Opinion

We must find the strength to change, but the change we need is not in the level of security at houses of worship. The change we need is a change in the way we think about guns.

I’m frankly too busy and too filled with the season’s joy to worry about whether a store clerk tells me “Happy holidays” or “Merry Christmas.” There are so many legitimate justice issues in our world; why fabricate a culture war where none exists?

There is nothing new about Harvey Weinstein or Michael Oreskes or any number of other men publicly accused of sexually harassing women and others. But nobody is talking about the persistent, wearying presence of sexism and misogyny in our churches.

This year, there were many opportunities to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation: Worship services, lectures, conferences, and multiple books, blogs, and columns. But now that the 500th anniversary of the Reformation has passed, what is next? Now what?

Este año hubo muchas oportunidades para conmemorar el aniversario de los 500 años de la Reforma: servicios de adoración, conferencias, ponencias, libros, blogs y columnas. Pero ahora que este aniversario ha pasado, ¿qué sigue? ¿Ahora qué?

While I think that Mojo was the best dog to ever walk the planet, I suspect that many of our animal companions are able to sanctify us in similar and different ways if we allow ourselves to look and listen and learn.

The book of Romans is often quoted by prominent preachers, even advisors to the current president, as justification for unyielding, unquestioning support of government. But context matters.

I may stand on the shoulders of theological giants, but John Howard Yoder’s egregious actions have forced my gaze downward only to see that I also stand on the hunched backs of Yoder’s victims. If I make it in this increasingly uncertain world of the theological academy, my rise will be due in part because of their fall.

It’s humbling and amazing to recognize that I live in the most financially successful nation in the history of the world — and it’s tragic and defeating to try to help people see how poor we really are, in so many important ways.

From Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority to William Barber II’s Moral Mondays, the last few decades in American life have seen a bolder and different kind of pairing of between the religious and the political, on all points of the spectrum.