Latest Articles
Ferguson letter from black clergy becomes interracial call for justice
c. 2014 Religion News Service...
Catholic bishops, Becket Fund slam newest HHS contraception mandate rules
c. 2014 Religion News Service...
As churches take measures to prevent Ebola, traditional healers ply herbs
c. 2014 Religion News Service...
How an American pastor ministered to Nazis at Nuremberg
c. 2014 Religion News Service
(RNS) He was a minister to monsters....
Oceanside reading
On the porch of a cottage in North Carolina, I gaze in wonder at the expanse in front of me. It's conducive to thinking and reading as well as meditating and praying.
What the Prodigal Son story doesn't mean
The Prodigal Son is often read to mean that God loves sinners, whereas the Jews thought God only loved the righteous. This makes no sense.
Welcome across race
For this Sunday's Living by the Word column, I focused on the theme of hospitality in the reading from Romans.
For my own sermon on this text, I almost went with the title "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?"
First steps
I've spent a lot of time as a mother noting my children's milestones. Oh, I think: he's climbing up that ladder unassisted. That never happened before! Or oh, how about that—she just listened to song lyrics, extrapolated their meaning, and ask a relevant question about them!
Tonight, I sat across from my husband in a restaurant. This past year has been very difficult for both of us, and has been its own sort of milestone, for many of the weighty and immense reasons that make adulthood complex.
The same deep down
This summer, the most common theme being played out at the movies is this: No matter who you are, you are the same as everyone else.
Some lighter reading on violence and race
Joe Klein:
Blacks represent 13% of the population but commit 50% of the murders; 90% of black victims are murdered by other blacks. The facts suggest that history is not enough to explain this social disaster.
Matthew Yglesias:
Yet the disturbing truth, according to the FBI's most recent homicide statistics, is that the United States is in the wake of an epidemic of white-on-white crime.
After Ferguson, churches must confess the sin of abandonment
(RNS) The ride to the church seemed too short to give me time to unleash all those tears. I had to preach. What would I say?...
Other people saying things
"You don’t get $321 in fines and fees and 3 warrants per household from an about-average crime rate. You get numbers like this from bullshit arrests for jaywalking and constant 'low level harassment involving traffic stops, court appearances, high fines, and the threat of jail for failure to pay.'”
Stay Gold, by First Aid Kit
On the Söderberg sisters’ third album and their second with producer Mike Mogis, the sound is bigger and lusher, even utilizing strings and winds at times....
Health workers commit to taking lessons on Ebola to West Africa as U.S. missionaries discharged from hospital
c. 2014 Religion News Service...
Atheists may not pray, Brevard (Fla.) county commissioners say
c. 2014 Religion News Service...
Parents of slain journalist drawing on faith
Once again, John and Diane Foley appeared on national television to speak about their son, conflict journalist James Foley....
Congress creates envoy for religious minorities persecuted in Asia
As Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria send religious minorities fleeing for their lives, Congress has created a new job at the State Department: Special Envoy to Promote Religious Freedom of ...