To say that Flint, Mich., has a complicated relationship with water is perhaps an understatement. That’s why a production there of the classic rock musical Godspell is drawing a different kind of national attention. The entire production takes place in…
I was thirsty and you made me work in the heat without water
This morning, I took my dogs for a walk because it was the coolest time of the day when their paws wouldn’t be scorched on pavement in our multiple days of temperatures that feel like it’s 100+ degrees. Living in…
New methods and legislation increase options — and questions — with our last remains
You may not be able to choose when or how you die, but you have many choices when it comes to taking care of your bodily remains, as new technologies and laws multiply the options and the ethical questions involved….
Amid Sudan war and elsewhere, water scarcity threatens lives
Within just a few days of the recent outbreak of war in Sudan an essential resource, water, became a scarce commodity. The scarcity continues to this day in parts of the North African country, making life a living hell for…
Moral Mondays are taking up residence in Jackson to fight water crisis
Bishop William J. Barber brought his Poor People’s Campaign and Moral Mondays to Jackson, Miss., Sept. 26 to protest a notoriously neglected and broken water system that has generated hundreds of boil advisories in the last two years alone and…
If you think the Jackson water crisis is just about Mississippi, you’re all dried up
Mississippi is “the Magnolia State” where Emmett Louis Till, a 14-year-old African American boy, was abducted, tortured and lynched in August 1955. Mississippi is where Medgar Evers was murdered June 12, 1963. Mississippi is where three civil rights activists — James Chaney, Andrew…
In Jackson, Miss., the lack of water flows into conversation about God, politics and public trust
Last Sunday, Aug. 28, I was privileged to be in attendance at Northminster Baptist Church in Jackson, Miss., as Pastor Chuck Poole gave his last sermon after 25 years of ministry and his final splash in the baptismal pool. The…
In water-scarce Zimbabwe, free Muslim water wells are the ‘kiss of life’
Decades of water corruption, mismanagement and climate change mean Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, is one of Africa’s thirstiest cities. In some neighborhoods, Muslim families, building on the altruism of their faith, are erecting free, clean public water wells on…
In Hawaii, faith groups sound an alarm about endangered water supply
The U.S. Navy in Hawaii faces stiff opposition from faith communities, environmentalists and state and federal legislators seeking the closure of subterranean fuel tanks that contaminated the water supply of nearly 100,000 military and civilian residents on Oahu late last…