What else is the national anthem but a hymn to the nation, and what else did Kaepernick do but thumb his nose at American civil religion by sitting down in church while the choir sung?
Guns and the illusion of security
The rise of concealed carry is about safety, self-protection, and security. Even if we don’t own a gun, we are represented by state legislatures that agree that carrying a gun provides the safety and security we seek.
No ideas but in things: A Baptist recovers ritual
Notre-Dame taught me – and still teaches me – that the physical, tangible things of this good earth have the power to mediate something transcendent.
Are we entering the end times for mainline seminaries?
Without diminishing the grief felt at the shuttering seminaries, it is useful to take a longer perspective on the recent headlines. These institutional changes are neither as unexpected nor as unprecedented as they seem.
The feel-good gospel of the pastor made famous by Kimye and Bieber
When Vous Church was born last fall, Pastor Rich Wilkerson Jr. was already almost famous, having officiated the wedding of Kanye West and Kim Kardashian and attended to the soul, such as it is, of Justin Bieber.
Do trigger warnings silence religious students?
Some claim a practice meant to protect marginalized communities can also ostracize those who disagree with them. Others argue being aware of students’ traumatic experiences and giving them a heads up is basic human decency.
A history of prophetic black preaching that doesn’t start or end with Dr. King
Q&A with Kenyatta Gilbert, author of “A Pursued Justice: Black Preaching from the Great Migration to Civil Rights.”
My summer vacation: A lesson in discrimination and hope
Israel is supposed to provide equal treatment to its citizens both Palestinian and Jewish, as it calls itself a “democratic” country. However, I did not notice anybody else except me treated in this way.
Neighbor churches, split on race lines, work to heal divide
About 170 years ago, they were one congregation, albeit a church of masters and slaves. Then the fight over abolition and slavery began and the churches separated by race.