I’m waiting for the day when people think businesses ought to be run like churches. You know, more interested in helping people than turning a huge profit. It’s only fair, because for so long church members have demanded that their…
The parable of the Bad Samaritan
A rich Samaritan came upon a poor family by the side of the road. Their home had been destroyed, and they could not afford a new one. They needed medical care and vaccinations and schooling for their children. For that…
I am a witness: Russia started this war
The narrative that Ukraine started the war in 2022 or even 2014 is a fabrication of Russian propaganda. As someone who has spent more than half her actual life as a missionary in Eastern Europe, I would offer the following…
Politics, faith and mission: A conversation with Malcolm Foley
Malcolm Foley is a historian whose doctoral work centered on lynchings and the church’s response to them. The pastor of Mosaic Waco and special advisor to the president for Equity and Campus Engagement at Baylor University is helping to drive…
Letter to the Editor: Let’s retire this inaccurate term
Dear Editor: Let’s retire the term “Christian nationalism.” No, not a respectful, good-memory-laden retirement event. Make it a forceful dismissal with suitable ceremonies of utter disgust and disgrace. I will henceforth use the terms “religious nationalism” and “religious nationalists.” Of course, it…
What’s keeping this minister awake at night
I have many reasons for not getting what a somnologist or sleep doctor would describe as a full night’s rest. For one, I have children. This means my ears are attuned to any sound slightly resembling a croup-like cough. In…
Simmer down? Hell, I’m just getting warmed up
Recently someone suggested I should “lighten up” on my criticism of Donald Trump and his regime. That’s not going to happen. To be silent is to be complicit. Throughout my career I’ve been threatened, trolled, falsely accused, defamed, shamed and…
Louisiana set to gas 81-year-old man in wheelchair
Update: Christopher Sepulvado died in prison Feb. 21 before the state could execute him. On Feb. 17, an interfaith group of religious leaders gathered at Touro Synagogue in New Orleans for a prayer vigil in protest of Louisiana’s plan…
Roe v. Wade revisited
“At least six Texas children under 12 got abortions out of state in 2023,” according to an article by Taylor Goldenstein of the Houston Chronicle. “The number, possibly an undercount, underscores the effect of blocking the procedures for one of…
In times of fear, this is what artists do
In an article about the recently completed St. John’s Bible — the first handwritten and illuminated Bible produced by the Benedictine Order in more than 500 years — Duke University professor Ellen F. Davis asks, “When is beauty a moral…
23andMmmUh
When I was 5 years old, my father angrily said, “When we get home, you’re getting a spanking.” My mother intervened, saying I had likely heard “that word” on the school bus and didn’t know it was wrong. She was…
‘Neither right nor safe’: The Gulf of Conscience
On April 18, 1521, an Augustinian monk named Martin Luther stood before Charles V, king of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor, and his court comprised of representatives from the nations of Europe. Luther was required to respond to two questions:…