Fifty years ago this month, the small city of Selma, Alabama, was much in the news. And now Selma is in the news again, partly because it is the 50 th anniversary of what happened in 1965 but also because…
We still can’t handle the truth: ‘American Sniper’ and the religion of empire
Chris Kyle is widely regarded as a war hero in Stephenville, the Texas town where Eddie Ray Routh was recently convicted of murdering the most celebrated veteran of the Iraq war. Several jurors had recently seen American Sniper, a Clint…
Christians for socialism
“Socialism” is a word with a very negative connotation for most Americans. And yet perhaps socialism, especially democratic socialism, deserves to be much more highly evaluated by the public at large and by Christians in particular. Last month I read…
What Ash Wednesday taught me about drones
Ashes Unveil What’s Inside of Me From ashes I come, and to ashes I will return. Last week, like many, I participated in an Ash Wednesday service. A time to stop. A time to recognize like all those who have…
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…
Rights and freedoms: Decisions for discriminating minds
“Extending protections” is not about understanding the transgender person. I cannot claim that understanding – just as I do not understand being a woman, or being poor, or being black. That lack of understanding, though, does not lead me to…
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…
An open letter to Tennessee
EDITOR’S NOTE: In an effort to report on the prophetic witness of Christians in America today, RLC has run several posts in the past year on the Moral Movement, which began in North Carolina and has now spread to 14…
Religious freedom doesn’t require risking public health
By General Counsel K. Hollyn Hollman The recent measles outbreak and ensuing conversation about immunizations is not primarily a story about religion or religious exemptions. We are learning, again, that measles is a serious, and sometimes fatal, but preventable disease….