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50 Years After ‘Dream’ It’s Time For Black Churches To Lead on LGBT

By Jennifer Leath

Here’s an idea for black churches: be justice churches. That’s right: black churches can and should unequivocally take up contemporary mantles of justice—and lead the way. Allow a new dream to emerge: black churches—lay and clergy—take a decisive lead in advocacy for “the least” (and “struggling”) of humanity and its home—whoever we may be, wherever we may be found, whatever our race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, region, or ability—…

Rick Perry’s Kingmaker, and David Brooks Wakes Up

By Sarah Posner

…t any wonder that I took a deep breath as I opened my laptop for the first time in 10 days this morning and thought, will everything seem both tiny and blown out of proportion at the same time? Indeed. But back to work it is for me, with all the tiny and giant inanities that are our political culture. And look who’s rising (Texas Governor Rick Perry, with several profiles presaging his presidential run, but not his Christian right bona fides) and…

The Pope Is Not the Church

By Nathan Schneider

…—that is, take at least a temporary break from their troubled Church. From time to time, one hears a call along these lines for frustrated Catholics to boycott the Church outright in protest, as if that will make the men in charge finally clean house. But I’ve seen far too many smart and conscientious people give up on the Church—for good reasons, I’m afraid—to want any more of them to leave, even for one Sunday. What the Church needs is more comm…

If Pelosi Is Guilty, So’s Jesus

By Jill Marshall

…e of the quotation. It seems that Pelosi has registered the critique, this time introducing the quotation by saying: “I can’t find it in the Bible, but I quote it all the time. I keep reading and reading the Bible—I know it’s there someplace.” But the people who know these things insist that it’s not there someplace. The good news for Pelosi is that she’s in good company when it comes to misquoting the Bible. None other than Jesus Christ misquoted…

Capricology: Big Ideas, Lack of Humanity

By Diane Winston

…vatar and protecting STO students from harm, and Lacy spending most of her time trying unsuccessfully to get Zoebot to another world. BSG, I remember, was captivating because it would reshuffle the deck every few episodes, and our sympathies and loyalties challenged every few weeks. Like Henry, I admire Caprica, but do not love it. And I think Diane is right on the mark when she says that some connection with humanity is missing. Ideas are there,…

The Return of Christian Terrorism

By Mark Juergensmeyer

…Michael Bray, a Lutheran pastor in Bowie, Maryland, who had served prison time for his conviction of fire-bombing abortion-related clinics on the Eastern seaboard. Bray published a newsletter and then a Web site for his Christian anti-abortion movement, and published a book theologically justifying violence against abortion service providers, A Time to Kill. He is also alleged to be the author of the Army of God manual that provides details on ho…

A Comedy Writer Confronts ‘Mind-Shredding Evil’ in Uganda

By Frederick Clarkson

…I’d have a go at putting it to good use for once. And believe me it’s ten times slower writing comedy about this subject matter. I get up every morning cursing myself, ‘if only you’d written Ghostbusters remakes for clapped-out comedians, you wouldn’t be getting out of bed at 6 a.m, to write yet more child soldier material… you’d be in a mansion… imbecile…’ The American and British public are staggeringly generous donors, genuinely caring for the…

Don’t Overlook Endless War in Rise of ISIS

By Haroon Moghul

…the wars that destroyed it. Apparently some people seem to think the fifth time will be the charm. Neverending war Among the underreported causes of ISIS is the experience (or a person’s identification with, or feeling of responsibility towards, the experience) of profoundly asymmetric warfare. But Iraq has been at war now for thirty-five years; the last time Iraq was not at war, Jimmy Carter was President, and even then, it was suffering a dictat…

Tree of Life, Book of Job

By Jay Michaelson

…n between the sweep of cosmic history (the film stretches from the dawn of time until the eschaton, although most of it centers on the family narrative) and the infinitesimal yet infinitely significant drama of human affairs. This is familiar territory, particularly for Americans, fed as we are on a dueling diet of Protestantism and humanism. One is reminded of Wilder’s Our Town, in which the goings-on of Grover’s Corners are situated within the t…

Does the Historical Jesus Matter?

By Peter Laarman

…entance don’t need to be disempowering; quite the opposite. If you wish, you can say that I’m just excessively enchanted by Dom Crossan’s ready wit and his lovely Irish brogue. But for the first time in a long time I am once again feeling some confidence in the theological enterprise. Maybe good theology does matter in a hurting world. Who woulda thunk it?…