As we turn the corner into 2022, the Revealer‘s editorial staff and contributors reflect on the religion, politics, and media of 2021 and are looking ahead to the coming months with hope for more justice and more equality. In his editor’s letter, Brett Krutzsch considers how New York City’s catastrophic “Welcome Back” concert was emblematic for the kind of willful ignorance of politicians in the face of climate change and COVID stats, and the resulting misinformation they spread. He offers this Revealer issue as a nuanced and multi-faceted look into the competing ideologies and emotions of 2021.
The issue opens with Anne Mocko’s “Covid and the King,” where she considers how Hindu nationalism helps explain why the dethroned King of Nepal risked death from COVID when he agreed to participate in India’s Kumbh Mela festival this year.
Next, in “The Crusade Against Critical Race Theory,” Jessica Johnson reports on how Christian nationalism has shaped recent protests against teaching about racism in public schools.
Then, in an excerpt from Fear in Our Hearts: What Islamophobia Tells Us about America, Caleb Elfenbein shares how Muslim communities have attempted to combat anti-Muslim prejudice through an array of outreach efforts to “humanize” Muslims.
Along similar lines, in “The Rise of the Muslim Sitcom,” Kristian Petersen examines how Muslim-produced sitcoms on broadcast television use humor to portray Muslims as relatable Americans, even as such sitcoms reproduce common cultural stereotypes about Islam.
In “Sharing Sikh Wisdom with the World,” Kali Handelman interviews Simran Jeet Singh, a frequent Revealer contributor, about his forthcoming book on the Sikh tradition and how Sikh teachings can help everyone who cares about equality and social harmony.
Also included is our annual “Winter Reading Recommendations” of new books by Revealer writers. All of this year’s suggestions offer important insights about our world.
The issue also contains the newest episode of the Revealer podcast, “Combating Islamophobia in America,” in which Caleb Elfenbein joins us to discuss what Islamophobia reveals about life in the United States today. We explore why anti-Muslim fear persists throughout the country, how Muslim communities have responded to Islamophobia, and what everyone can do so that Muslims can thrive in the United States. You can listen to this important episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
