Latest Articles

c. 2015 Religion News Service...

Fifty years after the signing of the Voting Rights Act, many black churches are redoubling efforts to maintain access to the ballot box....

After an inter­national outcry, Yat Michael and Peter Yein Reith, pastors who faced possible death sentences in Sudan, were set free following a court hearing August 5....

As the climb of upward mobility has grown steeper, our rags-to-riches entertainments have grown more garish, random, and humiliating.

Nothing has generated conversation on my Facebook page lately like posts about Donald Trump. Yesterday I posted a story about Catholic bishops taking on Trump. Noting that he claims to be a Presbyterian, I wondered if Presbyterian leaders should be addressing his rhetoric as well. A variety of people weighed in, and given the predominance of liberals among my FB friends most of the comments were in favor of critiquing the Donald. It was also pointed out that the PCUSA’s Advocacy Committee for Racial Ethnic Concerns has in fact responded to Trump.

In an era when most faith groups’ political priorities align predictably with the two major parties, it is refreshing to behold a truly diverse religious consensus on an issue.

Ellen Davis is full of surprises. Some are delightful, others raise questions for further study, and still others throw up stumbling blocks.

(The Christian Science Monitor) Irene is curled up at the end of a yellow, plastic mattress, tapping her hand lightly on the cooing ba...

c. 2015 Religion News Service...

The Obama administration released proposed rules August 5 designed to protect the religious freedom of people who receive social services from government-funded religious programs....

My favorite heirloom fruit tree nursery sent an e-mail about a sale. With scarcely a thought, I ordered a bucket of trees.

Many, perhaps most, readers of Then and Now teach in one context or another. The responsibility, joy, and challenge of teaching is paradoxical: it is a complex exercise, and yet the task is simple. Is teaching a calling? Can one learn to be a great teacher, or is teaching a gift with which someone is born? What is the future of teaching, particularly in higher-ed settings? How do we teach students to love mercy, act justly, and walk humbly with their God?

Whether we are facing personal conflict in our relationships, or leaning into the harder conversations of our society—like those around racial injustice and sexual identity—many of us struggle to listen to what needs hearing and speaking what needs saying. Listening is a core competency for me as a pastor and chaplain, but I am finding listening also can be a revolutionary and democratic act.

In May, a federal jury sentenced the surviving Boston Marathon bomber to death....

Yet, his “pessimism” lies in thinking change is unlikely, not that change is impossible. When discussing police brutality and criminal justice, he reminds his readers that “democratic will” has sanctioned and allowed the abuses that flow from these practices.

c. 2015 USA Today Network...

c. 2015 Religion News Service...

(The Christian Science Monitor) The self-described Islam­ic State has lured thousands of foreign fighters and their families to Syria ...

If Solomon were an older and more experienced ruler when God appears to him in his dream, I wonder if he would ask for wisdom.

The death penalty is undergoing a welcome decline in the U.S. But the policy that's replacing it isn't much better.