

Since 1900, the Christian Century has published reporting, commentary, poetry, and essays on the role of faith in a pluralistic society.
© 2023 The Christian Century.
Tempted by the favors of power
White Christians supported Trump by large margins. They should be careful what they accept in return.
The real stories behind refugee resettlement
Before the protests of support for refugees at airports this weekend, people were already sharing their lives with their new neighbors.
by Amy Frykholm
A do-gooder’s tale
D. L. Mayfield wanted to help Somali refugees. She ended up mostly baking them cupcakes.
At home in exile
In a time of American inhospitality, Jan Holton offers a compelling vision.
No place to lay their heads
Two compelling novels reveal the horrors of forced displacement.
A soft landing in Montana
Despite protests, the group persisted in welcoming refugees to their community.
by Amy Frykholm
Mary Clark Moschella recommends the best recently published books in her field.
selected by Mary Clark Moschella
In Rio, refugees will compete under an international flag. Maybe this will inspire new reflection on the purpose of a nation.
"Maybe 5 percent of refugees are ever resettled. Meanwhile, human life is always more than survival."
Interview by Amy Frykholm
The prospect of Syrian refugees entering the U.S. has unleashed a wave of fear. But fear, while understandable, is an unreliable guide to policy.
Aid organizations are overwhelmed by the scale of the current mass migration from the Middle East. So the work has fallen on other volunteers.
text and images by Paul Jeffrey
Religious people have been their own worst enemies in recent weeks.
First came a study from the journal Current Biology showing that children from religious families are less generous and more punitive than their peers, and that the more exposure to religion they received, the worse they behaved.
When you read children’s literature you expect to smile at the quirky characters fumbling to figure out their growing independence. You might expect to cry as you watch characters face the pain of growing up.
You don’t expect to be confronted by current events like a refugee crisis—and inspired to imagine the kind of society we could be even in the face of terror and fear.
As a child, I liked to survey strangers about what it means to be human. Brandon Stanton has created a fully realized version of what I was doing.
It's a humanitarian crisis that has riveted the international community: refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, Libya, and elsewhere seeking asylum from civil war and violence. Images of the small, drowned body of Aylan Kurdi ignited our consciences and challenged world leaders to begin addressing the needs of these refugees.
The surge of unaccompanied minors into countries like Sweden mirrors the marked increase of Central American children entering the United States in 2014, fleeing violence at home.
The wrenching dislocations of World War II were often pitilessly ignored by the world. What story will be told of our time, and of us?
Last year, the U.S. took thousands of "family units" into custody at the southern border. Nearly every woman cites violence as the reason she fled.
by Amy Frykholm
Early last summer, the Obama administration opened a detention center in the remote town of Artesia, New Mexico, in order to detain Central American women who cross the southern border with their children. The facility was a centerpiece of the administration’s policy of family detention, which aims to “send a message,” as Department of Homeland Security secretary Jeh Johnson said, that asylum seekers from these countries are not welcome.
By Amy Frykholm
Obama's budget includes more money to detain undocumented children. At the largest family detention center, the average child is age six.