Opinion

For us to be of any use to God’s mission of liberation, we must stand firm, in solidarity with those who are being oppressed.

As people of faith, our prayer vigils also call us to bold and sustained advocacy on behalf of just policies and compassionate responses.

Faith leaders, including those who lead seminaries, must not be silent in the face of an increasingly fractious and violent society that challenges our most deeply held Christian convictions.

The U.S. presidency is, first and foremost, a position of spiritual leadership. Tragically, this president has wielded his spiritual influence to incite and divide.

This is not the CBF I thought I knew. This is a new CBF. One that is brave and bold.

Moments like these fill my chest with a kind of air I don’t normally breathe, air that isn’t stale, anxious, cynical and polarized.

While I bemoan the Illumination Project’s implementation plan, the General Assembly in Dallas reminded me that I – and the church I serve – still need CBF.

If Christians in America cannot raise our collective voices against our government’s treatment of these “little ones,” then we’re the ones who serve a “lesser god.”

The abuse of scripture in the “law and order” defense of atrocities at the U.S. border has been roundly and rightly criticized. But, moderate and progressive Christians, let’s be honest: fundamentalists and government officials aren’t the only ones guilty of a perverted form of natural theology.

God does not affirm laws simply because they are put in place by authorities, as Jeff Sessions claimed. God affirms laws that are created for and serve humanity.

Amid an epidemic of suicides, some fatalities were victims of bad theology who never heard a helpful word from the church.