Similar to many of my Western counterparts, my first thoughts when I first heard about the attacks in Norway went to extreme Islamic terrorism. Similar to many of my Western count ...

John Stott died this Wednesday. He was 90 years old. John Stott died this Wednesday. He was 90 years old. What many people don't understand is that he was the most influentia ...

In the wake of the tragic bombing in Norway this past weekend, we are left with an unsettling picture of the state of anti-Islamic sentiments in the United States. In the wake of ...

Where has all the sanity gone? I, for one, never expected in my wildest dreams to pine for the days of Ronald Reagan. But I'm there. Where has all the sanity gone? I, for ...

We have come to an impasse in the negotiations to raise the debt ceiling because of several conceptual errors in our public discourse. We have come to an impasse in the negotiatio ...

My office has two overflowing bookshelves, with more books stacked on top and on the windowsill. But above my desk within easy reach is a small shelf. My office has two ove ...

Today is another intense day of politics at the White House. The debt default deadline is fast approaching. Today is another intense day of politics at the White House. The debt d ...

The other day I read some interesting statistics about how social media is shaping our lives . The other day I read some interesting statistics about how social media is shaping ...

The way you think and feel about the world is shaped by what you see when you get out of bed in the morning. I remember hearing this from civil rights activists. The way you think ...

<p><a href="http://blog.sojo.net/2011/07/13/harry-potter-the-deathly-hallows-and-mobilizing-kids-for-social-justice/" target="_self"></a>Seeking justice for the oppressed. ...

My favorite characters in The Lord of the Rings are the Ents -- an ancient race of giant living, talking, breathing trees in J.R.R. Tolkien's fictional land, Middle Earth. My ...

I was not one of the 1,500 who attended the inaugural Wild Goose Festival in Shakori Hills, North Carolina last month, but I did grow up going to Christian summer camp. I was not ...

Smack dab in the middle of the Lord’s Prayer, obscured by old translations and otherworldly assumptions, is a radical cry for Jubilee justice “And forgive us our debts, as we al ...

The email came just a few days before two Jewish rabbis and two Muslim friends joined two of us Christian ministers for a Sunday morning service. This service was part of a national event called Faith Shared. ...

Anna has a heart for equipping churches to make small and big changes for the sake of creation care and stewardship of the earth's resources. How can Christians do this, you ask? Read our conversation to ...

When trying to make sense of the changes that new media have brought to us, we can use either supplementary or substitutionary logic. When trying to make sense of the changes that ...

The Hebrew scriptures recount time and again how God blesses the earth with enough provision and food for its inhabitants. The Hebrew scriptures recount time and again how God ble ...

<p><a href="http://blog.sojo.net/2011/06/09/pentecost-the-coming-of-the-wild-goose" target="_self"></a>This Sunday is Pentecost. For 50 days, a group of 120 followers of J ...

I've been a Christian all of my life. My parents taught me that God loves everyone equally and that all people should be treated with dignity and respect. I've been a Ch ...

Here is part two of my thoughts on the financial situation that the United States faces. Our nation needs a jobs bill. The country needs a second stimulus bill. Here is part two o ...

I was raised in a charismatic megachurch that prided itself in being "non-religious." Our pastor thought of himself as a grace preacher, and in many ways he was. I was r ...

I was on the verge of my tenth year of life. My stepfather rented a big cabin next to Lake Mead and several families joined us for a week of vacation together. I was on the verge ...

This has been a difficult year in Ohio. This has been a difficult year in Ohio. For a state that lives and dies with the Ohio State Buckeye football team, the allegations surround ...

Is it just me, or does anyone else think it's kind of weird how we've named Thomas, "Doubting" Thomas. We don't give the other characters in the New Testament little nicknames ... ...

Today is my one-year anniversary on vitamin L, and it's finally time to talk about. Today is my one-year anniversary on vitamin L, and it's finally time to talk about. ...

Back when President Obama was candidate Obama, one of his favorite mantras on the stump was the need to recapture what Martin Luther King, Jr. Back when President Obama was candid ...

On May 16, 2011, the Claremont School of Theology, located in Claremont, California, announced the receipt of a $50 million naming gift from Joan and David Lincoln that will establish the Claremont ...

Once again last week the pages of the <em>New York Times</em> was graced with an ad published by David Horowitz's <a href="www.horowitzfreedomcenter.org" target="_blank" ...

Years ago, the member communions of the National Council of Churches declared that a budget is a moral document. Years ago, the member communions of the National Council of Church ...

Mothers. Staples. Swings. Here's a little round up of links from around the Web you may have missed this week:</p> Mothers. Staples. Swings. Here's a little round ...

There is no more room or time for excuses. There is no more room or time for excuses. The war in Afghanistan -- now the longest war in American history -- no longer has any justif ...

This morning most Americans are feeling a sense of relief at the news that Osama bin Laden is dead. This morning most Americans are feeling a sense of relief at the news that Osam ...

Do you find yourself reluctant to attend women's retreats, Bible studies, or conferences because too often they focus on fashion, dieting, women's emotions, and new forms of abdominal exercises? ...

Yesterday, the leaders of more than 50 Christian denominations and organizations drew a line in the sand of the budget debate, and asked our political leaders to do the same. Ye ...

Ah, the voice of Ayn Rand from St. Petersburg, Russia rises again with the opening of a new movie based on her novel, <em>Atlas Shrugged</em>. Ah, the voice of Ayn ...

Monks. Al Franken. Oysters. Here's a little roundup of links from around the Web you may have missed this week. Monks. Al Franken. Oysters. Here's a little roundup of li ...

In Christian confession, Good Friday is the day of loss and defeat; Sunday is the day of recovery and victory. In Christian confession, Good Friday is the day of loss and defe ...

As Lent ends and the Holy Triduum begins, my mind turns to resurrection. Perhaps a bit too soon as the Good Friday death of Jesus and his descent into darkness is still impending. ...

This evening I will lead a Passover Seder observance in my Christian community. We've done it for years and always find it inspiring to reflect on God's liberation from slavery. And it's the occ ...

Our ability to love others who have sinned against us flows out of our real experience of Jesus forgiving our own sins. Our ability to love others who have sinned against us flows ...

Today is the annual <a href="http://www.dayofsilence.org/" target="_blank">National Day of Silence</a>, a day where students across America pledge to be silent for a day in orde ...

It was on the shores of North Africa that one of the greatest Christian thinkers tried to work out the relationship between Jesus' teachings about loving even enemies and the impending invasion by ...

I concluded my celebration of Women's History Month (March) with a sober realization that the abuse of females is inseparable from the study of women's history.</p> ...

In the tradition of the church, the season of <a href="http://blog.sojo.net/tag/lent/" target="_blank">Lent</a> was observed through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. ...

The hunger fast for a moral budget has gone spiritually viral. Ten days ago, we announced at the National Press Club that the budget debate had become a moral crisis. The hunger f ...

<p><a href="http://blog.sojo.net/2011/04/05/terry-jones-burning-a-quran-and-evangelicalism/" target="_self"></a>It isn't as if the Middle East needed another complica ...

Forty-three years ago today, Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed in Memphis, Tennessee. Forty-three years ago today, Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed in Memphis, ...

The other day I saw a quote from <em><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/02/health/policy/02medicaid.html?_r=1&amp;scp=1&amp;sq=NICOLE%20R.%20DARDEAU&amp;st=cse" target=" ...

When President Obama addressed the American people and the world on the military operations in Libya, he spoke of a responsibility to act. When President Obama addressed the Ameri ...

When I was in high school as part of my participation in the International Baccalaureate (IB) program, I had to write what was called an "extended essay" -- basically an essay of the (then) extreme ...