My beloved neighborhood in west Charlotte is on the brink of big changes. Neighbors are trying to figure out what those changes will be and how to have a voice in them, and we keep coming back to one term…
The wrong message
Let’s start here: The recent shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, OR was a tragedy of the first order. The loss of precious human lives was entirely unjust and their families along with the wounded and their families will…
A new political imagination for today’s church
By Sam Speers and Kristopher Norris As the 2016 election cycle begins amid much pomp and fanfare, American Christians will once again face the question of how to navigate a fraught, and curious, political arena. In what has already been…
Increasing diversity offers platform for authenticating faith
Diversity is scaring the bejabbers out of America. Watch news programs on television. Listen to call-in stations on radio. And if you’ve got the gumption, read posts on Facebook and pay attention to the stuff that gets forwarded on email….
Professor urges churches to model ‘common life’
By Bob Allen Christianity has a prophetic word to counter the “politics of denunciation” that argues people are more defined by their differences than their common life as a whole community, Duke University ethicist Luke Bretherton said Oct. 8 at…
Congress votes to reauthorize U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom
By Bob Allen Legislation reauthorizing a bipartisan committee that advises the State Department on violations of religious liberty in other countries passed both houses of Congress Oct. 6 and is headed to the president for final approval. The U.S. Commission…
God, guns, freedom, and idolatry in America
After another mass shooting last week, I watched countless conversations about mass killings unfold on social media and in the news cycle. As many Christians defended complete and total legislative inaction in the wake of wonton violence, I was literally…
Who represents Jesus? It may not be who you think!
Who best represents Jesus? Those who profess Jesus as Savior, but side with the elite, the powerful, the rich, the oppressors? Or those who stand up for and stand with the little ones? Who is actually for Jesus and who…
Evangelicals lay hands on Donald Trump
A meeting with pastors and televangelists invited to Trump Tower ended with the group surrounding the candidate and laying hands on him for a closing prayer. Many evangelicals who support Donald Trump for president don’t expect him to hold Bible…