Feature

The dirty river in Jesus' neighborhood and the one in mine

When the ICE agents left, Francisco Aguirre’s supporters called Augustana Lutheran. The church had been preparing for years to take the call.

“There needs to be a reason before the reasons began why you’d engage with an argument about God at all. This, I think, is where it makes sense to speak in the language of experience, of emotion.”

Uganda hosts one refugee for every 160 residents. That’s more than seven times the burden the U.S. bears.

As the imam spoke, it struck me that a whole generation of Muslim Americans would grow up feeling the weight of self-consciousness.

Hagar’s story has often been read as if it explains some inevitable animosity among the Abrahamic faiths. We should try reading it differently.

How would I get to nursing homes, or respond to emergencies? What would I do when it snowed? I hoped the answers would come as I pedaled.

"Remember the sabbath" is a costly commandment. Our culture’s assault on it extends far beyond Sunday.

“Many religious liberty accommodations will have absolutely no effect on the rights of third parties. Those are easier cases.”

Every family has more people at the table than you can see. If we set the right number of plates, we would have to build way bigger tables.

Of the four kinds of love, affection is most linked to place. It arises among those who share a common life not by choice but by circumstance.

"If I walk into the room of a patient dying in faith, hope, and love, I feel I need to take my shoes off. It is that holy."

In 1991, 15 percent of La Crosse residents had an advance care plan. Local health-care leaders set a goal: increase this to 50 percent.

"I sell exclusively to fellow Shi'ites and to Christians," says one Lebanese arms dealer. "Demand from Christians has increased immensely."

In New York, 400,000 people marched to demand action on climate change. Thousands of us were there at least partly because of our faith.

"It is better to marry than to burn," says Paul. This strange, embarrassing passage may offer some ground for fresh discernment.

As people respond to the needs of their particular place, they are also shaping the experiences of people elsewhere.

In the movement to raise the minimum wage, fast food mega-corporations make the perfect villains. But they aren't the only low-wage employers.

"I suppose some liturgical types don't like our Amish novels, and some evangelicals are perplexed by our Catholic stuff. But it used to be worse."

In North Carolina, civil rights leaders are focused on the one political issue that undergirds all others: the right to vote.