protest

At the World Cup, Pussy Riot opened a window on authoritarianism.

The league—and many fans—treat them as cogs without agency.

School closures are difficult and disruptive. But this is how public protest works.

BLM is writing a new chapter in the history of black people's struggle for full equality. What are the implications for churches?

The young people leading this movement have heard enough about Martin Luther King's dream. It is not enough for church leaders to reply that they don't know much history.

The BLM movement has issued a clarion call to the church, the black church in particular, to affirm a theology of resistance, not respectability. This means reckoning with who Jesus is.

In the civil rights movement, language of political participation was central. BLM activists are making a more profound demand.

Putting up signs is great. Talking about racism together is even better.

Recently I wrote about the tar sands pipeline blockaders who have been coming to our church in Nacogdoches, Texas. Life with these young people is never dull. We’re learning to improvise and be light on our feet with them around.

Four Tar Sands Blockade young people showed up at church one Sunday. They were hungry for fellowship and encouragement—and just hungry.

Pussy Riot became a cause célèbre for the Russian opposition and its Western supporters. Many Russian Orthodox believers saw things differently. 

Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel says that the Chicago Police Department "did a tremendous job” keeping the peace during the NATO summit this week. President Obama agrees.

Chicago Indymedia offers another perspective, posting videos of protestors surrounded by police and brutally beaten.

This spring, the most interesting question for me about the Occupy movement isn't whether it will find focus or whether it will revive or whether it will make a difference in the election. What I want to pay attention to is the ongoing and generative outpouring of creative politics.

The Occupy movement is rich in unedited signs. In my mind, creative placarding will forever be its legacy.

I recall three times when the churches I served were picketed. The one that was by far the most traumatic had to do with abortion.

When news came out that Obama would get to
approve or block a pipeline linking Texas
refineries to the tar sands of Alberta, it was clear that it was time for
more than words.

It's easy—from the comfort of my desk, where I’m healthy, well fed and securely employed—to experience a sense of "enough," as I wrote last week. It’s easy to champion compassion, justice and peace (what's not to like?), even when it puts me at odds with a few biblical texts.