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National Association of Evangelicals Supports Immigration Reform, But Elsewhere Discord Reigns

By Donna Schaper

…tepping up the pace of deportations of those same persons. Why? Because of cheap politics and the sneer. And also because people of faith have started fighting among themselves instead of working to resolve the problems. We should be in charge of helping politicians have the political cover they need to do the extravagantly right and realistic thing. Consensus is possible if people are willing to give and take; to be a little less convinced that t…

Build the Muslim Community Center at Ground Zero

By Donna Schaper

…hese are big words — hope, forgiveness and peace. They rarely have the megaphone that the party of “nope” enjoys. Nevertheless, they are words that religious people need to protect with all our hearts and souls. We too need a department of homeland security and its job is to protect our words. Let’s start with hope. When a tragedy happens, it often steals our hope. The 9-11 bombing is a terrible tragedy. It is a tragedy with causes in a larger hum…

Why Taxing the Rich is the Godly Thing

By Peter Laarman

…rse of 10 years. A couple of months back, responding to a New York Times report, I lamented how the economic recovery appears to be faltering because the rich are disinclined to spend—and I deplored how spending by the rich now commands such a disproportionate share of all consumer spending. Now the financial pages are filled with reports on how US corporations are sitting on mountains of cash while refusing to hire new workers or even restore l…

Israel’s Immigration Debate: “Where is the Jewish Spirit?”

By Mati Wagner

…Israel, which faces such formidable demographic challenges is (as a recent report by Israeli think tank the Metzilah Center noted) “the only Western democracy that still lacks an immigration policy.” The old paradigm of Israel as an exclusively repatriation state for Jews is anachronistic. Transparent, coherent criteria for the naturalization of non-Jews—criteria that serve Israel’s unique needs and give advance notice to migrant workers of the co…

Playing Hooky: Will Boycott of Catholic Church Spur Reform?

By Nathan Schneider

…oups are to have any effect beyond their own members, they should be not a replacement but a supplement to participation in the wider community one hopes to reform. Point the way forward, not the way to the door. For those who want to make a difference in the Catholic Church, I have a simple piece of advice: don’t walk out—sit in. The tradition, fortunately, offers lots of things people can do that honor God even while raising a bit of Cain for ma…

Can a Greek Monastery Be Ground Zero of Global Financial Meltdown?

By Louis A. Ruprecht

…nister of Finance was forced to conclude in exasperation “that it would be cheaper and more efficient to put all of Greece’s rail passengers into taxicabs.” The public schools operate with surprising inefficiency, with students scoring the lowest numbers in Europe despite having four times as many teachers as Europe’s highest ranked system, in Finland. There are there separate government owned defense corporations. As for Greek health care, it is…

On Eve of Sudan Split Clashes Continue

By Ashley Makar

…ater, he was handed over to an Israeli employment agency to be a source of cheap labor in Eilat—the bottom tip of the country, where the Negev meets the Red Sea, and where Sudanese and Eritrean refugees do the service jobs that support the tourism industry. William’s people are no strangers to exploitation. He told me that much of Northern Sudan was built by the Southern Sudanese. To illustrate the system of forced labor practiced in the North, Wi…

Romney Goes to Bat Against Reid in Nevada

By Joanna Brooks

…ast two decades, more than 1.4 million people moved to Nevada in search of cheap housing and boom-time fueled hospitality, tourism, and construction jobs, more than doubling the state’s population. Now, those speculation-and-spending fueled good times are gone. That volatility does not treat mild-mannered Mormon politicians well: be they Reids, or Romneys. Just last week, Jan Shipps, a longtime scholar and canny observer of Mormon experience, wage…

Note for Today

By Amina Wadud

…nal enough to share. Choosing a Tour Company I’ve already said this, but I repeat: there has to be a better way to choose. Later I will comment on how the logistics on the ground are managed as a way to suggest how someone coming after me might narrow this choice. I would prefer a lot more interactive communication as the preparations go along. I also hear from friends that they’ve had better communications before departure; so the right company g…

Hajj Journal: Tawaf: How I Fell in Love…

By Amina Wadud

…al center. The heart of our daily prayers. We see it in our mind’s eye, we reproduce it as a design on our prayer rugs. But the real thing. WOW! The way the city has built up around the Ka’abah, which was originally constructed in a valley between surrounding hills, there is no way to get a view by accident. Furthermore, the mosque is now built around it and so you have to make your way through this mammoth elaborate and beautiful structure to get…