The Common Good

God's Politics

RFK's Legacy: To Seek a Newer World

by Duane Shank 06-06-2008

Forty years ago, Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated while campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination. I was 16 years old, had just become aware of politics, and his death (only two months after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.) was shocking. But rather than leading to disillusionment, both of their lives inspired me these past 40 years in the movement for peace and [...]

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A Transformational Moment

by Jim Wallis 06-05-2008

When the historic legislative milestone of the Voting Rights Act finally passed in 1965, I was still a young teenager. Until then, black people in America didn't have the right to vote. And until the Civil Rights Act passed the previous year in 1964, black Americans had to drink from separate drinking fountains, eat at separate lunch counters, ride at the back of buses, and watch movies only from the balconies of theaters. Then there was all the violence. I remember a civil rights worker [...]

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What Do You Mean by Politics? (Part 2 of 2 by Brian McLaren)

by Administrator 06-05-2008

[continued from part one]

What's at issue in the SBC, and in the larger evangelical community (and, we could add, in the mainline and Roman Catholic communities as well), isn't whether faith is political. Nobody (or almost nobody) is arguing for dropping the second half of the great commandment -- so that "loving God" is about faith and is central, but "loving neighbor" is about politics [...]

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What Do You Mean by Politics? (Part 1 of 2 by Brian McLaren)

by Administrator 06-04-2008

A recent New York Times story, "Taking Their Faith, but Not Their Politics, to the People," highlights the challenge faced by followers of Christ who seek to integrate their faith with all aspects of life, including political life in a democracy. The article suggests to me a question that we should raise more frequently when people [...]

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The Church and Lost Innocence

by Gabriel Salguero 06-04-2008

Child prostitution and human trafficking are a global problem. The Caribbean is no exception. Just last week my wife, Jeanette, and I were asked to speak at Cigua Palmera's fundraiser for their Inocencia project (www.ciguapalmera.org). Inocencia, is the Spanish word for innocence. The Cigua Palmera Foundation, whose mission is " to improve the quality of life in the Dominican Republic and Haiti," is working on a project to create [...]

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Carrying The Torch

by Sr. Patricia Rayburn 06-02-2008

In January, I was nominated to be one of the Torchbearers for the Olympic Torch Relay when it came to San Francisco. The theme for the relay in San Francisco was sustainability and caring for our Mother Earth. Part of the nomination process included writing an essay about how I have been involved in caring [...]

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Response to Zack Exley: Avoiding 'Resident Alienation' in Pursuit of New Humanity

by Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove 05-30-2008

Dear Zack,

First of all, let me say thanks. I'm so grateful for the honest questioning of a convert to Christianity who seems to intuit Jesus' radical politics. Your story is such [...]

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Seven Ways to Change the World

by Jim Wallis 05-29-2008

I'm in the U.K. this week on a speaking and book tour.  It's always good to be here. My wife, Joy Carroll, is a Brit, and we frequently get across the pond.  Both of my children are "bilingual," speaking both the English of the English and the English of the Americans, and we love both countries.

The U.K. edition of The Great Awakening is titled Seven Ways to Change the World, [...]

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