tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post6638758496191326756..comments2024-03-26T11:33:59.219-06:00Comments on Religion in American History: Religious Identification and the Framing of TerrorismPaul Harveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13881964303772343114noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-74424918161819416852013-06-25T05:31:44.368-06:002013-06-25T05:31:44.368-06:00Thanks very much Elizabeth--this is incredibly hel...Thanks very much Elizabeth--this is incredibly helpful! Great stuff to digest.Caitlin Carenenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13562399963505120078noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-58715810495955592752013-06-24T06:16:17.163-06:002013-06-24T06:16:17.163-06:00If you are not familiar with this text, you might ...If you are not familiar with this text, you might want to look at it: http://www.amazon.com/Gods-Peoples-Covenant-Africa-Israel/dp/080142755X/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=3DUSNWN74K4G2&coliid=I1WJB6Q0ZXVB7I This would focus more on the theological underpinnings in all three contexts, but because the United States is also shaped by a land theology, a narrative of exodus and conquest, it seems to me that anytime the frame connects the US settler narrative with another settler narrative, it drives down deep a cultural affinity. Which makes it all the more interesting when the settler narrative DOESN'T work, and we turn against, say, the Ulster-Scot and Afrikaaner arguments.<br /><br />Also, I generally agree with your premise, but I think that after 9-11, all organizations using armed resistance found it more difficult to frame their cause as "freedom fighting." This, at least, is my sense in talking with some folks in Northern Ireland. The IRA and Sinn Fein are well noted (and in some camps resented) for their highly sophisticated public relations work, but even they found it difficult to win sympathy for armed resistance after 9-11. <br /><br />Still, I think that racial, cultural and religious bias most definitely plays into why Americans romanticize the IRA but vilify the PLO. Throwing the ANC in there is a good way to test the thesis--at what point did Americans sympathize with them, and how many really did? I was too young to be an activist in the 80s, but probably therefore representative of the general public in terms of awareness of Apartheid, and basically, I started to care when rock stars started to sing about it and boycott it. So, was US sympathy to the ANC in the general public more a result of white US and UK public figures calling attention to Apartheid? How big of a role did the US churches play in constructing a religious argument for divesting from Apartheid? As (mostly white) churches in the US now seek to divest from the Israeli occupation, what arguments are they using to persuade those in the pews?<br /><br />If you are not already aware of the Kairos South Africa, Kairos Palestine and Kairos USA documents, you might look at those, as they dig into the theology. The Kairos USA document draws on the previous ones but understands itself to be the response of the complicit rather than the cry of the oppressed. So, it makes a theological argument for why people with strong cultural and theological affinities to the zionist narrative should listen to the Palestinian voices. <br />http://www.kairosusa.org<br />http://www.kairospalestine.ps/sites/default/Documents/English.pdf<br />http://kairossouthernafrica.wordpress.com/2011/05/08/the-south-africa-kairos-document-1985/<br /><br />Hopefully, some of this is helpful!<br />best,<br />Elizabeth Corrie<br />Candler School of TheologyElizabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02076438555343305802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-61486656262980738272013-06-24T06:14:57.316-06:002013-06-24T06:14:57.316-06:00If you are not familiar with this text, you might ...If you are not familiar with this text, you might want to look at it: http://www.amazon.com/Gods-Peoples-Covenant-Africa-Israel/dp/080142755X/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=3DUSNWN74K4G2&coliid=I1WJB6Q0ZXVB7I This would focus more on the theological underpinnings in all three contexts, but because the United States is also shaped by a land theology, a narrative of exodus and conquest, it seems to me that anytime the frame connects the US settler narrative with another settler narrative, it drives down deep a cultural affinity. Which makes it all the more interesting when the settler narrative DOESN'T work, and we turn against, say, the Ulster-Scot and Afrikaaner arguments.<br /><br />Also, I generally agree with your premise, but I think that after 9-11, all organizations using armed resistance found it more difficult to frame their cause as "freedom fighting." This, at least, is my sense in talking with some folks in Northern Ireland. The IRA and Sinn Fein are well noted (and in some camps resented) for their highly sophisticated public relations work, but even they found it difficult to win sympathy for armed resistance after 9-11. <br /><br />Still, I think that racial, cultural and religious bias most definitely plays into why Americans romanticize the IRA but vilify the PLO. Throwing the ANC in there is a good way to test the thesis--at what point did Americans sympathize with them, and how many really did? I was too young to be an activist in the 80s, but probably therefore representative of the general public in terms of awareness of Apartheid, and basically, I started to care when rock stars started to sing about it and boycott it. So, was US sympathy to the ANC in the general public more a result of white US and UK public figures calling attention to Apartheid? How big of a role did the US churches play in constructing a religious argument for divesting from Apartheid? As (mostly white) churches in the US now seek to divest from the Israeli occupation, what arguments are they using to persuade those in the pews?<br /><br />If you are not already aware of the Kairos South Africa, Kairos Palestine and Kairos USA documents, you might look at those, as they dig into the theology. The Kairos USA document draws on the previous ones but understands itself to be the response of the complicit rather than the cry of the oppressed. So, it makes a theological argument for why people with strong cultural and theological affinities to the zionist narrative should listen to the Palestinian voices. <br />http://www.kairosusa.org<br />http://www.kairospalestine.ps/sites/default/Documents/English.pdf<br />http://kairossouthernafrica.wordpress.com/2011/05/08/the-south-africa-kairos-document-1985/<br /><br />Hopefully, some of this is helpful!<br />best,<br />Elizabeth Corrie<br />Candler School of Theology<br /><br /><br /> Elizabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02076438555343305802noreply@blogger.com