Not long after the 2004 presidential election, I was dining with some friends in Brooklyn when the conversation turned to religion and politics - the two things you're never supposed to discuss in pol ...

Don't believe most of what you'll hear about Kevin Smith's new movie, Red State. Don't believe most of what you'll hear about Kevin Smith's new m ...

More than 15 percent of the U.S. population now lives in poverty -- the highest rate in 18 years, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report released this morning. More than 15 perc ...

I'm sure it will end on September 12 when the news media go back to reporting the most urgent question of our time -- which GOP candidate will win the tea party debate on Monday night? ...

"The man who can articulate the movements of his inner life," the late Christian apologist and author Henri Nouwen said, "need no longer be a victim of himself, but is able slowly and consiste ...

Deep down I don't believe in the separation of church and state. Deep down I don't believe in the separation of church and state. Oh, I am against the idea of a state c ...

When our ideas about nature come primarily from Sierra Club calendars or selected snippets from Thoreau, an east coast earthquake and monster hurricane (in the same week) are powerful wake-up calls. ...

On the morning of September 11, 2001, I was standing in the bathroom of my apartment outside Chicago, about to hop in the shower, when I heard the phone ring and then my husband call my name. ...

I remember vividly the first time I went to a comic book shop with my mom. I'd sneaked there before. But this time was different. I remember vividly the first time I went to ...

A week or two after the 2004 election, I was dining with some friends in New York when the conversation turned to religion and politics -- the two things that you're never supposed to discuss in po ...

Rev. Steve Stone was just trying to be a good neighbor. Rev. Steve Stone was just trying to be a good neighbor. Two years ago, the pastor of Heartsong Church in Cordova, Tenne ...

In recent days I've been thinking through with a friend one of the enduring challenges of pastoral and catechetical ministry: how to dispel the notion that worship should be entertaining. ...

Over the past few weeks various news outlets have run stories on the so-called feminism of Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann. Over the past few weeks various news outlets have run ...

I hate war. I do not hate it because people die. Death is inescapable. And believers believe that we will meet those we love again in heaven. I hate war. I do not hate it because ...

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 ...

Whenever I give talks on the effects of the Israeli occupation on Palestinian livelihood, the status of nonviolence as a means to resisting the occupation, and how I believe nonviolence is the only wa ...

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 ...

[Editors' note: Rev. John Stott, one of the world's most influential evangelical figures over the past half-century, died this Wednesday at age 90. Rev. [ Edi ...

"And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. "And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was le ...

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 ...

As the time shortens for Congress and President Obama to agree to the contours of legislation to raise the nation's debt ceiling, I am reminded of the story of King Solomon and his judgment regarding ...

photo © 2010 Zhao ! | more info (via: Wylio)Sales of printed books are down 9 percent this year, supplanted in part by digital versions on Kindles, Nooks, and even iPhone apps. ...

Life is hard. It is full of pain, disappointments, and challenges of every kind. When hard times come our way, we often ask, Why me? And the answer comes: Why not you? Life is har ...

<p>Over lunch last week, during the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict's <a href="http://www.nonviolent-conflict.org/index.php/learning-and-resources/educational-initiatives/fletche ...

I couldn't bear to watch any of the coverage of the Casey Anthony murder trial. I heard snippets of information on occasion: intimations of incest; a car that "smelled of death"; fist fights bre ...

A recent U.S. Court of Appeals ruling, and the subsequent fallout here in New York, hits close to home for many of us New Yorkers. The ruling, which came down on June 2, allows for the city of New York to rest ...

<em>"Blessed are the good-hearted, poets, and the dreamers. And all us crazy, holy, hungry ones who still believe in something better."</em></p> "Ble ...

Although I've never been a Southern Baptist, I have a special place in my heart for them. Although I've never been a Southern Baptist, I have a special place in my heart ...

Scott Kinder-Pyle is a Presbyterian pastor in Spokane, Washington, and the featured poet in <em>Sojourners</em>' July issue. Scott Kinder-Pyle is a Presbyterian p ...

Places and spaces become holy because they are locations where the human and the divine meet. Places and spaces become holy because they are locations where the human and the divi ...

When evangelical politicians pronounce on topics like the origins of the universe, the results are almost always awful -- embarrassing, infuriating, unwatchable. When evang ...

The Public Religion Research Institute recently released the results of their newest survey, "Committed to Availability, Conflicted About Morality," which shined new light on the complexity of opinio ...

It's likely that some of you will take offense at the title of this post. But if you read through the post, it'll certainly make more sense in the larger context. It ...

As I play with my young son, walk to the grocery store, or wait for a subway, I feel the presence of emails I haven't answered, Facebook invites I haven't responded to, tweets I haven't sent. ...

In 2008, as I heard the increasing public rhetoric of hostility emanating from the Middle East, I found myself wondering what Jesus would say and do if he were here in the flesh today. ...

Just a couple of weeks ago I wrote <a href="http://blog.sojo.net/2011/05/26/zero-tolerance-trump-schwarzenegger-and-strauss-kahn/" target="_blank">the following in response</a> ...

One might think that three wars -- Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya -- would be enough. Apparently, for the United States military apparatus, it's not. One might think that three war ...

North Carolina, host state for the inaugural <a href="http://wildgoosefestival.org/" target="_blank">Wild Goose Festival</a>, has many things going for it. ...

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 find it discomforting that the Lord instructs someone to wage war and therefore reasoning that God-sanctioned war is justifiable even though as Christians we are called to be peacemakers in the w ...

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 ... ...

When we think about world events, we often think about them in relation to larger-than-life people -- the leaders of nations or of revolutions. When we think about world events, w ...

Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker and high-profile conservative intellectual, announced that he is officially in the running for the Republican nomination for president. New ...

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 ...

On my personal blog, I <a href="http://brianmclaren.net/archives/blog/this-is-not-actually-a-blog-post.html" target="_blank">traced my journey</a> on the issue of homosexuality ...

The world around us is teaming with meaning. Words are lush with meaning. One word can point to many different ideas, emotions, expectations. The world around us is teaming with m ...

I can appreciate how difficult it must be to craft a good commencement address. The need to avoid well-worn pieties while also offering something of the best-distilled wisdom of the ages. ...

<em>"However much we try to distinguish between morally good and morally evil ways of killing, our attempts are beset with contradictions, and these contradictions remain a fragile part of our mode ...

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 ...

Well, the last time I checked, women were in the front lines of civil resistance struggles in <a href="http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2011/03/03/women-on-the-frontlines-in-bahrain/" target=" ...