Author: TheConversation

By Jessica Maddox, Assistant Professor of Journalism and Creative Media, University of Alabama When it comes to sharing content of children on social media, particularly via sponsored posts and brand deals, what is legal is not always what is ethical. Influencer Brittany Dawn, who initially gained a following for her fitness workouts before pivoting to religious content, recently came under fire for monetizing her foster child on social media. While Dawn has blurred out her child’s image in photos shared – a stipulation decreed by the U.S. Children’s Bureau for foster parents in their social media rules – she...

By Brian Urlacher, Department Chair and Professor, Political Science & Public Administration, University of North Dakota President George W. Bush and his administration put forward a variety of reasons to justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In the months before the U.S. invasion, Bush said the looming conflict was about eradicating terrorism and seizing weapons of mass destruction – but also because of a “freedom deficit” in the Middle East, a reference to the perceived lag in participatory government in the region. Many of these arguments would emerge as poorly grounded, given later events. In 2004, then Secretary of...

By Jason Oliver Evans, Ph.D. Candidate in Religious Studies, University of Virginia With religious affiliation on the decline, continuing racism and increasing income inequality, some scholars and activists are soul-searching about the Black church’s role in today’s United States. For instance, on April 20, 2010, an African American Studies professor at Princeton, Eddie S. Glaude, sparked an online debate by provocatively declaring that, despite the existence of many African American churches, “the Black Church, as we’ve known it or imagined it, is dead.” As he argued, the image of the Black church as a center for Black life and...

By Phil Zuckerman, Professor of Sociology and Secular Studies, Pitzer College About six months ago, Americans’ belief in God hit an all-time low. According to a 2022 Gallup survey, the percentage of people who believe in God has dropped from 98% in the 1950s to 81% today. Among Americans under 30, it is down to an unprecedented 68%. Up close, the trend looks even more dramatic. Only about half of Americans believe in “God as described in the Bible,” while about a quarter believe in a “higher power or spiritual force,” according to a Pew poll. Just one-third of...