The Pitfalls of Believing in Separation of Church and State

Religion is just one of many categories of power that can inform violence in the world—be it structural, cultural, or direct. When we understand these kinds of violence as interrelated, we can better work towards dismantling it and creating peace.

As King avows in one of his religious sermons, “I do not pretend to understand all of the ways of God or his particular timetable for grappling with evil. Perhaps if God dealt with evil in the overbearing way that we wish, he would defeat his ultimate purpose.”84 Given this acquiescence of religious faith, the very idea of an “ultimate purpose” (a

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One of the key takeaways I’ve gathered from my time studying religion is that any and all efforts that seek to finally undermine the religious right have to examine religion with a much more discerning lens. Otherwise, we risk once again underestimating the powerful role religion can play in mobilizing people to pursue their vision of justice in th... See more

If you think about religion as a set of beliefs about supernatural agents, you’re bound to misunderstand it. You’ll see those beliefs as foolish delusions, perhaps even as parasites that exploit our brains for their own benefit. But if you take a Durkheimian approach to religion (focusing on belonging) and a Darwinian approach to morality (involvin

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