Russell Moore wrote an article May 13 about the Obama administration’s move to protect trans students in public schools across the country. While I disagree with Moore on many topics, I respect him as a compassionate leader and I’ve appreciated the ways he’s challenged the Southern Baptist Convention to seek justice for many who have been marginalized. This article was uncharacteristically culture war-y and fear-based, though. It contributes to the narratives that lead to the kind of bullying and discrimination that the Obama administration is seeking to end.Russell Moore wrote an article May 13 about the Obama administration’s move to protect trans students in public schools across the country. While I disagree with Moore on many topics, I respect him as a compassionate leader and I’ve appreciated the ways he’s challenged the Southern Baptist Convention to seek justice for many who have been marginalized. This article was uncharacteristically culture war-y and fear-based, though. It contributes to the narratives that lead to the kind of bullying and discrimination that the Obama administration is seeking to end.
Hers is a hidden and uncertain story, but it is said that the martyr St. Crescentia of Lucania was part of “the help” in a Roman senator’s household. She is one of a trio of holy martyrs that also includes St. Vitus and St. Modestus, all originally from Sicily. She might not even have been real, if we’re to trust modern, historical standards.
Lisa’s work provides a thorough biblical analysis, from Genesis to Revelation. It takes all 66 books of both testaments to fully grasp the texture and depth of the biblical theme of shalom, this pervasive idea so vast in its meaning which defies simplistic theological definition. Shalom requires, indeed demands, this kind of careful reading in order to grasp what Walter Brueggemann calls an emphasis on a “’thick’ reading of the gospel,” in contrast to the “’thin’ theology” so often put forward by both “convenient fundamentalism” as well as the “progressive church.”
Confessing our own violence would not deny violence committed against us. Rather, an apology could call attention to war atrocities of the past and present on all sides. Admitting that the deadliest bombings in history had selfish strategic motivations, admitting that life was so thoroughly devalued and destroyed for no greater good (as if a greater good could exist) could force people on all sides to rethink the “necessities” of other wars past and present. Debunking one war lie could lead to the debunking of many war lies. And governments built on violence, powers upheld and strengthened by the looming threat of death, seek to extinguish the light of truth.
The gospels provide short, thumbnail descriptions of what Jesus is passionate about: Feeding the hungry, healing the broken, sheltering the homeless, visiting the imprisoned, sharing everything with those in need. Trying to love everyone unconditionally. Being compassionate and accepting. The gospels go on and on about this.
Peeing? Not a word.
1. Why White People Don’t Use White Emoji
Light-skin-tone symbols are used far less often in the U.S. than their darker counterparts. Does shame explain the disparity?
2. The Aspiring Novelist Who Became Obama’s Foreign Policy Guru
“People construct their own sense of source and credibility now. They elect who they’re going to believe.” The untold story of the wannabe-fiction writer who became President Obama’s mouthpiece to the world.
This new guidance from the Obama administration seeks to limit discrimination, harassment, and violence transgender students face, and restricts anything the school might do to question a transgender student's identity.
“I think it’s unfortunate that a lot of Asian Americans don’t know who Vincent Chin is,” one of the respondents says. Make that even more Americans, of every heritage.
When Pope Francis became the first pontiff in history to address Congress last fall, two of the most powerful Catholics in Washington sat behind him.
Delegates to the United Methodist Church General Conference shot down a strategy that would have allowed them to discuss contentious legislation in small groups.