By David Gushee Follow David: @dpgushee The brutality theatre that the terrorist group known as Islamic State (ISIS, ISIL) is applying to the powerless victims in its grasp has been truly breathtaking to behold. Some fine reporting, notably by Graeme…
Getting the enemy all wrong
Last week the White House took action against the various violent attacks happening all over the world in recent months by hosting a Summit on Countering Violent Extremism. While it is perhaps laudable that this White House stands opposed to…
A long line of sinners
March 2, 2015 By Terry Austin In the Central African Republic, a political/religious faction known as Anti-balaka has been accused of violent crimes. Their actions include gruesome mutilations, forcing thousands of people from their homes and killing an untold number….
Beating back ISIS
By Martin Accad Every few days, we seem to wake up to another massacre committed by ISIS. And these are, of course, only the ones that the media reports. ISIS, in reality, is committing massacres on a daily basis. We…
Why some question whether the President loves America
President Obama’s comments at the annual prayer breakfast sparked a tsunami of protest from conservative politicians and opinion leaders, but it’s not clear why. The president’s remarks were measured and carefully calibrated to the point of being banal. But two…
Did the President misrepresent Christianity?
President Obama spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast on February 5, as you know, and that speech unleashed considerable negative reaction-mostly from the same people that have criticized him for about everything he has said or done since 2009. Most…
Baptist pastor inspired by Jews, Muslims during Holy Land pilgrimage
By Jeff Brumley It wasn’t Jim Somerville’s first visit to the Holy Land — or even his third or fourth. But the 10-day journey in early February was the first he had made with Muslim and Jewish clergy from Virginia. The…
What we can do about ISIS
At one point on my recent trip to the Middle East an Army chaplain said to me with tears in his eyes, “We are at the beginning of something like the Protestant Reformation, and Father Nabil Haddad is like Martin…