The Common Good

God's Politics Blog

Young, Brown, and Weird

Schools in the U.S. have been resegregating themselves at a fast clip for the past 15 years or so, and the racial demographics of some districts are approaching Old South numbers. Why should we care? I can tell you.



I was born in the Philippines and grew up in New Zealand, where 78 percent of the population is of European descent. The rest is mostly foreign-born, recently immigrated, and, in some cases, extremely socially [...]

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A New Baptist Unity for Social Justice

At last week's New Baptist Unity Conference in Atlanta, an estimated 20,000 Baptists spanning the moderate to progressive spectrum gathered for three days of worship, fellowship, and training. Even though Southern Baptists were conspicuously missing, the conference united members of denominations from the American Baptist Convention, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, National Baptist Convention USA, and the Progressive National Baptist Convention, among others, to collectively represent over [...]

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Super Tuesday Liveblog: Whose Voice Counts?

Looking for parallels to the Dobson versus conservative evangelical rank-and-file phenomenon, I'm struck by the Democratic vote in Massachusetts. Despite endorsements from Sens. Edward Kennedy and John Kerry, Governor Deval Patrick, and The Boston Globe, the state broke for Sen. Hillary Clinton. I find it encouraging that official endorsements don't mean that much to the average voter, and though my sense is that in general Clinton enjoys more support from the Democratic establishment [...]

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Super Tuesday Liveblog: The Bible Belt Speaks

Interesting exit poll results from five southern "Bible-belt" states. Of those who identify as "Born-again or evangelical Christians," Mike Huckabee won their votes. In all but one, John McCain came in second, and Mitt Romney third. Here are the numbers:


GA

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Super Tuesday Liveblog: What Will (or Won't) Dobson Do?

Back in October, Diana Butler Bass asked on this blog, "What Will Dobson Do?" Back then, Guiliani was the frontrunner and Dobson was threatening to bolt the party if he became the nominee. Today, he sent an alert to Focus on the Family Action lamenting:



I am deeply disappointed the Republican Party seems [...]

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Super Tuesday Liveblog: What Will (or Won't) Dobson Do?

Back in October, Diana Butler Bass asked on this blog, "What Will Dobson Do?" Back then, Guiliani was the frontrunner and Dobson was threatening to bolt the party if he became the nominee. Today, he sent an alert to Focus on the Family Action lamenting:



I am deeply disappointed the Republican Party seems [...]

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Super Tuesday Liveblog: What Will (or Won't) Dobson Do?

Back in October, Diana Butler Bass asked on this blog, "What Will Dobson Do?" Back then, Guiliani was the frontrunner and Dobson was threatening to bolt the party if he became the nominee. Today, he sent an alert to Focus on the Family Action lamenting:



I am deeply disappointed the Republican Party seems [...]

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Beyond Super Tuesday

There's something in the air: Super Tuesday. I haven't seen as much interest around a primary election in a long time. Despite the experiences of defeat around issues so important to my low-income community - the fear of recession, the dragged out Iraq war and the billions of dollars diverted for war that we need spent on improving the health and future of our youth - there is an tangible sense of hope and possibilities. As Caroline Kennedy told of her own experience, youth are speaking out [...]

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Crazy Evangelicals

On this Super Tuesday, there will no doubt be a lot of discussion (again) about the role of religion

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American Gangster, Jim Wallis

Snapshots from the road: Portland, Oregon.

Last week we began the national 20-city book tour for The Great Awakening in Portland, Oregon, at a majestic old venue called the Bagdad theater. It's a renovated 1920's era cinema, one part Grand Old Opry and two parts Ali-baba

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