Political Study

At a time when the separation of church and state is under attack as never before, Freethinkers offers a powerful defense of the secularist heritage that gave Americans the first government in the world founded not on the authority of religion but on the bedrock of human reason. In impassioned, elegant prose, celebrated author Susan Jacoby traces more than 200 years of secularist activism, beginning with the fierce debate over the omission of God from the Constitution.

The tenth parallel - the line of latitude seven hundred miles north of the equator - is a geographical and ideological front line where Christianity and Islam collide. More than half of the world’s 1.3 billion Muslims live along the tenth parallel; so do sixty percent of the world’s 2 billion Christians. Here, in the buzzing megacities and swarming jungles of Africa and Asia, is where the two religions meet; their encounter is shaping the future of each faith, and of whole societies as well.

Sagen Medien, was ist? Eindeutig: nein. Der Bruch mit der Wirklichkeit ist im Journalismus längst eine bestimmende Konstante. Immer wieder ist zu beobachten, wie Medien Wirklichkeit ignorieren, verdrehen, frisieren oder gar gleich erfinden. Die Wirklichkeit, die Medien uns vor Augen führen, ist oft so stark verzerrt, dass es gilt, sie grundlegend zu hinterfragen. Insbesondere in den Zentren der tonangebenden Medien ist ein Journalismus entstanden, der mehr und mehr Züge einer Glaubenslehre trägt. Häufig bedienen Journalisten zuerst die eigenen Glaubensüberzeugungen, dann kommen die Fakten.

On a bright Phoenix morning, Elena Santiago opened her door to find her house surrounded by a platoon of federal immigration agents. Her children screamed as the officers handcuffed her and drove her away. Within hours, she was deported to the rough border town of Nogales, Sonora, with nothing but the clothes on her back. Her two-year-old daughter and 15-year-old son, both American citizens, were taken by the state of Arizona and consigned to foster care. Their mother's only offense: living undocumented in the United States.

"Der westliche Mann wird unterdrückt und verweiblicht, er ist vom Aussterben bedroht." So klingt der immer lauter werdende Kriegsschrei der Antifeministen, der zu einem Mantra der wiedererstarkenden Rechten geworden ist. Man hört ihn von hyperagressiven Maskulisten und rechtsradikalen Burschenschaftern, von hasszerfressenen Internet-Trollen und neurechten Frauenhassern. Tobias Ginsburg hat sich ihnen ein Jahr lang undercover angeschlossen, um herauszufinden, wo diese Ängste und all der Hass herrühren.

En la prensa escrita y en la digital, en las redes sociales y en los medios tradicionales, un torrente de mentiras, propaganda e inexactitudes - motivadas por el afán de dinero, notoriedad o poder - se mezcla y confunde con el reporte de hechos reales. Jamás ha sido tan fácil ser engañado: a la censura y el espionaje se han sumado la sobreinformación y las fake news. En este escenario, que parece sacado de una distopía orwelliana, la ética periodística, la confirmación y el rigor parecen reliquias olvidadas.

When George Yancy penned a New York Times op-ed entitled “Dear White America” asking white Americans to confront the ways that they benefit from racism, he knew his article would be controversial. In Backlash, Yancy expands upon the original article and chronicles the ensuing controversy as he seeks to understand what it was about the op-ed that created so much rage among so many white readers. He challenges white Americans to rise above the vitriol and to develop a new empathy for the African American experience.

Fridays of Rage provides a glimpse into how Al Jazeera strategically cast its journalists as martyrs in the struggle for Arab freedom while promoting itself as the mouthpiece and advocate of the Arab public.

Has God withdrawn his special blessing from the United States? Americans ponder that painful question in troubled times, as we did during the devastation of the Civil War and after the assassinations of the '60s, and as we do in our present polarization. Yet, somehow - on battlefields, across western wilderness, and in raucous convention halls - astounding events have reliably advanced America, restoring faith in the Republic’s providential protection. In this provocative historical narrative, Michael Medved brings to life 10 haunting tales that reveal this purposeful pattern.

In this provocative book, Mugambi Jouet describes why Americans are far more divided than other Westerners over basic issues, including wealth inequality, health care, climate change, evolution, gender roles, abortion, gay rights, sex, gun control, mass incarceration, the death penalty, torture, human rights, and war.

In the near future, wars will be fought not over land, but over data. Machines will quickly discover individualized treatments for diseases, and with the help of virtual reality, AI will inspect buildings that have not yet been built. With the rising interest in these technologies by both China and the US, who will emerge as the victor of this technological race? When AI Rules the World is an investigation and call to action into AI technologies for a nation that does not yet comprehend the full gravity of the AI revolution.

Klimakrise, rassistische Attentate, die Corona-Pandemie oder fehlende Gleichberechtigung: Die vergangenen Jahre haben gezeigt, dass auf der Welt etwas schiefläuft. Wir stehen als Gesellschaft vor riesigen Herausforderungen, denen wir Lösungen entgegensetzen müssen. Was wir brauchen? Eine neue Debattenkultur! Louisa Dellert begibt sich auf eine digitale Deutschlandreise. Sie spricht mit Betroffenen über die Themen, die uns alle etwas angehen: Feminismus, Migration, Alltagsrassismus, Chancen(un)gleichheit, digitale Gewalt und mehr.

Philosophy is the foundation of all of societies' thoughts, and notions of the famous thinkers percolate out to the masses. Most of philosophy has been detrimental to society because it is not thought through. War is stupid, regardless of how many great thinkers think it good. Poverty is a stupid scourge to our society, regardless of it being regarded as a necessary evil. This is a work of philosophy, but unlike historical philosophies, it does not give excuses for society as it is now, but gives plain and serious vision to how it can be.

In The Court and the Cross, legal journalist Frederick Lane reveals how one political movement, the religious right, has dedicated much of the last 30 years to molding the federal judiciary, always with an eye toward getting their choices onto the Supreme Court.

Deep Conviction features four ordinary Americans who put their reputations and livelihoods at risk as they fought to protect their first amendment right to live their personal beliefs. Though these individuals couldn’t be more different, they share a similar conviction and determination, and the principles of religious freedom apply equally to all of them.

America's problem with race has deep roots, with the country's foundation tied to the near extermination of one race of people and the enslavement of another. Racism is truly our nation's original sin. "It's time we right this unacceptable wrong", says best-selling author and leading Christian activist Jim Wallis. Fifty years ago, Wallis was driven away from his faith by a white church that considered dealing with racism to be taboo.

As a former three-term U.S. Republican senator from Missouri and an ordained Episcopal priest, John C. Danforth has watched the shifts in his party and the Christian church with growing alarm. Now he feels the time has come for a change.

Der Ton wird schärfer, die Probleme nicht kleiner - in Deutschland wird heftig diskutiert. Die Lager stehen sich zunehmend unversöhnlicher gegenüber. "Alte weiße Männer", denen die Meinungsvorherrschaft abgesprochen wird, auf der einen Seite, junge schwarze Frauen, die, kaum gehört, der Ideologie verdächtigt werden. Dazwischen Wutbürger, Verschwörungserzähler, pöbelnde Klakeure. Vor allem in den sozialen Medien geht es hoch her, niemand will mehr zuhören, alle senden, keiner will empfangen. Zwischen grenzenloser Empörung und großer Empfindlichkeit wabern die Debatten hin und her.

Impeccably researched, thought challenging, and leavened by wit, Getting Religion, the highly anticipated new book from Kenneth L. Woodward, is ideal for listeners looking to understand how religion came to be a contentious element in 21st-century public life. Here the award-winning author blends memoir (especially of the postwar era) with copious reporting and shrewd historical analysis to tell the story of how American religion, culture, and politics influenced each other in the second half of the 20th century.

High up on the 17th floor of a South London council block, a study circle is being held. They are studying the Koran, and Ishaq has been attending for five years now, but official interest in the group is building. With an EDL march in just a few days' time, some of them think they might be under surveillance. Ishaq is secure in his identity as British and Muslim, but as papers discuss Asian sex gangs in the North and a European politician appears on television discussing a final solution, he wonders if Britain itself sees him the same way.