After two days at the 2024 National Rifle Association’s annual meeting in Dallas this weekend, I was ready to call the gun advocacy organization a changed institution. At first, the imagery, rhetoric and workshop topics seemed less misogynistic than those…
From the Protestant Reformation to Columbia University, some thoughts on protests
Typically, historians view Oct. 31, 1517, as the beginning of the period known as the Protestant Reformation. Ordained as a Roman Catholic priest a decade earlier, Martin Luther came to a deep conviction of the need for reform in the…
And a biblically illiterate Congressman shall lead them
America’s impasse over the dismal state of affairs in Gaza and Israel might have something to do with biblical illiteracy — even in Congress. Two weeks ago, on April 17, the House Education Committee held a hearing on Columbia University’s response to alleged…
Holy Week cannot be about personal salvation and nothing more
They entered the city on March 24. Many came by foot. Some of them from the mount, not of Olives but the various mountains and hills that surround Nashville, Tenn. They came with modern palm branches — protest signs. The…
Five misconceptions and four truths about Canada’s ‘Freedom Convoy’
As a Canadian, the only thing more disconcerting than watching American politics is watching Americans watching Canadian politics. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s father, Pierre Elliot Trudeau, once said that America and Canada were like an elephant and a beaver sharing…
How to read the Cuban street protests in light of U.S.-Cuba history
Medieval European maps traced the outline of the entirety of past exploration, and just outside the bounds of what was known they inscribed the words, “Here Be Dragons.” Here Be Dragons is an appropriate mythological metaphor for the United States…
I’m standing with the kneelers. Will you join me?
From the beginning, I’ve stood with the kneelers. It’s time for you to join me. The unnecessary furor began in August 2016 when the quarterback for the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers was joined by one teammate to take a knee…
Beware: We can march and pray for good, yet still do harm
During the days between Sept. 11, 2001, and the beginning of the Gulf Wars, my 7-year-old son and I participated in peace demonstrations with friends. Our clever anti-war signs got honks and waves from most folks driving and walking by….
Q&A with Chris Sanders on unions, social justice and policing
Chris Sanders knows theology and law, and he’s an advocate both for labor unions and social justice. That blend of life experience and life passion makes for an interesting conversation these days — with the dueling demands of holding police…