Shadi Hamid and Matthew Kaemingk can't postpone the difficult question any longer. Do Muslims and Christians worship the same God? Their answers (and disagreements) might surprise you.

LINKS Relevant articles on the “Same God” debate from:

Gabriel Said Reynolds https://churchlifejournal.nd.edu/articles/is-the-quranic-god-the-same-god-as-the-biblical-god/

Joshua Ralston https://www.abc.net.au/religion/the-same-god-or-the-one-god-on-the-limitations-and-implications-/10097414

Miroslav Volf https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/12/17/wheaton-professors-suspension-is-about-anti-muslim-bigotry-not-theology/

Francis Beckwith https://www.thecatholicthing.org/2015/12/17/do-muslims-and-christians-worship-the-same-god/

Peter Ochs https://www.abc.net.au/religion/do-jews-christians-and-muslims-worship-the-same-god/10096120

Shadi Hamid and Matthew Kaemingk visited Wheaton College (the so-called evangelical Harvard) to discuss faith, politics, and deep difference. Interviewed by Alexander Massad, they were asked about their friendship, their deep disagreements, and why they did (or did not) want to convert one another.

Links:

Matthew Kaemingk, The Troubling Grace of a Muslim Friend https://www.neighborlyfaith.org/the-troubling-grace-of-a-muslim-friend

Shadi Hamid, Christian Strangeness: A Muslim’s Faith and Friendships Across Deep Difference https://www.neighborlyfaith.org/christian-strangeness-a-muslims-faith-and-friendships-across-deep-difference

“Hell is actually pretty underrated. I mean it, when it comes to democratic life, a belief in hell is quite helpful.” Shadi kicked off a recent public lecture with this rather unexpected and provocative statement. In a time when democratic debate is becoming increasingly judgmental, where citizens wish to condemn and literally sentence one another to damnation, Shadi wonders (out loud) if a belief in a delayed judgment, one that belongs to God alone, could potentially lessen our need to exact total judgment in the here and now.

How are American evangelicals and Muslims responding to the war in Gaza? More than half a year into the war, Shadi Hamid and Matthew Kaemingk discuss the (im)possibility of remaining neutral and the ways in which their own tribal loyalties push and pull on their positions. Matthew presses Shadi on how his Muslim identity influences his positions on Gaza. Shadi tries (his best) to understand how evangelical perspectives on Israel are influenced by biblical prophecy about the return of Jesus.

LINKS

How Israel and the United States suppress democracy in the Middle East https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/05/13/middle-east-israel-us-democracy/

We’re failing. The Israel-Hamas war is barely two weeks old and we are witnessing a collective religious failure. Christians, Muslims, and Jews alike are failing to live up to their own principles. The moral and ethical “rules of engagement” have been thrown out the window—be it on the battlefield or in public discourse. How should religious people of good faith interpret and respond to this political and religious cataclysm? Join Shadi Hamid and Matthew Kaemingk for a special episode of Zealots at the Gate. Together they discuss the war and the many ways in which the faithful are (mis)interpreting the underlying dynamics at play.

LINKS

Shadi Hamid’s article on humility amid the war:  https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/10/16/intellectual-humility-israel-palestine-debate/

Reinhold Niebuhr’s book Moral Man and Immoral Society:https://bookshop.org/a/65404/9781773237565

Political demons? Really? While everyone can agree that there’s something terribly wrong with America’s political culture, should we really describe it as “demonic” or even “demon-possessed”? Muslims and Christians have long recognized the presence and power of evil, but what does a belief in the “demonic” actually look like in modern political life? Join Shadi and Matt as they speak to Laura Fabrycky, a political theologian who is researching the ways in which citizens might begin to resist the temptations of both demonic politics and the politics of demonization.

LINKS:

Laura Fabrycky’s articles for Comment magazine:

https://comment.org/contributors/laura-fabrycky/

Can Muslims be feminists? Should they be? This week, we speak with Hadia Mubarak, a self-described Muslim feminist, about the role and place of women in Islam. Professor Mubarak is the author of a  groundbreaking new book titled Rebellious Wives and Neglectful Husbands. She fields a variety of tough questions from Shadi and Matthew: As a Muslim feminist, how do you interpret difficult texts about women in the Qur’an and the Hadith? How do you respond to sexism in the mosque? What is it like to wear the headscarf in a secular society? And how might your Islamic feminism differ from secular feminism? Mubarak also shares some of her own fascinating story of how she was shaped by the local Muslim community in an unlikely place—Panama City, Florida.

Links:

Hadia Mubarak’s new book Rebellious Wives, Neglectful Husbands: https://bookshop.org/a/65404/9780197553305

Matthew Kaemingk’s article on how headscarves are Islam’s gift to Western democracy: https://comment.org/the-headscarf-islams-gift-to-western-democracy/

Jessica Crispin’s book Why I Am Not a Feminist: A Feminist Manifesto: https://a.co/d/31PmvSj

Can the American Left make space for deep religious commitment? Elizabeth Bruenig, a 2023 Pulitzer Prize finalist, is one of the most prominent—and controversial—Catholic socialists in America today. In this episode, she joins Matt and Shadi to discuss how people of faith can contribute to secular politics while maintaining their rather “strange” religious identity. Matt asks both her and Shadi to reflect on what it was like to be committed Bernie Sanders supporters while also remaining committed to their Catholic and Islamic faiths. Together they each discuss a future where the Democratic Party could (re)learn how to embrace people of faith, including those who bring their religion to bear on abortion, sexuality, and the death penalty.

Links:

Elizabeth Bruenig’s reflection on Lent in The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/03/catholic-lent-sacrifice-reflection/673353/

Bruenig’s Pulitzer Prize-nominated features on capital punishment in Alabama: https://www.pulitzer.org/finalists/elizabeth-bruenig-atlantic

Tim Alberta on why Hispanics are leaving the Democratic Party: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2022/11/hispanic-voters-fleeing-democratic-party/671851/

Americans are politically exhausted. Shadi happens to be one of them. But he’s taking action. In this special episode, our venerable co-host opens up about burnout, finitude, and his own struggles with meaning. In society more broadly, politically induced fatigue and even depression are spreading. Is there a way to find that meaning without religion—or is religion the only way?

Links:

The episode where Matt discusses thoughts and prayers: https://comment.org/podcasts/prayer-is-political/

Shadi on tying one's camel: https://wisdomofcrowds.live/p/is-it-enough-to-tie-your-camel-and

Shadi’s essay in The Atlantic on breaking up with the news: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/03/information-news-addiction-liberal-depression/673351/

2022 study on political depression: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8759681/

Welcome to a frank and thought-provoking discussion of the modern sexual marketplace and its discontents. Our guest and guide is Washington Post columnist Christine Emba. Author of the widely acclaimed book Rethinking Sex: A Provocation, Emba argues that while the sexual revolution and the MeToo movement brought much good to the world, there is a growing suspicion that there is something profoundly unsatisfying about the modern sexual ethic. Do we need more religion to get sex right, after everything?

LINKS

Christine Emba’s book Rethinking Sex: A Provocation

https://bookshop.org/a/65404/9780593087565

Christine Emba’s article “Consent is not Enough”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/03/17/sex-ethics-rethinking-consent-culture/