<p>When it comes to Israel/Palestine, the human story often gets lost in the confusion of ideology and politics. Let me just highlight the story of one woman, a wife and mother named Isme. Prior to Octob ...

We continue the roller coaster ride that we hope will end with universal or near universal coverage for health care in the United States. We continue the roller coaster ride that ...

This morning as I was running on the treadmill, I was also watching CNN. A story came on about a shooting in Washington, D.C. The police chief was speaking, with the mayor of D.C looking on. ...

<p><a href="http://www.ryanrodrickbeiler.com/International/Palestine-and-Israel/9000011_7mJL3#598862440_oYtxc"></a>For the next few days in Washington, D.C., 1,200 people are gather ...

In this short clip from a recent sermon, Pastor Efrem encourages European Americans to remember their own immigrant heritage and history in order to inform their current attitudes toward immigratio ...

After all the financial turmoil that 2009 has already brought, one would think that it would somehow be logical and practical to bring accountable reforms to the same banking institutions whose re ...

What is at the core of the immigration issue? What is the driving force of the debate? I say it is fear.</p> What is at the core of the immigration issue? What is the drivin ...

"I'm here to stand up for Jesus," said the anti-health reform protester to a CNN correspondent. "Government is getting too big."</p> "I'm ...

Every now and then someone to our right or left posts an article excoriating Sojourners or Jim Wallis for not being _____ enough, infuriated that we still claim to be _____ even though we're really ...

Just peace theory proceeds from the premise that peace is a day by day effort. It is a process that requires vision, skill, and courage. Just peace theory proceeds from the premi ...

There is a conservative project to <a href="http://blog.sojo.net/2009/10/07/the-gospel-according-to-the-conservative-bible-project/">translate the Bible to reflect a conservative ideology</a ...

Nearly five years ago my friends, Hector and Gabby and their five kids, entered the U.S. legally from Mexico in order to join the pastoral staff at my church, Willow Creek. Nearly ...

So I've been having a few interesting conversations about my book <em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0830836284?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=sojo_blog-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp= ...

What is health care?</p> What is health care? Is it a human right, civil right, privilege or market commodity? Is it a public good, moral obligation, government obligat ...

I remember being instructed as a new Christian many years ago to pray for influential Hollywood people. I remember being instructed as a new Christian many years ago to pray for i ...

Earlier this year, I wrote <a href="http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=magazine.article&amp;issue=soj0902&amp;article=we-re-in-this-together">an article in <em>Sojourners</em ...

<p><a href="http://www.ryanrodrickbeiler.com/Events/U2-Concert-at-FedEx-Field-2009/9812626_6qWPB#666442735_FC6on"></a>Oh no, my eleven-year-old went to his first rock concert this w ...

I was recently talking with a European-American friend of mine who is also an evangelical. I am African-American and evangelical. I was recently talking with a European-American f ...

<p><a href="http://www.ryanrodrickbeiler.com/Domestic/Washington-DC/9784402_5Kps2#663709242_ZioTU"></a>There's one thing these days that it seems you can get everyone to agree ...

With an issue like health, deeply personal, but of great public concern, the faith community has a unique and important role to play -- to define and raise the moral issues beneath the policy debat ...

Sixteen Christian leaders talk faith, policy, justice, and reform. Featuring Jim Wallis, Harry R. Sixteen Christian leaders talk faith, policy, justice, and reform. Featuring Jim ...

There is some good conversation going around God's Politics partner blogs about what role race is playing in the current wave of opposition to Obama's policies, including Rep. ...

<em>The following is a message delivered at the "Stand for Freedom in Iran" rally that took place yesterday at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, across from the United Nations.</em></p> ...

Just peace theory is the middle way between pacifism and just war theory. It recognizes the moral force of nonviolence and the goal of a world that solves its disputes through nonviolent means. ...

To commemorate the International Day of Peace (September 21st), I had the opportunity to attend a screening of the documentary <em><a href="http://www.praythedevilbacktohell.com">Pray the ...

<p><a href="http://www.ryanrodrickbeiler.com/International/Palestine-and-Israel/9000011_7mJL3/1/#599051510_WL6dK"></a>During these days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Jews ar ...

It's always hard to narrow down Pastor Efrem's sermons to a few key minutes, and this one was no exception. Preaching from Matthew 25, he puts some extended focus on the health-care debate. ...

Jesus taught fearlessness.</p> Jesus taught fearlessness. Thus, to follow Jesus means to live a faith that takes us beyond our anxieties, beyond our deepest fears and tr ...

I, perhaps recklessly, began to think that the debate on black hair had finally been put to rest, that black women could choose to wear their hair straightened or natural, in braids, locks, or twis ...

Here we go again. Some people raise the issue of race (this time about the ways others are talking about or treating the first black U.S. president) and the media goes crazy. He ...

I love my fellow citizens who have taken to the street against President Obama and his plans for health-care reform. I love my fellow citizens who have taken to the street against ...

In his <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/10/us/politics/10obama.text.html?ref=politics">speech last evening</a>, President Barack Obama made the commitments that a broad coalition i ...

I was too young to remember President John F. Kennedy. My mother worked on his campaign and hauled her baby (me) along with her to pass out literature. I was too young to remembe ...

I am a Latina sociologist and an activist-in-training who has spent substantial time with scholars and activists studying U.S. Latina/o communities from both professional and personal viewpoints. ...

I believe our nation works best with robust and civic dialogue and civil debate. I believe our nation works best with robust and civic dialogue and civil debate. For mature societ ...

I blame the media for much of this manufactured controversy. I blame the media for much of this manufactured controversy. Just because a conservative fringe now feels entitled to ...

Most folks who've read my blog over some time should know that while I very much respect President Obama, I don't go ga-ga and drool over this man. Most folks who'v ...

<p>Sonia Sotomayor was confirmed more than one month ago, so why, you may ask, am I just now penning a blog about her historic appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court? The answer is easy -- I was scared. I ...

I have never really trusted those who are intolerant and condemning of other people's shortcomings. It makes me suspect they are likely hiding their own. I have never really ...

I'm a registered Republican. I didn't vote for Obama. I believe in free-market enterprise. I like smaller government. There, I said it. It's out!</p> I&# ...

There is a Sotho expression, <em>batho pele</em> -- meaning "putting people first" -- that one wishes could inform politics in Zimbabwe. There is a Sotho exp ...

Jim Wallis On a personal, national, and global level, the physical well-being of all God’s children is close to God’s heart and should be ...

Ed Spivey Jr. This month’s cover story is about sex, and there is nothing I can add to the topic that would not violate the rules of my pa ...

<p>Forty-six years ago, on Aug. 28, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood and gave the <a href="http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm">"I Have a Dream" ...

The first time I met Sen. Edward Kennedy was in the underbelly of the Capitol on the Capitol Subway. The first time I met Sen. Edward Kennedy was in the underbelly of the Capitol ...

The passing of Sen. The passing of Sen. Edward Kennedy has brought forth many reflections on his ability-regardless of his reputation as the archetypal Massachusetts liberal-to en ...

I woke up this morning planning an essay for God's Politics about love and fear. It will be another essay in support of health-care reform. This issue has commandeered my pen.</p> ...

<p>In the aftermath of the 2004 presidential election, the Democrats were roundly accused of losing the "moral values voters" in America, and of being the party of "secularists" who w ...

I remember playing WWII as a boy. We would pick sides of American and Nazis. Of course, everyone wanted be the Americans, the good guys. I remember playing WWII as a boy. We would ...

The Declaration of Independence says:</p> The Declaration of Independence says: We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are e ...