William Cavanaugh’s “The Myth of Religious Violence” sets out to deflate the titular myth, that religion is a uniquely violent social force, both throughout history and across cultures. In doing so, he manages to critique the modern secular liberal concept of religion as a definable sociological category, and gestures towards a more holistic mode of analyzing the origins of violence in society.
Category: Religion
Anarchy and Islam
I’ve met Muslims of every school of anarchist thought from anarcho-socialists to national-anarchists. Prominent among them are Hakim Bay’s “ontological anarchism” and Yakoub Islam’s “post-colonial anarcho-pacifism” but this is my story.
Trump Sends Property Rights Up in Flames
Alongside of Catholicism and Protestantism, the primary religion in the United States is not Islam or Judaism but the American civic religion. The Pledge of Allegiance is the creed of this religion and the American flag is its chief symbol. In the American civic religion, the worst sin that an American can commit is to refuse to pledge allegiance to the flag or to desecrate it. Federal law contains numerous provisions regarding the use, handling, display, and disposal of the flag. After some college students recently burned American flags on their campuses, President-elect Donald Trump tweeted, “Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag — if they do, there must be consequences — perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!”
The Solemnization of Marriage: Or, My Mom the Felon
Editor’s Pick. Written by Sarah Skwire. The state has a long history of involving itself in the spiritual practices of its citizens. The English Reformation, the time period with which I am the most familiar, is filled with such moments. For example, in 1536 Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s first minister, vicegerent in spirituals and vicar…
The State Is A Religious Institution
Editor’s Pick. Written by Michael Suede. On the website Debate.org, the question of whether government is necessary or not was put up for debate. One of the responses that was given in favor government being a necessity says: Without an enforcing government to have justice and keep the peace, I do believe that the human…
Nationalism, the Bane of the Modern Age
Editor’s Pick. Written by Robert Higgs. Everyone, it seems, has a hollow space in his makeup. Perhaps he has no faith, no hope, no charity; no sense that he is basically a lord or a priest or a peasant; no comfort in knowing his personal latitude and longitude in the great scheme of things; no…
The Challenging, Radical Anti-Statism of the Ancient Israelites
Editor’s Pick. Written by Kevin Vallier. I’ve recently finished reading the great political theorist Michael Walzer’s book In God’s Shadow: Politics in the Hebrew Bible. Walzer’s thesis is that the Biblical writers were “not very interested in politics” in contrast to the ancient Greeks. In fact, “there is a strong anti-political tendency in the biblical…
Render unto Caesar… Nothing
Editor’s Pick. Written by Darryl Perry. Yeshua did not say that taxes are lawful, nor did he counsel obedience to the Romans. In the context of a society with many competing currencies, most of which did not have Caesar’s inscription, Yushua’s response is subtly seditious. Even if one rejects the idea that all things belong…
Is Christianity a War Religion?
Editor’s Pick. Written by Paul Rosenberg. Yes, I know that there are some churches and individual Christians who don’t approve of war, but a huge wing of Christianity in the US has put itself in service to a warfare state. If you’ve ever spent time in Red State America, you know what I mean. Please…
A Conversation With an Alleged Criminal: Polygamist Joe Darger on Faith and Freedom
Editor’s Pick. Interview by the Libertas Institute. Libertas Institute: For the benefit of our readers who may not know who you are, please explain who you are and why your story is important. Joe Darger: My name is Joe Darger, and I published a book along with my wives, and co-author Brooke Adams, titled Love…