of Hormuz.
Stranded in the Strait of Hormuz
nytimes.com
NEW: Alex Pretti Student Support Fund Created in memory of alumnus Alex Pretti (BA '11), this fund will provide debt relief and emergency support for students in the Department of Geography, Environment & Society at the University of Minnesota.
Donate to the University of Minnesota
There are many ways to give that not only help create excellence at the U, but also contribute to your own personal and financial goals.
makingagift.umn.edu
Spread the word: Postdoc at the Institute for Religion, Culture & Public Life at Columbia. Preference to projects that seriously engage with the theme of religion and at least one of the other two dimensions. If I could go back in time…
Postdoctoral Research Scholar — Institute for Religion, Culture and Public Life
ircpl.columbia.edu
A forthcoming @dukepress.bsky.social book I will be reading. "According to Islamic tradition, God has at least ninety-nine names. In Ninety-Nine, Amira Mittermaier presents ninety-nine short chapters based on her fieldwork and interviews with over one hundred Egyptians about who God is to them."
Good news. A three-judge panel from the US court of appeals for the DC circuit found that immigration laws give people the right to apply for asylum at the border, and the president cannot circumvent that.
Court blocks Trump’s executive order suspending asylum access
Appellate panel finds president can’t circumvent laws that allow people to apply for asylum at the US-Mexico border
theguardian.com
Israel’s preference for military confrontation over diplomacy depends entirely on American support…and that patronage is now being tested as never before. @omerbartov.bosky.social interviewed on his new book.
What went wrong in Israel? A genocide scholar examines ‘what Zionism became’
In his new book, Omer Bartov tracks how a liberatory strand of Zionism transformed into an extremist ideology that he sees as responsible for genocide in Gaza
theguardian.com
Watch the immigration bureaucracy: “earlier this year, an immigration judge in Boston found there were no grounds to deport Ms. Ozturk. The judge, Roopal Patel, was fired this month by the Trump administration.”
Tufts Student Who Was Held in Immigration Detention Returns to Turkey
nytimes.com
Thank you @londonoe.bsky.social for covering my hometown with care and compassion for Minnesotans who’ve been besieged by our federal government…and for bringing us this glimmer of hope.
ICE Agent Charged With Assault in Rare State Prosecution
nytimes.com
babe, wake up, new form of mansplaining just dropped
Rebecca Solnit@rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 5mo agoThis is stunning.
