Episode 102: Who gets left out of “religion”?
Transcript for Episode 102:
Shownotes for Episode 102:
In this very special episode, we talked about the limits of religion—who gets left out, what counts, and what law has to do with it.
We had a couple of keywords: disestablishment and free exercise. You can find working definitions of those terms over in the glossary!
Megan talked a lot about the Satanic Temple in this episode.
Statue of Baphomet, which the Satanic Temple is suing to place near the ten commandments monument in Arkansas. Photo (c) Satanic Temple, 2019
Here are some background pieces as well as news items she referenced:
Hail Satan? The Satanists Battling for Religious Freedom. Kev Geoghegan, BBC. August 23, 2019.
Satanic Temple Protests Ten Commandments Monument With Goat-Headed Statue, Vanessa Romo, NPR. August 17, 2018.
We talked a lot about religion, law, and American legal systems. Here are some accessible readings:
Winifred Fallers Sullivan is one of the best on this!
Teaching Religion: Refusing the Schempp Myth of Origins, Immanent Frame, August 15, 2016.
Here’s a link to her now-classic book, The Impossibility of Religious Freedom (2005 ed) (which Megan also assigned for homework!)
And here is a podcast where she talks about religion, law, and religious freedom in the US.
Ilyse talked a little bit about Sikh activists fighting for the ability to make choices around employment, sports participation, and religious practice, like wearing turbans. In case you perked up at that, here are some related stories:
A segment about Darsh Preet Singh, the first turbaned NCAA basketball player.
A short piece about turbans and beards in the US military and another, more academic piece, on turbans in the workforce and law.
Your homework for Episode 102:
In Primary Sources, Ilyse talked about calendars and how school calendars assume Christianity. For homework, she assigned a few news articles about changes being made so this is less true!
New York to Add Two Muslim Holy Days to Public School Calendar, Michael M. Grynbaum and Sharon Ottoman, NYT. March 4, 2015.
If New Bill Is Passed, New York State Would Add 6 New Holidays To The School Calendar, Carolyn Gusoff, CBS2 New York. March 6, 2019.
We also gave you an action item! Check out your own, your family’s, your neighborhood’s school calendar—does it acknowledge religious holidays? If so, which ones? If not, are any implicitly part of the calendar (as in: do you get a “winter break” that includes Christmas Eve, Christmas Day?)? Can you identify ways that you participate in the defining of what religions count, how they count, and what that means?
Here’s an interfaith calendar for reference. Here’s another one for good measure.
And, since nothing is easy, here’s an Identity Politics Pod podcast episode with guest Muslim activist Hind Makki that asks whether interfaith work can ever be egalitarian!
Megan assigned a few things this week, too! We already told y’all about Prof. Sullivan’s The Impossibility of Religious Freedom. Here’s the rest of her suggestions:
Sarah Barringer Gordon, The Mormon Question: Polygamy and Constitutional Conflict in Nineteenth-Century America, UNC Press, 2002.
Carole Cusack, Invented Religions: Imagination, Fiction, and Faith. Ashgate, 2010.
See this podcast interview too!
A documentary, Hail Satan (on Hulu currently!)