Stories by Ira Chernus
Ira Chernus is professor of religious studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Read more of his writing on his blog.
Posted on Feb 6, 2012, Source: AlterNet
The old culture wars are quieter these days, but the right still conjures up an endless array of enemies.
Posted on May 26, 2011, Source: TomDispatch.com
Let’s be honest. The Israeli story doesn’t merely distort the truth, it turns the truth ass-backwards.
Posted on Apr 17, 2011, Source: TomDispatch.com
These myths create an image of Israel as an insecure nation and shape Washington's policies in the Middle East.
Posted on Feb 21, 2011, Source: AlterNet
Too many Americans hold dangerous misconceptions about the defining conflict in the Middle East.
Posted on Feb 15, 2011, Source: AlterNet
The “realists” and the Israelis were pushing the administration to hold back the forces of change in Egypt.
Posted on Dec 27, 2010, Source: AlterNet
That’s just one of the startling revelations found in 'Planning Guidance for Response to a Nuclear Detonation,' a 130-page report prepared with your tax dollars.
Posted on Oct 14, 2010, Source: AlterNet
The rise of J Street has the Jewish right -- people who support Israel's policies, right or wrong -- on the attack.
Posted on Sep 14, 2010, Source: AlterNet
Israel could not have sustained all these years of occupation without the political, diplomatic, and financial support of much of the worldwide Jewish community.
Posted on Jun 20, 2010, Source: AlterNet
A U.S. Navy fleet is moving through the Suez Canal into the Red Sea, probably aiming to head off the Iranian flotilla headed toward Gaza.
Posted on Jun 2, 2010, Source: AlterNet
Another ship is steaming across the Mediterranean toward Gaza,loaded with humanitarian supplies, posing another impossible dilemma for the government of Israel.
Posted on May 27, 2010, Source: AlterNet
Like vampires, the neocons never die. They constantly revive themselves, going where the vein is richest, eager to feed upon new blood.
Posted on May 10, 2010, Source: AlterNet
As long as our national life revolves around unrealistic, hyped-up fears of "foreign invaders" and "illegal aliens," we all lose.
Posted on Apr 12, 2010, Source: AlterNet
The Obama administration says it wants to reduce nuclear weapons, yet it goes along with Israel's evasions, blocking the path to a nuclear-free Middle East.
Posted on Mar 27, 2010, Source: AlterNet
Right-wingers in Jerusalem keep getting more and more outrageous. But the political climate in Washington can no longer be predicted, much less taken for granted.
Posted on Mar 19, 2010, Source: AlterNet
Obama is in a better position than any president in decades to insist that Israelis agree to an independent Palestinian state. And we need to speak up with him.
Posted on Jan 18, 2010, Source: TomDispatch.com
King's teachings can help us see Israel's state violence in a new light that illuminates the deep, often unnoticed links between violence and irrational fear.
Posted on Sep 10, 2009, Source: AlterNet
Artists protesting the Toronto International Film Festival's commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Tel Aviv are being demonized.
Posted on Jul 7, 2009, Source: AlterNet
If the Israeli government and courts were adhering strictly to the law, the settlers would have been gone long ago.
Posted on Jul 6, 2009, Source: Religion Dispatches
Israel must abandon its myth of unquestionable benevolence if there's to be any hope for peace.
Posted on Jun 26, 2009, Source: TomDispatch.com
The old narrative of Israel as the innocent victim is losing its grip on Americans. This is necessary if we are to be even-handed brokers.
Posted on Jun 11, 2009, Source: AlterNet
Israel would rather go down fighting than survive with a damaged sense of national pride. What would happen if concessions weren't so symbolic?
Posted on May 27, 2009, Source: AlterNet
Those who want peace in the Middle East must find the right words to help move American Jews towards a more balanced view of the conflict.
Posted on May 13, 2009, Source: AlterNet
Hamas has long endorsed a two-state solution, but when the NY Times reported it, kooky neocon Charles Krauthammer went unhinged.
Posted on Feb 2, 2009, Source: AlterNet
Why would Israeli pols take a hard-line stance against Hamas, even as the group pushes for an extended pause in fighting?
Posted on Jan 21, 2009, Source: AlterNet
Obama's speech shows that there's no reason to let the right monopolize the powerful language of traditional American values.
Posted on Jan 14, 2009, Source: Foreign Policy in Focus
Israeli intelligence concluded after Camp David that Yassir Arafat was willing to follow the Oslo process -- but that's not what they told lawmakers.
Posted on Jan 2, 2009, Source: AlterNet
Israelis keep saying they only want security, while they go on electing leaders whose policies make them less secure.
Posted on Jul 31, 2008, Source: TomDispatch.com
War and terrorism have replaced social issues in the conservative culture wars.
Posted on Jul 30, 2008, Source: AlterNet
Conservative cultural critics have been lamenting the decline of heroism in America for years. Now Obama is challenging their narrative.
Posted on Jun 20, 2008, Source: AlterNet
Republicans do not own the rights to this word. Obama has an opportunity to change how we think about patriotism. Will he take it?
Posted on May 20, 2008, Source: AlterNet
Obama must realize he is an appealing symbol of a traditional patriotism and that symbols can connect with Americans who are full of hope.
Posted on Apr 28, 2008, Source: AlterNet
If the U.S. or Israel were to accept Hamas' willingness to negotiate, they would tacitly acknowledge that Hamas is a player in the game.
Posted on Apr 10, 2008, Source: AlterNet
The Petraeus hearings trapped Democrats into talking about whether the 'surge' is working, not that the U.S. has no right to be there.
Posted on Apr 2, 2008, Source: AlterNet
The strange nature of McCain's appeal is directly tied to the distractions of the unwinnable Iraq occupation and the "War on Drugs."
Posted on Mar 12, 2008, Source: AlterNet
Republicans may have already found a way to control the terms of the fall debate.
Posted on Feb 10, 2008, Source: AlterNet
Mitt Romney showed us which way McCain will go this fall.
Posted on Feb 1, 2008, Source: AlterNet
Voters should have flocked to a populist champion, a scrappy man of the people, but something went wrong along the way.
Posted on Jan 16, 2008, Source: TomDispatch.com
We've got to find a way to take the conservative symbolic message of faith talk out of American politics.
Posted on Nov 7, 2007, Source: Foreign Policy in Focus
American foreign policy -- both good and bad -- has always been deeply influenced by Christian theology.
Posted on Sep 25, 2007, Source: TomDispatch.com
Every war is experienced as dramatic spectacle -- the more mythic the better. It's no coincidence that the military refers to a battle zone as a "theater."
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