4 Signs You’re Culturally Appropriating Buddhism August 6, 2019 by Kim Tran Leave a Comment This article was originally published on EverydayFeminsim.com under the title "4 Signs You're Culturally Appropriating Buddhism -- And Why It's Important Not To" and is republished with permission. Imagine this: You’re a practicing Christian. You believe in God and Jesus, and you go to church every Sunday. You pray before bed. You even help at church fundraisers. As you walk … [Read more...]
Religious Freedom: Are You Actually Propagating Prejudice With Your “Beliefs”? June 11, 2019 by Aabye-Gayle Francis-Favilla Leave a Comment I am a Christian. Simply put, I believe in God, Jesus, and the veracity of the Bible. I also love science. I do not think those two things are mutually exclusive. You may disagree. That’s fine with me. I am deeply troubled by what certain Christians are saying. I hereby declare that they don’t communicate for me. I do not presume to speak for anyone other than myself, but I … [Read more...]
Leaving Christianity and Seeking the Goddess: How Reshaping Religion Transformed My Self-Love April 20, 2019 by Ginger Stickney Leave a Comment When I was about seven, I remember going to a revival service with my grandmother. The preacher at one point launched into a sermon on women and makeup. He said, “Makeup isn’t bad, but remember, ladies: you paint the barn, not decorate it.” Those words haunted me throughout much of my life. Even now I can remember them and the way everyone laughed. But it underlined the … [Read more...]
“Are You Hot in That?” and 3 Other Hijab Questions People Can Stop Asking November 3, 2018 by Samaa Abdurraqib Leave a Comment There’s something about difference – almost any kind of difference – that makes people in dominant cultures or identity categories feel like they can disregard and disrespect others' boundaries by asking deeply personal questions or physically crossing the boundaries of people who embody that difference. And isn’t this the foundation for cultural appropriation? White people, … [Read more...]
5 Undeniable Reasons We Need To Talk About Christian Privilege August 18, 2018 by Shannon Weber Leave a Comment When I was four years old, my parents moved me from Los Angeles to northern Idaho, where I would live for thirteen years—plus a year-long stint in heavily Mormon Utah during first grade—until I moved away to New England for college. During this time, I was exposed to a poor and working-class, white-dominated culture in which evangelical Christianity was the reigning religion, … [Read more...]
The Good, the Bad, and the Weird of Being Queer and Muslim August 12, 2018 by Samaa Abdurraqib Leave a Comment Both of my parents converted to Islam in the early 1970s, so I was born and raised as an African-American Muslim in the US. When I was younger, my connection to Islam, spirituality, and Allah was tenuous at times. I wouldn’t understand faith and spirituality in a deep way until I left home for college. This is the way for many people who were raised in religious … [Read more...]
How I Lost My Religion — And Temporarily My Empathy as a Judgmental Atheist July 17, 2018 by A.X. Ruiz 1 Comment The fact that my father never came to mass with the rest of us didn’t bother me as a child. It registered in the same capacity as the fact that he worked night shifts or that Spanish was spoken in my house as often as English — distinctions between my home life and that of my peers, but nothing worth an existential crisis. I was seven or eight when I stood in our garage and … [Read more...]
A Nonbinary Approach to Spiritual Activism: Jailbreaking the Goddess January 12, 2018 by IrinaXara Leave a Comment Trying to discuss the intersection of spirituality and activism is a funny thing. Especially when you’ve been kind of distanced from both for a while. I had the pleasure of meeting Lasara in Los Angeles this past spring at a Jailbreaking the Goddess workshop at the Crystal Matrix store, during which she discussed some of the key points of her recent work. It was the kind of … [Read more...]
Why I Took Off My Hijab September 30, 2016 by Arlita Rachmawati Rahman, Guest Writer Leave a Comment This article first appeared in Magdalene.co, an Indonesia-based feminist web magazine, and is reposted with permission. An increasing number of women have approached me to talk about their hijab-wearing decision. One person told me she has been having thoughts about taking off her hijab because she felt she has grown increasingly "naughty" and “bad.” Her reason for this was … [Read more...]
