Let’s be clear about language before we are clear about lives. The word “agent” will not be used here to describe armed, militia-style bullies with low emotional intelligence who terrorize communities, abduct children in Walmart parking lots, ambush day laborers…
Violence is not the greatest force in the ‘real world.’ People of faith know this.
Archbishop Óscar Romero once said, “Let us not grow tired of preaching love, for this is the force that will overcome the world.”
A field guide to ‘accelerationism’: White supremacist groups using violence to spur race war and create social chaos
In my research on right-wing extremism over 30 years, a disturbing pattern has emerged: White supremacists and white nationalists are increasingly willing to use violence targeting critical infrastructure in an effort to destabilize society.
Starving the mindset that feeds terrorism
Across Nigeria’s highways and farm paths, in markets and dormitories, and even in churches and mosques, faith has become a weapon. The line between devotion and destruction has grown perilously thin. Religious violence here is not new; what is new is…
A conversation with Michael Woolf about ICE and Chicago
On Halloween, ICE agents carried out a number of raids in and around Chicagoland — including in Evanston, home of Lake Street Church, an Alliance of Baptist congregation. In response, Lake Street’s senior pastor, Michael Woolf, joined protests at the…
Understanding the complex violence in Nigeria and Trump’s threat
The tragic national security situation in Nigeria has been thrust into the international spotlight anew with a threat from U.S. President Donald Trump. On Oct. 31, Trump designated Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern” for “systematic violations of religious…
40 years later, Parental Advisory warning label still impacts music industry
The “Washington wives” were four women who said a flood of obscene and violent rock music was a “family values” issue America must address. At a Senate hearing 40 years ago, they argued for a record labeling system that would…
When Violence Is the Vibe
For some of us, this brings a sense of foreboding that goes beyond the deaths of these human beings made in the image of God. It portends a country seemingly on the brink of something unspeakably dark.
Donald Trump is the epitome of violent speech
After the murder of Charlie Kirk, President Donald Trump said rhetoric from “the radical left” is “directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today.” Trump wasted no time fanning the flames of violence: “My administration will…
Churches must resist polarization as a path to reducing violence
Churches are an essential part of responding to violence in America, beginning with emphasizing Jesus’ commandment to love our enemies. Preachers must stop calling down hellfire on those who disagree with them, and instead acknowledge that everyone is our brother…
Even before Kirk murder, conservatives were blaming the Left
Even before Charlie Kirk’s murder in Utah, which has led conservatives to declare war on “the left” as the source of all the nation’s problems, evangelical leaders were blaming transgender people as the source of evil. A Sunday funeral remembered…
Trump administration won’t consider violence against women in immigration
The Justice Department has determined women no longer may cite gender-based violence as grounds for seeking asylum in the U.S. The agency’s Board of Immigration Appeals ruled July 18 “that a particular social group defined by the alien’s sex or…