In the Book of Judges, we encounter a verse that encapsulates a time of moral chaos in Israel: “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” This haunting statement captures…
Finding hope after the murder of a child
On Aug. 6, 1995, Michael McEachern and Katy Nesbit — two spirited, trusting young people — went to a Whataburger and never returned to the friends and family who loved them so much. They were murdered over the theft of…
Baptist evangelist found dead in Uganda
Who killed Richard Malinga, a Baptist evangelist in Uganda? That’s the question many people, including religious leaders and security officials in the country and elsewhere, are asking about the man whose lifeless body was recently found in Kayete Swamp in…
Murder of Baptist pastor in Myanmar brings new attention to the ‘under-reported war’
The fatal shooting of a Baptist pastor in Myanmar reflects an upsurge of civil war violence targeting Christians, Muslims and other religious and ethnic minorities. Outrage over the March 18 killing of Nammye Hkun Jaw Li comes at a time…
Marjorie Taylor Greene and the toxic trope of the rapist-murderer-racial other
The murder of 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley on the campus of the University of Georgia Feb. 22 has drawn national media interest and political activity. Right-wing movers and shakers have especially been galvanized by this one murder. I think I…
We have been trained to see certain people as avatars of disorder who need to be eliminated
The killing of Jordan Neely is an apocalyptic event; it reveals something about our cultural moment that is at once illuminating and deeply unsettling. On May 1, Neely was killed on the New York City subway by a fellow passenger….
The church must show the world a more excellent way of nonviolence
The Monterey Park shooting was the 36th mass shooting in the USA in this young year. Reporters have trouble covering all the violence in our culture. Some of the violence stands out in graphic and horrifying detail. A 6-year-old child…
Living into lament: A white response to the killing of Tyre Nichols by police
I’m learning it is hard to feel the impact of the violence. It is difficult to make it real, to bring it close enough to sense its cold shadow. It passes by the window, like the neighbor who briefly triggers…
This week is the 80th anniversary of the day my great-grandparents died
The reality is that my great-grandparents didn’t just die, they were murdered. They were two of 6 million Jews murdered by the Nazis and their willing accomplices throughout Europe. And it wasn’t just the two of them, but their children…