Public Writing

How the US is making it illegal for students to disagree with Israel. Chicago Tribune. December 5, 2023.

Muchas mujeres iraníes están cansadas de que su apariencia esté regulada por el Estado (entrevista, La Tercera, Chile). September 2022.

“The Wall Between Church and State is Blocking our View on Abortion Rights.” Chicago Tribune, July 21, 2022.

“It’s Time to De-emphasize Religion in U.S. Foreign Policy.” The Hill, July 19, 2021.

“Is There a Right to Heresy?” (with Nadia Marzouki). Boston Review, March 8, 2021.

“The Paradox of Free Religion.” Berkley Forum, January 12, 2021.

“Religious Freedom, Public Health, and the Limits of Law.” Canopy Forum, December 21, 2020.

“Defund the Border Police: Racial Justice and the American Border.” Canopy Forum, July 13, 2020. Podcast.

“Islam in America: Review of America & Islam: Soundbites, Suicide Bombs and the Road to Donald Trump.” Cairo Review of Global Affairs 36, Winter 2020.

“Why Did a Muslim Civil Rights Group Oppose Democrats’ Plans to Confront White Nationalism?” (with Brannon Ingram). Rewire. November 15, 2019.

 “Three Myths About Religion and Politics.” Canopy Forum: On the Interactions of Law & Religion (3 parts). Oct. 2-4, 2019.

“Dangerous Logic at the Border: Religion and the Travel Ban.” Religion & Politics. July 2, 2019.

“The Conflation of Antisemitism and Israel Criticism Isn’t Unique, But it is a Problem." Rewire. March 19, 2019.

“The Border President.” Boston Review. June 28, 2018.

Introduction to “Controversy over French Proposal to Edit the Koran: A Transatlantic Perspective” (with Nadia Marzouki), The Immanent Frame. June 25, 2018.

“Does Religious Freedom Favor Some Religions Over Others?” U.S. Catholic. January 31, 2018.

“Religious Rights Won’t Save the Rohingya—But What Will?” OpenGlobalRights. December 7, 2017.

“The Dialectic of Secularism and Religionism: The Presence of Religion in the Public Sphere and its Implications for Secularism.” Interview: The Age of Reflection: Journal of Culture and Humanities (Iran), vol. 3, issue 15. November 2017.

“The Idea of the Muslim World and the Global Politics of Religion.” The Immanent Frame. October 12, 2017.

“Rohingya Crisis: Focus on ‘Intolerant Religion’ Disregards Complex Moral and Policy Challenges.” Economic and Political Weekly. September 23, 2017.

“Beyond Religious Freedom: The Rohingya and the Politics of Religious Rights in Myanmar.” The Religion Factor. August 24, 2017.

“After Religious Freedom?” (Response to a forum on Beyond Religious Freedom). Journal of Politics, Religion & Ideology, Vol. 18, Issue 1, April 2017. 

“The America-Game.” The Immanent Frame. February 22, 2017.

“Trump’s Immigration Order Means Bureaucrats Have to Decide Who’s a ‘Real’ Christian.” Monkey Cage (The Washington Post). February 8, 2017.

“The Myth of the Muslim Country.” Boston Review. January 31, 2017. 

“Religion and Politics Beyond Religious Freedom.” The Immanent Frame. August 3, 2016. 

“In Syria, Keeping the Faith.” Review of Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War, by Robin Yassin-Kassab and Leila Al-Shami. Boston Review. May 23, 2016.

“Countering the ‘Countering Violent Extremism’ Program.” Religion Dispatches. April 27, 2016. 

“Will Hillary Clinton Lead Us Into Another War in the Middle East?” HuffPost Politics. March 4, 2016.

“Don’t Subject Refugees to a Religious Test.” Al Jazeera America. November 17, 2015. 

“How IR Got Religion, and Got it Wrong.” Monkey Cage (The Washington Post). July 9, 2015. Also appears in “Islam and International Order.” POMEPS Studies 15, 2015. 

“Transcending the nationalism of the Armenian genocide debate.” Al Jazeera America. April 24, 2015.

“International ‘religious freedom’ agenda will only embolden ISIS.” Religion Dispatches. November 10, 2014. On PluRel with responses.

“The specific order of difficulty of religion.” The Immanent Frame. May 30, 2014.

“The bogus gospel of free trade and free religion.” Al Jazeera America. May 20, 2014.

“Promoting religious freedom does more harm than good.” The Conversation. March 28, 2014.

“Rethinking religious freedom.” Freedom of Religion or Belief in Foreign Policy: Which One? Pasquale Annicchino, ed. European University Institute, 2014.

“Religious difference and religious freedom.” PluRel blog series, “The (Im)possibility of Religious Freedom?” November 24, 2013.

“Should Western countries make religious freedom promotion a foreign policy priority?” Congressional Quarterly publication on “Religious Repression.” November 1, 2013.

“Religious freedom: Universal right or political pawn?” Interview with Brian Pellot, Religion News Service. October 10, 2013.

“Politics of Religious Freedom.” online discussion series guest co-edited with Winnifred Fallers Sullivan, The Immanent Frame, Spring 2012-Summer 2013.

“Losing faith in faith-based outreach.” Al Jazeera America. September 24, 2013.

Co-organizer, series on “Engaging religion at the Department of State.” The Immanent Frame. July 30, 2013.

“What’s wrong with promoting religious freedom?” Middle East Channel, Foreign Policy. June 12, 2013. Reposted at OpenCanada: Religion and Foreign Policy: The Global Challenges of Religious Pluralism.

“The dangerous illusion of an Alawite regime.” Boston Review. June 11, 2013.

“Stop trying to make Syria’s war into a sectarian conflict.” The Atlantic. March 15, 2013. 

“Muslims need not apply.” Boston Review. January 23, 2013. 

“The hegemony of religious freedom.” The Globe and Mail. October, 17, 2012.

“Should Canada promote religious freedom?” Centre for International Policy Studies blog. University of Ottawa. October 2, 2012.

“Tunisia: democracy after secularism.” Al Jazeera English. April 11, 2012. 

“The tragedy of religious freedom in Syria.” The Chicago Tribune. March 29, 2012. 

“Believing in religious freedom.” The Immanent Frame. March 1, 2012.

“Emergent Patterns in Global Religious Governance.” Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, Florence: EUI, 2011.

“Time to Stand Up, Turkey.” Today’s Zaman, April 26, 2011. Reprinted in Al Arabiya News, May 1, 2011 and Al Jazeera English, May 10, 2011. 

“Why the United States Didn’t See Egypt Coming.” Muftah. February 29, 2011.

“Myths of Mubarak.” The Huffington Post, February 8, 2011. Extended version, The Immanent Frame, February 2, 2011. Reprinted as “Misrepresenting Egypt--the Mubarak myth of ‘secular’ vs ‘Islamic.’ Reuters FaithWorld. February 14, 2011. Reprinted in Politics and Religion: Current Controversies. Greenhaven Press, 2013.

“The global securitization of religion.” The Immanent Frame. March 23, 2010.

“Iran: one revolution at a time.” The Huffington Post. June 29, 2009.

“All states are religious states.” Religion Dispatches. March 24, 2009.

“Obama would bridge religious-secular divide.” Chicago Sun-Times. July 14, 2008. Also appears as “Faith, Politics, and Fruitcakes.” RDBlog, July 21, 2008.

“The other shore.” Comments on Mark Lilla’s The Stillborn God: Religion, Politics and the Modern West. The Immanent Frame, December 18, 2007. 

“The slipstream of disenchantment and the place of fullness.” Comments on Charles Taylor’s A Secular Age. Social Science Research Council blog, “The Immanent Frame.”

“A tribute to Charles Taylor.” Social Science Research Council, 2007.

“The twin towers and the twin tolerations: reflections on American democracy after 9/11.” Zaman. September 27, 2006.

“Chain reactions: U.S. and Britain got what they wanted in Iran in 1953, but where did it lead?” The Chicago Tribune, March 9, 2003. 

“The perils of a secular foreign policy: the case of Turkey.” Middle East Policy, Vol. IX, No. 4, December, 2002.

“The West should welcome Turkey’s non-fundamentalist Islamists.” The Financial Times, September 30, 2002.

More Than Just a Numbers Game? U.S. Policy on Global Population, with Nancy W. Gallagher. Pew Case Studies in International Affairs, #215. Washington, D.C.: Center for the Study of Diplomacy, April 1997.