How Author Bill Tammeus Provides Religious and Cultural Context for the News
As a publishing house, our most successful collaborations are with authors who are “part of the national conversation.” That’s why we are highlighting examples from the work of veteran, award-winning journalist Bill Tammeus. His online columns provide important religious and cultural context for the weekly news, so his writing is widely shared across the Internet—and Bill often is invited to write for other media hubs, as well.
As we approach the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on 9/11 in 2021, major media projects about that milestone are sweeping across the U.S., including a new six-part series on the National Geographic Channel that debuts on August 29, 2021.
In addition, almost every day in mid-August, front-page reporting about the triumph of Taliban forces in Afghanistan represents a 20-year bookend to what began on that momentous 9/11.
Our publishing house recommends that readers check in with Bill Tammeus’s ongoing work during this season of historical reflection, public debate and nationwide discussions about what Bill describes as the effort to “unplug extremism.”
Today, we recommend that you check out Bill’s columns on his own website, including:
‘What can we learn from a U.S. loss in yet another war?’
On August 21, Bill posted this thought-provoking column that begins:
The world’s great religions consistently promote peace over war. And yet there is almost never a moment in human history when there isn’t at least one war—and often many more—going on somewhere on the globe. That reality, of course, doesn’t mean that people of faith should quit trying to work for peace. But as they do that, perhaps the war in Afghanistan, now bleeding toward a close, can provide another reason to think about why humanity should avoid war. Care to read more?
‘Why Are the Extremists Winning in Afghanistan’
On August 18, as the Afghan government was collapsing, Bill wrote this column that includes a number of very helpful links to put this milestone in context. It begins:
U.S. military forces, along with some allies, have been fighting a war in Afghanistan for nearly 20 years, starting soon after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001. The initial invasion was justified as an act of self-defense. Its alleged purpose was to destroy the training camps in which al-Qaida members were taught how to commit acts of violent extremism. At the time, I thought that task might take a year or two. Then somehow the mission became ill defined and slowly turned into nation building, an almost-impossible job if you invade a country about which you know almost none of its history or its culture. Care to read more?
‘How China crushes Tibet and other followers of faith’
Of course, Bill’s wide-ranging work as a journalist covers far more than 9/11, its legacy and the danger of extremist groups. Bill provides context on many other timely news stories. Here’s an August 14, 2021, column that begins:
There are many reasons to be appalled by the people who run China via the CPC, Chinese Community Party, including their seeming inability to find any value in religion except when it might benefit them politically. Care to read more?
Some of the Best Religion Links are right there on Bill’s Homepage
FINALLY, here is the main link to Bill’s Homepage, which includes options to contact him, to connect with him via Twitter or Linked-in—plus there are many other very helpful gateway links in Bill’s right-hand column of navigation options.