By Amy Butler This week I began teaching a preaching practicum at a local seminary. As a place to start, my students received and turned in the assignment of a short reflection paper on one of my favorite topics, “What…
Winning with racism
By Laura Rector Somewhere in a closet at my parents’ house in Kentucky hangs a George H.W. Bush shirt from my high school days. On one occasion in my early 20s, I skipped church to pass out flyers with Right…
America is drunk
By Jim Denison Ablow cites new data from the Centers for Disease Control revealing that one in six Americans downs eight mixed drinks within a few hours, four times a month. Twenty-eight percent of young people between the ages of…
Can conservatives welcome the stranger?
By Zachary Bailes As GOP presidential candidates make their final plea in South Carolina, and as one Texas governor resigns from the race, Christian evangelicals are making their rounds for endorsement. James Dobson and the Family Research Council endorse Rick…
Somebody’s daughter
By Derik Hamby I was at my daughter’s school when her teacher asked, “Did you see what your daughter wrote? All the teachers are coming down to read it.” My daughter is 7 years old and in the first grade…
Blessed irony
By Bill Leonard After all, Joseph Smith, the prophet/founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had been gunned down in Carthage, Ill., 13 years earlier, the same year he declared his candidacy for president of the U.S….
Can anything new be said about abortion?
By David Gushee The Roe v. Wade anniversary with its ritual marches of protest and defense occurs this year amidst our quadrennial election carnival. Our elections now seem to require that contending politicians seek to outdo one another in ideological…
Embracing forgiveness
By Rabbi Rami Shapiro New Year’s Day is over. Have you broken your resolutions yet? If you’re like me, the answer to that question is “yes,” so this is a good time to think about forgiveness. Forgiveness isn’t a skill…
We say no, again
By Ken Sehested On the first Sunday in Lent in 2007, when tensions between the United States and Iran were escalating, Circle of Mercy Congregation unanimously adopted a statement opposing an attack on Iran. With the recent assassination of another…
Could there be a Muslim president?
By Zachary Bailes With the New Hampshire primaries behind the GOP and South Carolina on the horizon, Mitt Romney seems the likely presidential candidate. Perhaps surprisingly, Romney’s Mormonism has yet to be a major stumbling block, and as time passes…
Ministry off the list
By Amy Butler On my desk I have an old-fashioned pad of paper on which I write, every day, all of the things I must accomplish. My list is a list of those tasks that hang over me — reports…
Christian unity as Christ’s victory, and our task
By Steven Harmon The theme for the 2012 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Jan. 18-25) is “We Will All Be Changed by the Victory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Based on First Corinthians 15: 51-58, the theme encourages Christians…