The Common Good

Results for Human Rights

In Case You Missed It: #OccupyWallStreet's Official Statement
Originally Posted: 10/06/2011 - 4:55am | Type: Blog

On Sept. 30, the NYC General Assembly of #OccupyWallStreet -- organizers of the ongoing demonstrations in New York City's financial district against economic injustice that has spread to other cities acro ...

Lord, Have Mercy: Suicide Bomber Kills 75 in Somalia
Originally Posted: 10/05/2011 - 8:02am | Type: Blog

A truck bomb has killed at least 70 people in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, including a crowd of young students applying for scholarships to study abroad. This just in from A ...

U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Arguments in Pivotal Church-State Case This Week
Originally Posted: 10/05/2011 - 8:24am | Type: Blog

The U.S. Supreme Court is set to begin hearing oral arguments this week in one of the most important church-state cases in decades. The U.S. Supreme Court is set to begi ...

The F Word
Originally Posted: 10/05/2011 - 8:32am | Type: Blog

What's more obscene? Thirty-thousand children dead in Somalia in three months? Or the world standing by and letting it happen? What's more obscene? Thirty-thousa ...

UPDATE: Christian Pastor Faces Execution in Iran
Originally Posted: 10/05/2011 - 6:24am | Type: Blog

UPDATES: Earlier today (Friday, Sept. 30), the Iranian Embassy in the U.K. issued the following statement regarding Pastor Nadarkhani: UPDATES: Earlier ...

Kal Penn: Enough with the Cynicism and Disappointment, Time to Re-engage!
Originally Posted: 10/05/2011 - 6:24am | Type: Blog

Before I met President Obama, I was always cynically independent when it came to politics. Like a lot of other young people with different views on different issues, I never considered myself to be either a D ...

Today's News Round-up
Originally Posted: 10/05/2011 - 6:24am | Type: Blog

Aide: Obama faces 'titanic struggle' in 2012 Aide: Obama faces 'titanic struggle' in 2012 President Obama and aides are bracing for a tough re-el ...

True Story.
Originally Posted: 10/05/2011 - 6:24am | Type: Blog

There are definitely some There are definitely some areas where boilerplate Republicans/conservatives completely miss the mark on President Obama. He has no ...

Generation XYZ: This Is Not Your Grandfather's Morality
Originally Posted: 10/05/2011 - 6:24am | Type: Blog

If older generations paint morality in black and white, young people's palettes are disappointingly grey. If older generations paint morality in black and white, young ...

Today's News Round-up
Originally Posted: 10/05/2011 - 6:24am | Type: Blog

Dead Sea Scrolls go digital Dead Sea Scrolls go digital The Dead Sea scrolls, 2,000 parchment and papyrus copies of 974 biblical texts, have been pixilated f ...

Female Slavery in Our Own Back Yards
Originally Posted: 12/06/2011 - 4:31pm | Type: Blog

Human trafficking is the manipulation of people, mostly poor women and children, through abuse, torture, rape, and violence, to be used as profit for others. In other words, it's slavery. It is here in th ...

The Polemics of Forgiveness
Originally Posted: 10/05/2011 - 6:24am | Type: Blog

The Gate of Forgiveness, Jerusalem. Photo by Deror Avi. The Gate of Forgiveness, Jerusalem. Photo by Deror Avi. In the wake of Troy Davis' exe ...

The Hard Cases
Originally Posted: 10/05/2011 - 6:24am | Type: Blog

The same evening as Troy Davis was killed by the state of Georgia, Lawrence Brewer was killed by the state of Texas. The same evening as Troy Davis was killed by the state o ...

R.E.M. Taught Me How to Lose Religion and Live a Life of Faith
Originally Posted: 10/05/2011 - 6:24am | Type: Blog

After 31 years, the band R.E.M. has called it a day. ... After 31 years, the band R.E.M. has called it a day. ... One of my earliest experiences with m ...

How many slaves work for you?
Originally Posted: 09/24/2011 - 8:55pm | Type: Blog

Earlier this week, I received an email that stood out from the torrent of mail that flows into my in-box each day. Earlier this week, I received an email that stood out from the t ...

Voices from the Web (and World): Responses to the Troy Davis Execution
Originally Posted: 09/24/2011 - 5:14pm | Type: Blog

"Continuing a cycle of violence through state-sanctioned actions does not bring justice but only creates a culture of death and retribution. " Continuing a cycle of vi ...

The Mercy Seat
Originally Posted: 09/24/2011 - 5:14pm | Type: Blog

It ALL began when they come took me from my home And put me on Death Row, a crime for which I am totally innocent, you know. I began to warm and chill To objects and their fields, ...

For Troy Davis
Originally Posted: 09/24/2011 - 5:14pm | Type: Blog

Troy Anthony Davis died at 11:08 p.m. EST, Sept. 21,2011. Troy Anthony Davis died at 11:08 p.m. EST, Sept. 21,2011. UPDATE : I originally posted this shortly after 7 ...

BREAKING NEWS: Report Says Abuse is Part of "Institutional Culture" of U.S. Border Patrol
Originally Posted: 09/24/2011 - 5:14pm | Type: Blog

Beatings. Dehydration. Medical treatment denied. Families separated. Meager belongings and money stolen. Beatings. Dehydration. Medical treatment denied. Families separated. Meage ...

Afternoon Philosofail
Originally Posted: 09/24/2011 - 5:14pm | Type: Blog

A philosophy professor of mine from college, who is also a Facebook friend, just posted a link to the following item, without comment (although I could hear what he was undoubtedly thinking from 900 m ...

Stassen and Gushee: An Open Letter to Christian Zionists
Originally Posted: 09/24/2011 - 5:14pm | Type: Blog

NOTE TO READERS: As Palestine applies for membership to the United Nations, frequent Sojourners contributors Glen Stassen and David Gushee have penned An Open Letter to Christian Zionists. ...

On the Immorality of Fracking
Originally Posted: 09/24/2011 - 5:14pm | Type: Blog

Illness among people and livestock. Tainted drinking water. Explosions and fires. Illness among people and livestock. Tainted drinking water. Explosions and fires. ...

BREAKING NEWS: Georgia Parole Board Denies Davis' Plea for Clemency
Originally Posted: 09/24/2011 - 5:14pm | Type: Blog

The Associated Press is reporting that the Georgia state parole and pardons board has denied death row inmate Troy Davis' last-ditch plea for clemency. Davis' execution is scheduled for tomorrow. ...

Rick Perry, Superman and Immigration
Originally Posted: 09/24/2011 - 5:14pm | Type: Blog

Rick Perry was recently asked by a nine-year-old "If you were a super hero, what kind of super hero would you be?" His answer to the child's benign question was simultaneously predictable and ...

Please Allow Me to Introduce Myself...
Originally Posted: 09/24/2011 - 5:14pm | Type: Blog

They call me ..."God Girl."* And I'll be your new tour guide here at God's Politics. Some of you may know me by my more official byline, Cathleen Falsani. I've been a contributing edi ...

We Are Family! (Get Up Everybody and Sing!)
Originally Posted: 09/24/2011 - 5:14pm | Type: Blog

I think I was about nine or ten years old when I first heard the passage read. Or first really listened to it, anyway. I sat in church, likely running the crease of the bulletin under my fingernails, trying ...

Troy Davis: Will Georgia Execute an Innocent Man Next Week?
Originally Posted: 09/24/2011 - 5:14pm | Type: Blog

"Perhaps the bleakest fact of all is that the death penalty is imposed not only in a freakish and discriminatory manner, but also in some cases upon defendants who are actually innocent." ...

Swords into plowshares, Guns into "Peace Angels"
Originally Posted: 09/24/2011 - 5:14pm | Type: Blog

Last Mother's Day, the Violence Prevention Coalition of Los Angeles ran a gun buy-back event where people could exchange firearms for grocery coupons -- no questions asked. The VPC collected more than 2, ...

Jesus: We Interrupt This Execution to Bring You a Message of Grace
Originally Posted: 11/08/2011 - 10:02pm | Type: Blog

Last night, death was interrupted when the U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay of execution for a Texas man convicted of a double murder in Houston in 1995. Last night, dea ...

Poverty: By The Numbers
Originally Posted: 09/24/2011 - 5:14pm | Type: Blog

The Census Bureau on Tuesday released the latest data on poverty in the United States, and the news was troubling. The Census Bureau on Tuesday released the latest data on poverty ...

Obama's Remembrance: 9/11/11
Originally Posted: 09/24/2011 - 5:14pm | Type: Blog

President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama spent Sunday, the 10th anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, by visiting each of the attack sites in New York City, Washington, ...

I Am the 9/11 Generation
Originally Posted: 09/24/2011 - 5:14pm | Type: Blog

(This morning's view of Ground Zero from Sojourners and the World Evangelical Alliance's press conference.) (This morning's view of Ground Zero from S ...

10 Years After 9/11: The Good and the Bad
Originally Posted: 09/24/2011 - 5:14pm | Type: Blog

On the morning of September 11, 2001, I was at home in Washington, D.C. getting ready to go to Sojourners' office. On the morning of September 11, 2001, I was at home in Was ...

For LGBT Youth, a Shelter From the Streets of Rejection
Originally Posted: 09/24/2011 - 5:14pm | Type: Blog

[Editors' note: This post is part of a series over the last few weeks on youth homelessness. [ Editors' note : This post is part of a series over the last few week ...

Who is the Messiah of Evangelical Politicians?
Originally Posted: 09/24/2011 - 5:14pm | Type: Blog

The evangelical world expands to a far-off horizon and the topographical valleys and peaks cover landscapes that are both long and wide. The evangelical world expands to a far-o ...

595 Arrested at the White House
Originally Posted: 09/24/2011 - 5:14pm | Type: Blog

I'm home. I'm tired. And I feel great! I'm home. I'm tired. And I feel great! Yesterday, 145 religious leaders, artists, and students were arrested in front o ...

Tavis Smiley and Cornel West's 'Poverty Tour'
Originally Posted: 09/24/2011 - 5:14pm | Type: Blog

Broadcaster Tavis Smiley and Princeton professor Cornel West just wrapped up their 18-city "Poverty Tour." The aim of their trip, which traversed through Wisconsin, Detroit, Washington, D.C., and th ...

Picture This
Originally Posted: 09/24/2011 - 5:14pm | Type: Blog

Picture this: Hundreds of thousands of women, men, and children plod across barren cracked earth. Picture this: Hundreds of thousands of women, men, and children plod across bar ...

Ali Forney Center's Ad Supporting LGBT Homeless Youth
Originally Posted: 09/24/2011 - 5:14pm | Type: Blog

The first few nights weren't so bad. It was on the fourth night, the night it rained, that it got to me. The first few nights weren't so bad. It was on the fourth night ...

Why is America Cutting Emergency Food Aid in the Middle of a Famine?
Originally Posted: 09/24/2011 - 5:14pm | Type: Blog

When I first visited Ethiopia at the height of the 1984 famine, I watched as twenty-four people died of starvation in less than fifteen minutes, right in front of my eyes. When ...

Why Exclude Women from Ministry?
Originally Posted: 09/24/2011 - 5:14pm | Type: Blog

Lean and lanky, the 30-something teacher probed the congregation with a practiced eye as he wound down his presentation. Lean and lanky, the 30-something teacher probed the congre ...

Inspired by Rosa Parks, Israeli and Palestinian Women Take a Swim
Originally Posted: 09/24/2011 - 5:14pm | Type: Blog

An account in The New York Times by Ethan Bronner reports that Israeli women and West Bank Palestinian women and girls have once again broken Israeli laws. http://creativecommon ...

Alabama Clergy Sue to Stop Anti-Immigrant Law
Originally Posted: 09/24/2011 - 5:14pm | Type: Blog

When the Alabama legislature passed their infamous, anti-immigrant law (HB 56), the religious community in the state immediately cried foul. When the Alabama legislature passed th ...

The Moral Default
Originally Posted: 09/24/2011 - 5:14pm | Type: Blog

The debate we have just witnessed has shown Washington, D.C. to be not just broken, but corrupt. The debate we have just witnessed has shown Washington, D.C. to be not just broken ...

Les Mis
Originally Posted: 01/11/2012 - 8:44am | Type: Blog

I prefer my revolutions to be simple: A corrupt dictator/tyrant, an oppressed population, inspired reformers who risk their lives, calls for democracy, waves of marchers in the streets, background mus ...

Neocolonialism and Cowboys & Aliens
Originally Posted: 09/24/2011 - 5:14pm | Type: Blog

Americans have a hard time knowing how to respond to the sins of our colonial past. Americans have a hard time knowing how to respond to the sins of our colonial past. Excep ...

Migrant Workers and The Grapes of Wrath Revisited
Originally Posted: 09/24/2011 - 5:14pm | Type: Blog

When John Steinbeck's classic novel The Grapes of Wrath was published in 1939, it caused a sensation. It won the Pulitzer Prize and was the best-selling novel of the year. Wh ...

Where Has All the Sanity Gone?
Originally Posted: 09/24/2011 - 5:14pm | Type: Blog

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 ...

From Selma to Syria: The Power of Song in Nonviolent Resistance
Originally Posted: 09/24/2011 - 5:14pm | Type: Blog

How should music rank among the ever-growing list of time-tested nonviolent methods such as boycotts, marches, strikes, sit-ins, and vigils? http://www.flickr.com/commons/usage/ ...

Afghan Exchange Students Flee to Canada
Originally Posted: 09/24/2011 - 5:14pm | Type: Blog

[Editors' note: As part of Sojourners' campaign to end the war in Afghanistan, we will run a weekly blog about issues in Afghanistan to educate our readers about the latest news and developments rel ...