Jesus, as the ultimate peacemaker, shows us that the life and work of peacemaking isn't some fairy tale euphoria, but the gritty, subversive and sacrificial life of faithfulness to a God and kingdom that ...

May 9, 2013 Sojo in the News Jerome Socolovsky ...

Jim Wallis Thanks be to God for the life of Gordon Cosby. GORDON COSBY was perhaps the most Christian human b ...

This Mother's Day, remember Howe’s words: “Disarm! Disarm! The sword [or gun] of murder is not the balance of justice." Ask yourself, "What can I do to sow seeds of peace in an atmosphere of vio ...

The “if someone hits you, hit them back” mentality is destroying black men at an alarming rate. Dads, teach your boys to talk it over, look the other way, or keep walking when things begin to escalate. ...

The Rev. Bob Edgar, a Democratic congressman and United Methodist minister who went on to lead the National Council of Churches through a painful series of restructuring, died suddenly Tuesday at age 69. ...

Besides the temptation of sheer distraction from difficult truths, there is the subtler temptation of 'clicktivism' which lets me feel that I’ve done something without requiring me to think deeply, p ...

The question for me as a teacher is not so much "What could have been?" as it is "What can be?" Brenda is a fourth grader at my elementary school. Her father ...

“I heard someone dropped a bomb on Boston,” said Mattias, my 9-year-old son, over breakfast while I scrolled through the breaking news reports. I woke up this morning, like everyo ...

On April 11, 1963 Pope John XXIII published an encyclical some initially dismissed as naive and myopic, as too liberal and too lofty. But today, his "Pacem in Terris" is generally lauded as genius an ...

Moral injury happens when we transgress our basic moral beliefs and expectations. It can occur when we’ve done our best in impossible circumstances or when we’ve simply failed. Millions of people are living wi ...

Shane Claiborne Can getting to know people on the "other side" help tear down the walls between us? It already has. ...

Ten years ago, in March of 2003, Iraqis braced themselves for the anticipated “Shock and Awe” attacks that the U.S. was planning to launch against them. Ten years ago, in March of ...

Ten years ago, the Iraq War began. Ten years marked by conflict, violence, and loss. Ten years of debate about why we went to war and why we remained. Ten years dealing with death and injury – 4,488 U.S. death ...

Driven by our moral call to protect each member of our society, people of faith have been outspoken about the need to craft meaningful legislation to reduce gun violence. This week, Mayors Against Illegal Gun ...

THIS JUST IN — horrific news from our friends in Kabul. Over the weekend two kids, age 7 and 8, were killed by NATO forces while herding cattle in the Uruzgan Province in Afghanistan. ...

February 27, 2013 Sojo in the News Anthony Bradley ...

While everyone was blowing up the Twittersphere decrying the injustices of the Oscars, as movies like Argo walked away with Best Picture honors, I was sitting in a Philadelphia hotel lobby trying to chew on ev ...

Many young people enlist in the armed forces without understanding what they’re getting into. My county is rural and poor; jobs are scarce. Many students who lack money or grades to make college a viable optio ...

When we so disconnect our warriors from the realities of war, what does that do to their souls and to our collective soul? Do we lose sight of the horrible human cost of war? Do we become arrogant in our perce ...

As President Obama prepares to travel to Israel and Palestine, we can hope and pray that models such as the ones found along the Okavango River in Namibia/Angola will inspire local Syrians and Israelis beside ...

John McCain angrily insisted on “right” and “wrong” answers to his questions of Chuck Hagel yesterday. As a theologian and a religious leader, I want to say that John McCain is “wrong.” ...

Not only have we created a culture of violence, we glorify violence in our movies, television shows, and video games. Even in pro sports, players increasingly settle disagreements on the court or field with ph ...

Last week, while most of Israel was focused on increasingly extreme rhetoric surrounding the upcoming elections and most Americans were listening to angry debates about guns and fiscal responsibility, a remark ...

The Editors Take heart! A new generation of evangelicals for peace is on the rise. It appears a new generatio ...

Danny Duncan Collum Turning from Old Ways IN THE U.S., the Cold War has served to justify a permanent wartime ...

Myla Leguro Nonviolent Peaceforce and other civilian groups are playing a key role in monitoring the new peace accord in the Philippines. ...

Underneath the rhetoric of the gun-control debate this Christmas is a nagging question: are more guns the solution to our gun problem? What does the birth of the baby Jesus 2,00 ...

That kind of peace is what descended on my heart and mind in the wake of my father’s death. I didn’t do anything to get it to arrive. I didn’t pray the right prayer or read the right thing. It just … arrived. ...

Rather than a subversive message about the twisting of the Gospel, “Do You Hear What I Hear” was actually a call for peace during the turbulence of the 1960s. Whoops. I was joki ...

One question I am left with as I think about Bethlehem and the places surrounding it this Christmas is What would Jesus have to say about this conflict? I don’t know about you, bu ...

Thinking like that of Gov. Huckabee suggests that we somehow have the power to remove God from our schools and our society. This kind of God is quite small, weak, and impotent — one that is dictated by the me ...

Even in the most troubled places on earth, there always seems to be a little group of people who refuse to accept the world as it is and insist on building the world they dream of, a little group of people who ...

We call upon the United Nations to negotiate an immediate cease-fire to the war in Afghanistan, and to start talks aimed at ending the war and beginning the long road to healing and recovery. ...

It took me years to realize that there was a character missing from my congregation’s telling of the story. In the church where I grew up, the first Sunday in Advent was dubbed t ...

The connection between God and violence permeates the Bible, with God apparently sanctioning violence against God’s enemies. So we rightly ask, “What about all the violence in the Bible?” ...

Advent, a season during which Christians honor and attempt to approximate the longing for a Messiah more than 2,000 years ago, is often described as a chance to exercise our patience muscles. ...

The time has come to do right for the Palestinians. It is time to unite in support for justice through peaceful means. Palestinians deserve freedom and dignity, and any step that brings this just and moral cau ...

Jim Forest The Catonsville Nine: A Story of Faith and Resistance in the Vietnam Era. Oxford University Press ...

November 25, 2012 Sojo in the News Ellen Teague ...

It’s an idea that feels particularly poignant this Thanksgiving: American Jews and Muslims banding together to help the homeless and other needy people. WASHINGTON — It’s an idea ...

Soldier suicides have reached epidemic numbers. As the AP reports, More soldiers are taking their own lives than are falling in battle. Add on top of that, the many who suffer from PTSD, and who as a result fi ...

I like the image 'landscape of being' as I see my neighbors around me. I like the action 'continually jumping about' and 'moving imaginatively' as I live with my neighbors, apprec ...

"No matter how objective we may think we are or desire to be, we all see the world through a specific telescope/worldview. When we choose to look through the telescope of people who are “different” than u ...

Rose Marie Berger With a warm hen under my arm, I remembered Jesus' plea over another empire-ridden city. ...

Just peace theory begins with the idea that peacemaking, peacekeeping, and peace building is a day-by-blessed-day proposition. Unlike just war theory, it does not begin when violent conflict is imminent. ...

While observing the various sites within the DMZ, I thought about how the pacifist Quakers, who founded my school in 1885, would have reacted to such an experience. Recently, I ha ...

The Editors An opportunity for gang peace in El Salvador If you’re in need of some good news, check out Aaron ...

Anne Marie Roderick Six questions for Leila Sansour Bio: Catholic Palestinian film director and founder of th ...

Weaponized drones are demons: evil spirits of the air, specters in the heavens, shadowy presences. “John said to him, ‘Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, an ...