Opinion
Let’s Talk about Idol Worship
When we boil faith down to its purest form, what is left? Love.
Mercy Culture (Once Again) Triggered by Mercy
A movement built on hunting witches cannot survive without a witch.
Christianity and Native Traditions: Never the Twain?
I have to wonder whether Sarah Lucas worships a God too small to acknowledge the integrity of Native traditions observed for centuries, if not millennia.
No Place for NIMBYism in the Kingdom of God
We will remain content offering the nations heaven in the sky and hell on earth until we recognize that God came to bring heaven to earth.
Art for Democracy
Even within free societies, authoritarian cultures, such as high-control religions, likewise harness the power of art.
An Attack by Any Other Name
An attack on innocent people by extremists in the service of an ideology hostile to what those symbols mean to them is an attack with grave consequences.
John Prine, Wendell Berry, and Hope That Rises From the Making
I am not lost; their map no longer tells the truth about where I am.
‘By Any Means’: Does God Need a Hitman?
‘By Any Means’ re-litigates an enduring argument: What creates lasting change? Peace or force? Protests or pain?
The Raceless Gospel is Fighting the Power of White-Body Supremacy
From Holy Ghost power to power concentrated in the hands of a wealthy few, from the power of Pentecost to political power, the current movement of the church in North America remains up in the air.
A Call for Water Justice During the Season of Creation
Water is woven deeply into our Christian story, and the creation story includes water as its foundational background.
A Wild Goose Blessing on Your Ministry
If the word ministry is still a sticking point for you, what might happen if you replaced every use of the word ministry with the word service?
Rhinestones and Topsoil: Port William Meets Dollywood
Rhinestones and topsoil seem like an easy way to sort them; at least until we get to Port William.
9/11, Lindsay Clancy, and Who Gets Grace
We would all do well to notice and sit with the discomfort before we respond to it.
Sunday’s Worship After 9/11
We now would see with certainty that worship is theology on the half-shell, raw for the chewing and swallowing.
Hidden Eyes: Why ‘Flock’ Surveillance Cameras Must Come With Oversight
The automated tracking is widely viewed as a direct violation of Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches.
‘For Those With Ears to Hear’
True listening is more than auditory reception.
How Should Americans Respond to Trump’s Aggression Against Canada?
Canada has a bully, and he just happens to be the leader of the United States of America.
Following Jesus: Robert Parham on September 11, 2001.
Those in the Christian community have little clear perspective save that of Jesus.
Profundity and the National Crisis: John Pierce on 9/11
The words of God have always been profound.
Race, Religion, and Reparations: The Story of Second Baptist and Lake Street Church in Evanston, Illinois
One can only wonder what might have been. What if both First Baptist Church and First United Methodist Church had worked hard to fully accept their Black members?
A Modest Proposal for an Immodest Ballroom
If a gilded ballroom is inevitable, then the argument can continue whether it is a symbol of greatness or an embarrassment.
Labor Day, Dorothy Day, and the Spiritual Roots of Unions
We have all known the long loneliness and we have learned that the only solution is love and that love comes with community.
We All Know Who Dealt It
When flagrant habitual liars govern, the people cease to believe.
No World Without Dolly
I do not know a world without Dolly Parton in it.
Resistance at 500: Women Who Led the Way
Throughout our sacred stories, whether in the Bible or the ones of those who went before us, women have led the way.
Bullies With Bullets and Badges
The net always catches both the intended target and innocent bystanders.
Dolly’s Greatest Gift Was Reading the Room
You can’t grow up in a one-room log cabin with 13 other people without learning to read a room
Wendell Berry: The Mad Farmer Who Practiced Resurrection
Berry died this week at the age of 92, leaving behind one of the most remarkable bodies of American writing of the past century.
Off to Lunch: What Caused the ‘Death of a Pastor’s Wife?’
An increasing number of churches are willing to allow their senior pastor to do whatever the senior pastor wants to do.
Finding Belonging at Beer Camp
I have come to understand that this kind of belonging does not simply happen because everyone means well.