As the pandemic subsides, I cannot help thinking about the tragedy and loss of lives. It is painful to think that during the pandemic, about 18.2 million people died worldwide, including about 1.13 million Americans. These are startling numbers, and…
Why is there a boom in enrollment at private Christian schools? Here’s one critical theory: Race
The New York Times headline, “Christian Schools Boom in a Revolt Against Curriculum and Pandemic Rules,” begs the question “Why?” “Why are Christian schools growing? Before addressing this thematic question, there is a definitional concern that needs attention. The secular…
Reflections on March 16
As I struggled with understanding the terrible events happening within the Asian American and Pacific Islander community over the last year, I found myself writing down my thoughts, an outlet I frequent a lot. The more I wrote down my…
Blessed are the poor in spirit. Really? Have you not been watching the news?
I preached on the poor in spirit, because when I listened carefully it sounded like God saying we have to do better – as the church, as communities and as a nation.
Sitting in someone else’s chair
We do not want to sit where others sit, because we like believing that our perspective is the best perspective. This is how we divide the world into us and them.
Lessons in discrimination: You’ve got to be carefully taught
My first lesson in prejudice and discrimination occurred at the impressionable age of 5. I grew up in North Carolina as the daughter of tobacco farmers and devoted church-going parents in a community consisting of other family farmers, tenant farmers…
The war at home: Four ways good faith can help defeat ISIS
What is frightening about the recent mass killings in San Bernardino, Calif., is how easily seemingly ordinary individuals can wreak havoc on the lives of so many innocent people. Our vulnerability to mass murder has been revealed many times in…
On reading Malcolm X’s autobiography
Marking the 50th anniversary of its publication Malcolm X’s Autobiography was the first book that scared me. Here I was, in the transition from adolescence to young adulthood, secretly abandoning my pietist-revivalist rearing in favor of the more verdant fields…
Truly knowing people simultaneously clears and blurs your vision
This subject, about which I have thought for many years, was stimulated by a recent Pew Research Center study referenced in an article entitled Americans Are More Likely to Like Muslims if They Know One. The research report from Pew…