On Saturday, the pop culture icon Justin Bieber visited the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam while on a world tour. At the end of his visit to the museum, Bieber wrote a message in the guest book. ...

It is in times and tragedies like those that happened in Boston that our call to pray for our enemies is most difficult. May we be faithful to pray for them despite our circumstances. ...

Guns are dangerous idols. ... While the idolatry rages on, prophets are beginning to speak out. Guns are dangerous idols. While mass shootings are happening at an alarming rate an ...

First drone strike in nearly a month kills four in Pakistan.   On Sunday evening, the first U.S. drone attack in nearly a month killed at least four people in Pakistan. T ...

The casual get-togethers are held at coffee shops, restaurants and, recently in Atlanta, at the historic Oakland Cemetery. Hosts are social workers and chaplains — no professional association, philosophy, or r ...

Nearly a year after the Vatican announced a makeover of the largest umbrella group for American nuns, Pope Francis has directed that the overhaul of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious continue. ...

April 15, 2013 Sojo in the News Paul Begala ...

The Islamic political party known as the Muslim Brotherhood has soured American attitudes towards Egypt, arguably America’s most important Arab ally, since its candidate Mohamed Morsi won presidential election ...

A new film about Jackie Robinson, titled “42″ — the number he wore during his historic career — tells the triumphant story of how the Civil Rights icon integrated professional baseball by playing for the Brook ...

As Americans, we live in a culture that is hyper-individuated, fragmented, and dehumanizing as it pushes a mantra of success based on material accumulation and power. Being in community with others is the coun ...

Could the common bond of Jesus’ prayer bring two opposing views into the same room in a shared search for understanding and action? Or are the formative cultural experiences so determinative that faith and rel ...

April 11, 2013 Sojo in the News Donna Jean Freberg ...

April 12, 2013 Sojo in the News WFSU-FM ...

I am advocating that individual Christians and church communities stop thinking of serving others as a line in a budget of many competing priorities, and begin to think about emulating God’s grace as central t ...

Clergy from California to Connecticut created a makeshift graveyard symbolizing victims of gun violence on the National Mall on Thursday as they exhorted Congress to pass legislation to limit access to firearm ...

A candidate for sainthood in the Roman Catholic Church was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor by President Obama Thursday at the White House. A candidate for sainthood in t ...

April 11, 2013 Sojo in the News Adelle M. Banks ...

Today, on the National Mall, I stood with fellow faith leaders, including clergy from Newtown, to remember lives lost at Sandy Hook elementary school and the 3,364 gun deaths that have happened since. ...

With a 36-page report released Wednesday, the President’s Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships hopes to build awareness of the estimated 21 million people worldwide who are subjected t ...

David always believed that our faith should shape our politics, not the other way around. David Kuo was a good friend of mine. After a decade long battle with brain cancer, David ...

Among the Catholic faithful, not everyone supports gun control measures. Call them the NRA Catholics. As the Senate takes up a heated debate over gun control and background checks ...

Human trafficking is one of the top-grossing industries in the world, and claims another victim nearly every 30 seconds. President Obama’s Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, a group ...

The passion translates into fresh, catchy indie rock laden with eclectic beats, rich harmonies, huge swells, and lots of “Ohs” that may eventually have — dare I say it — mainstream success. In a culture that’s ...

For many pastors of urban congregations, “stepping up” to end gun violence stems from a very personal place — as they have been forced to bury their own neighbors and church members. ...

Wading into one of the most controversial fields of modern medicine, the Vatican is pushing adult stem cell research as ethical and scientifically more promising than embryonic stem cell research. ...

New classified details of drone program in Pakistan revealed. After years of secrecy, the leaks of classified information on the drone killing program in Pakistan have turned in ...

artistry has come into play, for now beside a charcoal fire Jesus will interrogate Peter ( 21:15-17 ). ...

Amid the college sports tumult, a brand-new basketball conference composed almost entirely of Catholic schools is set to emerge this summer, which some say could point the way toward a new, or perhaps old-fash ...

A resolution to allow North Carolina to defy the Constitution and establish a state-sanctioned religion may be dead in the state capitol, but minority faiths say there’s more than enough reason to remain nervo ...

April 9, 2013 Sojo in the News Bharath Venkatesh ...

The notion of religious liberty has lately conveyed an impoverished attitude toward the common good among Christians. Namely, “we’ll pay for what we like, and won't pay for what we don’t.” ...

Surveillance drones may be used in Korea, will armed drones follow? While there appears to be a lull in drone attacks in Pakistan and Yemen, are the next targets being prepared? ...

How the drone program began in a secret deal between the CIA and Pakistani intelligence. How did the drone assassination program begin? In a front page feature Sunday, The N ...

From the very first moment of his unexpected election as Pope Francis, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina has embraced a series of small departures from established tradition. ...

April 5, 2013 Sojo in the News Religion and Ethics Newsweekly ...

April 5, 2013 Sojo in the News Jaweed Kaleem ...

Here’s an example of how Jesus ruined sports for me. Watching sports is not as much fun as it used to be. I blame Jesus for that, because  he just had to say : “Love thy ...

A shocking number are taking the moment of media attention to lash out at Warren on their digital tom-toms. The attacks are aimed both at him personally and at his Christian message. ...

April 7, 2013 Sojo in the News Joshua DuBois ...

Could this be the time for the church to hear the call of God and respond to the needs of the Syrian refugees who are stranded not too far from the Jericho Road? The moment we arr ...

Uncertainty about the existence of God is not the same thing as certainty about the non-existence of God. Uncertainty about the existence of God is not the same thing as certainty ...

April 5, 2013 Sojo in the News Morning Joe ...

Freedom has always been important to Americans, but a short-sighted definition of freedom has played havoc with the common good recently. Communities, essential to our survival and well-being, are suffering. ...

The fact that North Korea’s young leader Kim Jong-un is threatening the world with nuclear holocaust does what World War I did to many theologians who had presumed that history was on a course of inevitable pr ...

Gilbert and Eleanor Kraus lived a comfortable life in 1930s Philadelphia, where he made a good living as a lawyer, and she kept a stylish house. Gilbert and Eleanor Kraus lived ...

He has been Pope Francis for less than a month, but the keep-it-simple prelate from Argentina is a wow with American Catholics — at least for now. He has been Pope Francis for l ...

Maybe what I appreciate most about this book is the sense of wonder it provides. The book and our conversations have reminded me that nothing simply “is what it is.” (The Contr ...

The ultra-Orthodox rabbi in charge of the sacred Western Wall assured a government emissary on Thursday that Jewish women will not be arrested if they try to recite the mourner’s prayer at the holy site, despi ...

If we stopped to learn the rules governing our fluency in violence, it would actually make us less fluent. Why? Because the rules of violence reveal an unpleasant reality: We don’t use violence; violence uses ...

It’s easy, in the daily course of events, to forget how pervasive such judgments against the equality of women really are, especially as we have examples of powerful women in political office and business. But ...