Latest Articles
For Nigeria's president, a future deeply tied to Boko Haram fight
(The Christian Science Monitor) It has been a month since Nigeria postponed its presidential election, saying it couldn’t hold a safe ...
March 29, 2015, Palm Sunday: John 12:12-16
Palm Sunday is a story of disappointed expectations, of what happens when someone you admire refuses to be who you think they should be.
Social survey shows drop in religious participation over past two years
A new survey shows that since 2012, the United States has about 7.5 million more Americans who are no longer active in religion....
Choices and lives: The changing politics of abortion
There has been a broad and dramatic shift toward more abortion restrictions in the United States. This will almost certainly continue.
On the way back to being dust
Our impoverished spirituality around death and burial has been ...
On sacrifice and suffering
Lent was a fairly new concept for me when I was in college, and one year I decided to make the ultimate sacrifice—chocolate. I still remember standing in the ice cream parlor, looking at the luscious rocky road and chocolate swirl and brownie chunk ice cream–and choosing butter pecan. Butter pecan. Such is the suffering I was willing to endure for Jesus.
I think now that the whole endeavor was a bit melodramatic.
In northern Iraq, casualties as Kurds push back Islamic State
(The Christian Science Monitor) Bulldozers equipped with steel plates welded over their cockpits to thwart snipers are digging earth b...
Not yet spring: Notes from the farm
It's been too long since Christmas, and most folks wish the winter were over. But this lingering not-yet-spring is a precious time.
God doesn’t always do a gut rehab
I believe God can make us completely over, but I also believe that this is not always necessary.
No more "volunteers" at church
Language matters. Particularly, the language we use in worship matters. So, my ears perked up recently when in worship congregation members were besieged by many, oh so many, opportunities to “volunteer.”
The New Evangelical Social Engagement, edited by Brian Steensland and Philip Goff
Brian Steensland and Philip Goff's valuable anthology addresses a topic that usually flies under the media's radar: "new" evangelicals' progressive social engagement.
The room in the firehouse
I went to a meeting with a friend yesterday. Many of the speakers were wry and funny, but their stories were awful.
God's anonymous ones
As I enter through heavy wooden doors, I encounter a hush that is understood rather than enforced....
Reading and leaping
We laughed with hope as we witnessed a new generation hearing an ancient truth.
Other people saying things
"I hope in they can find a way to keep themselves safe but to also keep the protesters safe. We're not the ones out her...
Feasting on the Word, by David L. Bartlett and Carol Bartlett
The Bartletts view the children’s sermon as an integral part of worship, not just an add-on to entertain the children briefly....
Why the war in Syria could be making Hezbollah stronger
(The Christian Science Monitor) When Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah publicly confirmed in May 2013 that Hezbollah had intervened in Syria’s b...
Connecting teens to build peace
(The Christian Science Monitor) Seeds of Peace, which has become one of the Middle East’s most recognized peace-building initiatives, ...
Malcolm Boyd, Episcopal priest and gay Christian pioneer, dies at 91
Malcolm Boyd, an Episcopal priest and pioneer among gay Christians, died February 27 at the age of 91....
Theodore Hesburgh, longtime Notre Dame president, dies at 97
Theodore Hesburgh, the longtime president of the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, died February 26 at age 97....