“Religious liberty” has been in the media a lot lately so this piece is hardly news. But as Mississippi prepares to roll its “Religious Freedom” bill into law on July 1, apparently there’s still room for an opinion. Here’s mine:…
Abuse, education and transformation in a culture of rape
La versión en español está disponible aquí. The last few weeks have been hard. First the news of the Baylor University case and the recognition, once more, of the connections between inappropriate theological/biblical interpretations and a patriarchal culture that objectifies…
Abuso, educación y transformación
An English version is available here. Las últimas semanas han sido difíciles. Primero salieron a la luz las noticias del caso de la Universidad de Baylor y el reconocimiento, una vez más, de las conexiones entre interpretaciones teológicas y bíblicas…
We all are Omar Mateen
A rush is on to call Omar Mateen, the “Other.” He must be the antithesis of Americans. He is evil, we are good. He is Muslim, we are saved. He is a foreigner, we belong. He is an external threat…
Speak the power of love before we lose ability to speak at all
The following is a letter to pastors and church leaders. Colleagues: Sunday found us waking to the confluence of so many streams of hatred and vitriol in our society — homophobia, islamophobia, fear of the other in any form. “Here…
Voting, working and advocating on the side of compassion
The compassion of Christ compels us to be political. I’m not talking about engaging in partisan politics. In Luke 7:16 Jesus is called “a great prophet” because he restored to life the only son of a widow. This poor widow…
Navigating between innovations and traditions in faith
This past month I had a unique opportunity to attend two conferences. One was at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., and the other was at Columbia University in New York City. While the topics were very similar, there was…
Encountering the world: A word to graduates
Dear Graduates, It is possible to live a life other than your own. In other words, you have one life. You can choose to do anything you want and study and learn whatever you want. People, places, things and thoughts…
In spite of dungeon, fire and sword: A Mennonite legacy
I know very little about my family history, partly because it is so complicated. My ancestors came to Canada and the United States from Scotland, England, Sweden and Germany (and who knows where else). It’s easy to get tangled up…
A Southerner living in a foreign land — Brooklyn
“Yankee” was a term of derision in my fourth grade class. When the teacher announced, “We have a new student who just moved to Mississippi from New York,” we looked on his poor little lost soul with pity. The progressive…
When ‘Satan goes to a prayer meeting’
I love prayer. Despite the popularity of social media, status updates and tweets do not compare to sharing a prayer request with God. There is no better connection. The fact that we can be in direct dialogue with the Divine,…
Facing the worst in ourselves, and learning grace
Lindy West is a writer who says that she is trolled constantly. “Trolling” is the practice of posting online in a deliberately offensive or provocative way to elicit an angry response. For West, nasty tweets and emails are a daily…