As concerns mount across the world over what to do about the increasing number of people fleeing Afghanistan after the country’s government was toppled by the Taliban, the East African nation of Uganda has offered to accommodate 2,000 refugees. This…
Afghanistan and America: Bloodlust and the failure of prophetic imagination
It is hard to be dispassionate when people have died fighting for a cause. Objectivity seems especially hard when it comes to the outcome after 20 years of United States-led war in Afghanistan. The U.S. invaded Afghanistan after Al Qaeda…
Afghanistan: A tragic example of an unjust war
I was born in the waning years of the Vietnam War. I don’t recall the war itself, but one of my earliest childhood memories dates to about 1970 and, for some reason, it is remarkably vivid. I had tagged along…
On this anniversary of the atomic bomb, how shall Christians think about U.S. foreign policy?
I write this post on Aug. 6, the 76th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima, which destroyed that city and killed 70,000 to 80,000 people. Today, Aug. 9, is the anniversary of the day the U.S. bombed Nagasaki,…
Despite cease-fire in Tigray, concerns persist about how to tackle the humanitarian problem in the region
With the cessation of hostilities in Tigray, Ethiopia, the attention of many observers now shifts to the humanitarian crisis created by the conflict within and outside the East African country. Eight months of fighting and violence in the multi-lingual and…
Pentecost and the (Un)Holy Land
On the evening of July 16, 2017, I boarded an 11-hour flight to Tel Aviv, Israel. It was my first trip to what has been known for years as the Holy Land, as part of a clergy contingent sponsored by…
Among Syrian Christians, severe persecution yet perseverance
Editor’s note: It is exceedingly rare for BNG to run any article without a clearly identified byline for the author. What follows is a rare exception to this policy, in order to publish the current testimony of a Christian pastor…
The end of American exceptionalism
Many efforts have been made to interpret the political events of the last few months — the Capitol riots, the political turmoil on the left and right. And more efforts will be made to interpret the last four years. I’ll…
A failure of discipleship: Iran, Iraq, and American Christianity
There are plentiful reasons to question whether white American Christians, as a group, learned the right lessons following the so-called “War on Terror.” Our default settings have not changed.