Most people probably had not heard of The Little Sisters of the Poor Saints Peter and Paul Home before it joined the fight with the federal government over required coverage of contraception in employer-provided medical insurance plans. That was the…
The Supreme Court term: Something for everyone to love and hate
The Supreme Court’s major rulings this June and early July may collectively be remembered as one of the most constructive political developments of this momentous and terrible year. The court’s decisions this term gave important wins and losses to both…
Another United Methodist plan demands patience more than specifics
Here’s the thing about getting guidance from God: It takes the kind of spiritual labor that we humans, with our penchant for control, mostly abhor — patient waiting marked by willing surrender, emptying oneself of ego and expectations. With an…
California and the making of American evangelicalism
Conceptualizing the American religious landscape can be a challenging task these days. We may think about Roman Catholicism’s prevalence in parts of New England or Lutheranism’s prevalence in the Midwest. Mormonism certainly composes a significant portion of the population in…
What Toni Morrison taught me about my people, the Quakers
As a little Quaker girl, I read about the childhood of Lucretia Coffin Mott (Girl of Old Nantucket), who grew up to be a noted Abolitionist, and about a family of Quakers from North Carolina who journeyed with a family…
In ‘Hamilton,’ King George has Calvin on his side
I watched “Hamilton” last night for the first time. And I was struck by the parallels in King George’s song You’ll Be Back to the Calvinistic view of God. The lyrics say: “The price of my love’s not a price…
Why is Russia’s Putin talking about marriage and faith in God?
On Wednesday, July 1, Russians voted to approve a series of amendments to the Russian constitution. Among them is the mention of “faith in God” and definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman. Contrary to some pundits,…
Lessons from Disney to help churches reopen successfully
Everything we do tells a story, intended or not. The ways we act, the ways we decorate, the ways we communicate, along with many other seemingly innocuous decisions all send a message to people coming to our places of worship. And now, Disney has some lessons for churches as they prepare to reopen in this time of coronavirus pandemic.
Is the United Methodist separation still on?
Getting to the question of whether the biggest Methodist branch will divide requires a look at why separation poses such a monumental challenge for the 12-million-member worldwide denomination, with more than 7 million members in the United States.