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August 12, 2020

Volume 137, Issue #17

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Features

Opinion

Our pandemic slowdown has been good for the planet

What if we kept it going?

by O’neil Van Horn

Readers Write

Dawn: Essays by readers

We gave our readers a one-word writing prompt: “Dawn.”

Critical Essay

In declaring whose lives matter, Martin Luther failed his own idolatry test

When it comes to racism, we’re failing it too.

by Vincent Evener

Opinion

Why the Washington, DC, football team needed to change its name

This victory won’t amount to much if Americans don’t understand why racist team names are a problem.

by Kaitlin B. Curtice

Books

Messianic protest against the School of the Americas

In Kyle Lambelet’s view, SOA Watch demonstrates the virtues of a messianic politics.

by Heath W. Carter

Pregnancy is undeniably beautiful and bizarre

Both Agnes Howard and Brittany Bergman encourage reflection on a transformational experience.

by Leslie Verner

Kristin Kobes Du Mez’s history of the manly godly man

How American evangelicalism baptized male aggression

by Phil Christman

Stuck in an imperial system that has outlived its promise

Ross Douthat wonders what will get us beyond decadence.

by Benjamin J. Dueholm

Sue Monk Kidd imagines Jesus with a strong-willed wife

The Book of Longings offers a rare glimpse into the interior lives of women in the biblical world.

by Kaethe Schwehn

Departments

Faith Matters

The practical wisdom that comes from a pandemic

The question “what are we for?” takes on new meaning these days.

by Debra Dean Murphy

Screen Time

The collective wisdom that emerges from The Baby-Sitters Club

In the Netflix reboot, 12-year-old girls model collaborative leadership.

by Kathryn Reklis

First Words

Christian Cooper’s compassion toward Amy Cooper is rooted in his conscience

Good conscience isn’t forged in the heat of the moment. It acquires its shape over time.

by Peter W. Marty

From the Editors

How local activists shut down the Atlantic Coast Pipeline

The stakes were high for those in the pipeline’s path—and they fought accordingly.

On Art

Boiling Point and John Lewis, by Basil Watson

The human form “capture[s] the energy, motivation and spirit that are reflected in every aspect of the subject,” says Basil Watson, a Jamaican artist now based in Georgia....

art selection and comment by Lil Copan

News

Millions in coronavirus aid went to embattled Catholic dioceses

The US Catholic Church used a special and unprecedented exemption from federal rules to amass billions of dollars in taxpayer-backed coronavirus aid, with many millions going to dioceses that have paid huge settlements or sought bankruptcy protec...

by Reese Dunklin and Michael Rezendes

People of faith find their place in new wave of anti-pipeline activism

Last month, three major pipeline projects in the US were canceled or temporarily halted in the span of 24 hours—due in large part to grassroots activists and their increasingly creative and sophisticated legal strategies....

by Dawn Araujo-Hawkins

Faith leaders denounce Trump administration’s renewal of federal death penalty

Faith leaders are speaking out against the federal government’s decision to begin executing federal prisoners, decrying the Trump administration’s decision to end a nearly two-decade-long moratorium on the federal death penalty....

by Jack Jenkins

Megachurch pastor John Ortberg faces new church investigation

In early July, megachurch pastor John Ortberg claimed his congregation had “extensively investigated” concerns about his son and found “no misconduct.”...

by Bob Smietana

Texas church puts a literal spotlight on Black Lives Matter

With its modern architectural exterior, Northaven United Methodist Church fits in nicely with its surroundings in the affluent Preston Hollow neighborhood of north Dallas....

by Matt Jacob

Lectionary

August 30, 22A (Matthew 16:21-28)

Following Jesus means the human things and the divine things will overlap.

by Liddy Barlow

August 23, 21A (Exodus 1:8-2:10)

When the privileged and the helpless are called into holy conspiracy