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Sojourners Magazine: March 2011

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As America's longest war drags on toward the 10-year mark this fall, costing trillions of dollars and thousands of lives, a consensus is growing that the war in Afghanistan is unwinnable by military means. This war won't be ended by the politicians who have been running it -- not without pressure from outside of Washington. And without concerted leadership from people of faith and conscience, peace in Afghanistan may be a long time coming. Watch an audio slideshow of life in Afghanistan from Heather Wilson. Read our extended interview with Enuma Okoro on the importance of liturgy.Listen in on a reading and interview with poet Joseph Ross. +Click here to visit Sojourners' Afghanistan campaign page and join us in the effort to bring the war and occupation in Afghanistan to an end.

Cover Story

When the Taliban ruled, they prevented girls from going to school. Who's stopping them now?
Why it's time to end the war in Afghanistan, and how to do it.
Counting the costs of Obama's 'good war.' A report from Afghanistan.

Feature

An American soldier ran from God to Iraq...but it wasn't far enough.
The affordable health-care act is already saving lives.
The median wealth of African-American women is 400 times less than their white counterparts. Policy expert Maya Rockeymoore tells us why that is, and what can be done.

Commentary

We can't avoid the tough questions on how to change the culture in which we all participate.
A technique for natural gas drilling threatens drinking water and the environment.
Finally, reparations for past federal mistreatment of American Indians and African-American farmers move forward.

Columns

We need to clear the polluted political air before we'll have a real chance to clear the actual atmosphere.
Society's challenges won't be resolved just by being civil in our public discourse.
It's official: WikiLeaks says she's the cutest.
It's time to end the war in Afghanistan.

Culture Watch

For nearly six decades, Mavis Staples has been bringing the gospel truth to song.
American alienation is the real killer that stalks our past, and our present.
A review of Why Love Will Always Be A Poor Investment: Marriage and Consumer Culture, by Kurt Armsrong; foreward by Aiden Enns. Wipf & Stock.
For nearly six decades, Mavis Staples has been bringing the gospel truth to song.
Author Enuma Okoro talks about life and liturgy.
All the Way to Heaven: The Selected Letters of Dorothy Day, edited by Robert Ellsberg.
Reviews of The Living Wisdom of Howard Thurman, Standing in the Shoes My Mother Made, Somebody's Daughter, and This Sacred Moment.
Reviews of 2010 films, and looking ahead to 2011.

Departments

Let me give a word of support to Brian McLaren's God of love.
Brian McLaren's article "Is God Violent?" was a huge disappointment.
This time they are the ones cauth, though they try to close their eyes.
Thank you for focusing on natural childbirth ("Reclaiming Childbirth," by Shafia M. Monroe, December 2010).
Reflect;ion on the Revisd Common Lectionary, Cycle A: Transfiguration, False Desire to LIfe, Can We Start Again, and High-Water Mark.
Brian McLaren does a good job in "Is God Violent?" (January 2011), arguing for the urgent importance of all of us in the Abrahamic faith tradition to tackle our troubling sacred texts abo

Web Extra

Hear Joseph Ross read his poem, Luke 5:1 Disciples.
Enuma Okoro grew up in four countries, including Nigeria and the Ivory Coast, and describes her religious education as "doses of Roman Catholicism washed down with long gulps of multiflav
In this audio slideshow, photographer Heather Wilson talks about the beauty of the people, culture, and land of Afghanistan that she experienced while living there.