Recent Articles
Veterans Day Reflections from a Christ-Following Marine Veteran
The military does not defend God. Active-duty personnel and veterans need not carry that burden, nor should they harbor that pride, however exemplary their courage and noble their motivation might be.
New Lifeway Research Report Finds “Value” in Women’s Ministry
Ministry to women is valuable according to the State of Ministry to Women study, released by Lifeway Research last month.
Four More Years of Trump?
With this terrifying potential standing before us, concerned Americans must work together to forge a better way. Both conservatives and liberals deserve better than a Trumpian future.
A New Survey Finds Americans Believe Climate Change Is Impacting Their Lives Now
Most Americans think that climate change is impacting their lives now, according to a Pew Research Report released on October 25.
New Book, Take Me to the Water, Offers a Raceless Gospel to the Segregated Church
“‘Take Me to the Water’: The Raceless Gospel as Baptismal Pedagogy for a Desegregated Church” is the newest release from Nurturing Faith Books.
Dismantling the Benevolence Class
What would we do with our Christmas Angel trees if everyone in our community was guaranteed a living wage and universal basic income?
Finding Jesus in the Strip Club
My belief in “equal opportunity” suddenly felt misinformed and harmful while staring into the face of a single mom who had been trafficked by her own mother at 12 years old.
Rethinking Institutional Life
Rather than asking how best to be expressions of Jesus in a hurting world, many institutional leaders are asking what can or cannot be said to avoid losing the support that undergirds the organization.
New Survey Finds Americans Are “Concerned and Confused” About Data Privacy
Most adults are “concerned” about how companies (81%) and the government (71%) use the data they collect about them, according to a report published last month.
When All the People Are Gone
Who is keeping a tally of the dead bodies piled up in each corner during this Israel-Hamas war? While the number of Israeli deaths stop at around 1,400, the number of Palestinian deaths keeps going up, making me wonder if the killing will stop once all the people are gone.
Support for Political Violence on the Rise Among All Political and Religious Groups
The belief that political violence may be necessary is on the rise among all religious groups and those who are religiously unaffiliated.
Look Back | Two Ways that People of Faith View the Bible
Does the overall testimony of the Bible ask us to believe what it says or to see what it sees?
Grief Hunger
You don’t have to listen for long or look far to be overwhelmed by the grief in the world. There are so many losses everywhere, and the planet itself is wailing. It can become paralyzing if we allow it.
November 3, 2023
Former Israeli Ambassador to US: How the Israel-Hamas War Could Spiral into a Global Conflagration; Colony Ridge Reflects Texas Conservative Values. It Gets Bashed Anyway; Spain’s Catholic Church Apologizes for Sexual Abuse, Disputes Scale of Problem (Reuters)
Under Blasphemy Law, Indonesia Arrests TikTokker for Videos of ‘Jokes’ Mocking Christianity; (and more)
Justice or Revenge?
The barbaric acts of Hamas resulted in the world crying out for justice. The retaliatory actions of Israel answered those cries, but there must be a line between justice and revenge.
A Hard Lesson About an Easy Life
The current Israeli government does not reflect the desires of most Israeli citizens, any more than Hamas represents Palestinians, most of whom want peace. Bad leadership leads to bad outcomes, and others suffer for it.
November 2, 2023
Israel-Palestine War: A Quick History of Christianity in Gaza; Two Pastors Worry for Their Congregations Safety. Are More Guns the Answer or the Problem?; Missouri Church Confesses and Laments its Past Ties to Slavery (and more)
Don’t Pass By
Good Faith Media’s new senior editor reflects on lessons learned. “Before that moment, I had probably heard some version of this message hundreds of times from friends with far fewer layers of privilege than I possess. But for some reason, this time, it began to stick.”
Since We Are Surrounded
It’s an important spiritual practice, especially on this All Saints’ Day, to remember where we are from. What saints from the great “cloud of witnesses” have been part of our own stories? Who has cheered us onward in the lives God is calling us toward?
November 1, 2023
Israel-Hamas War Live Updates; Open Hatred of Jews Surges Globally, Inflamed by Gaza War; Funded by White Supremacist Christian Billionaires, the Far Right Wing of the Texas GOP is Going On all In on Hitler-Like Authoritarianism; Democrats Divisions on Israel-Hamas War Boil Over in Michigan as Detroit-Area Muslims Feel Betrayed
Confessing to a Syncretic Faith
Syncretism is the amalgamation of things— like ideas, cultures, and religious thoughts and practices. We often see this in the blending of two distinct traditions into one that bears the marks of each of them.
October 31, 2023
Exploring the Origins of Halloween: Turnip Jack-O’-Lanterns, Soul-Stealing Fairies and Other Tales; Louisiana’s ‘In God We Trust’ Law Tests Limits of Religion in Public Schools; Survey: Majority Oppose Book Bans, Back Bible Electives Classes (and more)
A Call for Caution When Removing Books and People
But a book was banned from being displayed. It was regulated, moved and pushed to where it couldn’t be as easily seen. I can’t help but think of the disturbing similarities of a time not long ago when we regulated, moved and pushed something else from being displayed anywhere but the back of buses, away from lunch counters, and to predetermined red-line parts of towns throughout this country—marginalized people.
Introductions to Violence
My introduction to violence was intimate and domestic. My father’s fist met my mother’s face at night. Maybe that’s why I never want to see it again.
Fall Fundraising Campaign: Big Projects, Little Gifts
Sometimes, it’s a big project and other times, it’s a little gift. But all the work is done to promote the common good.
By the Way: Whatever Happened to Iowa?
I can’t be sure why Mrs. Bolin (if that is her name) directed me to Styron’s Confessions. But that was an important moment. In today’s Iowa, sadly, Mrs. Bolin’s actions would likely lead to her arrest.
Was the Church Ever Diverse?
Some say that churches are all the same. But were they ever diverse?
October 27, 2023
What Does it Mean When People Say Israel and Hamas are Fighting a ‘Holy War?’; Violence Forced Them to Flee. Now Faith Sustains These Migrants on Their Journey to the US; Oak Park Church Spending Thousands to Help Migrants in Chicago (and more)
The Echoes of the American Buffalo
Ken Burns recently released a new documentary on PBS, “The American Buffalo.” The film chronicles the harmonious, complex and deadly relationship between America’s greatest indigenous animal and the humans living alongside it.
Native American Grief Work and Oklahoma’s State Constitution
The influence of Native American grief work in the writing of the Sequoyah Constitution on the Oklahoma State Constitution is precisely what is under assault by the influence of White Christian Nationalists on politics in Oklahoma.