The Common Good

Results for Life and Peace

DRONE WATCH: Administration Acknowledges American Deaths
Originally Posted: 05/22/2013 - 4:56pm | Type: Blog

Administration acknowledges four American citizens killed by drone strikes. The Obama administration formally acknowledged this afternoon that four American citizens have been kil ...

Author Jim Wallis says faith, not politics, is solution to fix cynical nation
Originally Posted: 05/22/2013 - 4:11pm | Type: Press

May 22, 2013 Sojo in the News Bob Smietana ...

Pope Francis: God Redeemed Everyone, ‘Not Just Catholics’
Originally Posted: 05/22/2013 - 3:36pm | Type: Blog

Pope Francis is warning Catholics not to demonize those who are not members of the church, and he specifically defended atheists, saying that building walls against non-Catholics leads to “killing in the name ...

Gay Mormon Characters Step Out of the Shadows
Originally Posted: 05/22/2013 - 3:26pm | Type: Blog

Now, the scene has changed: Gay Mormon characters and themes have a growing role in theater and literature.   Twenty years ago, a gay Mormon character stepped onstage for the f ...

The Megachurch vs. Minichurch: Do Popularity and Growth Really Matter?
Originally Posted: 05/22/2013 - 3:15pm | Type: Blog

In a Westernized culture captivated by success and money, we often make judgments based on the size of a church — or organization, ministry, and community. But our preconceived opinions are often wrong. ...

Chelsea Clinton to Promote Interfaith Work at NYU
Originally Posted: 05/22/2013 - 2:46pm | Type: Blog

WASHINGTON — Chelsea Clinton is wearing a new professional hat, one that will take her into a religious direction. WASHINGTON — Chelsea Clinton is wearing a new professional hat ...

The Dangers of Christian 'Marriage Worship'
Originally Posted: 05/22/2013 - 2:33pm | Type: Blog

What we end up with, often times, is a vacuous silence when it comes to the real, difficult issues of sexual identity, impulse, and expression. Add to that the Christian emphasis on marriage, and the result in ...

God, a Tornado, and John Piper’s 'Satanic Theology'
Originally Posted: 05/22/2013 - 2:26pm | Type: Blog

While most of my friends on Facebook and Twitter lamented the devastation wrought by the Oklahoma City tornado, John Piper decided to show off his biblical acumen with this insensitive tweet. ...

Power of a Personal Pronoun: 5 Suggestions for Gender Inclusivity
Originally Posted: 05/22/2013 - 1:21pm | Type: Blog

With such small words, I felt included. I felt like I belonged and maybe, just maybe, I too could do systematic theology. Maybe I didn’t need a dumbed-down version just because I was a woman. ...

DRONE WATCH: Number of Drone Strikes Declines
Originally Posted: 05/22/2013 - 10:48am | Type: Blog

The number of drone strikes being carried out is dropping. President Barack Obama will deliver a major speech on drone policy tomorrow. And for a number of reasons—including a sm ...

DRONE WATCH: Serious Moral Questions
Originally Posted: 05/22/2013 - 10:48am | Type: Blog

U.S. Catholic Bishops raise "serious moral questions" about drone killings. In a letter sent to the White House and the leadership of key Congressional committees, Bish ...

Does Religious Freedom Report Need More ‘Teeth?'
Originally Posted: 05/22/2013 - 9:40am | Type: Blog

Watchdogs say the State Department missed a key opportunity to put teeth into its annual assessment of global religious freedom, which was released by Secretary of State John Kerry Monday. ...

Survey Shows Catholic Priests Don’t Like Mass Changes
Originally Posted: 05/22/2013 - 8:04am | Type: Blog

A poll, conducted by researchers at St. John’s University School of Theology-Seminary in Collegeville, Minn., showed that almost 60 percent of priests surveyed did not like the new Roman Missal, as the liturgi ...

Godless Funerals Thrive in ‘Post-Catholic’ Ireland
Originally Posted: 05/21/2013 - 4:55pm | Type: Blog

Many newly minted civil celebrants are starting their own businesses as part of Ireland’s “post-Catholic” economy. DUBLIN — Patricia Wojnar left a 32-year career in interior des ...

The Revolution is Upon Us
Originally Posted: 05/21/2013 - 4:41pm | Type: Blog

Now comes a new millennium, and Christianity wears so many different faces that it’s difficult to speak of a single “Christian movement.” Religious historians say that every 500 ...

N.J. Priest Faces Judge for Violating Ban on Access to Children
Originally Posted: 05/21/2013 - 4:28pm | Type: Blog

Wearing a bright orange prison jumpsuit, the priest at the center of the furor in the Archdiocese in Newark made his first court appearance on Tuesday on charges he violated a court-sanctioned lifetime ban on ...

Al-Khatib and Al Jazeera: Listening to Victims in Syria
Originally Posted: 05/21/2013 - 4:19pm | Type: Blog

If I can’t trust my government to sort out the good guys from the bad guys for me, how can I ever figure out what, if anything, my government should be doing in my name? What the ...

No Room at the Inn: Women's Facility Loses Battle With Fortune 500 Company
Originally Posted: 05/21/2013 - 4:25pm | Type: Blog

It’s a hard truth that, in the real world, Goliath sometimes beats David. It’s a hard truth that, in the real world, Goliath sometimes beats David. In the July issue of  Sojou ...

Majesty and Tragedy in Oklahoma
Originally Posted: 05/21/2013 - 2:05pm | Type: Blog

We may be mere specks in the universe, but we are specks imbued with God’s love. We may stand at the mercy of winds and rain, but we find shelter in God’s care. In churches around ...

The Violence of Peacemaking
Originally Posted: 05/22/2013 - 1:48pm | Type: Blog

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 ...

10 Myths of Abuse in the Church
Originally Posted: 05/21/2013 - 11:27am | Type: Blog

of the community. While abuse is most likely to occur before the age of 17 in boys, and before age 24 in girls, ... and Christian organizations often cite Matthew 18:15-17, stating they must give the perpetrator a chance to stop ...

Church Whistle-Blowers Join Forces on Abuse
Originally Posted: 05/21/2013 - 10:36am | Type: Blog

Priests and nuns have quietly banded together to support victims and speak out against protection of sexual predators in the Roman Catholic Church. A group of priests and nuns, ...

DRONE WATCH: From CIA to Military
Originally Posted: 05/21/2013 - 10:56am | Type: Blog

The Obama administration has apparently decided to begin moving control of at least some drone operations to the military One of the ongoing discussions of the U.S. drone progra ...

Is Grief a Mental Illness? New Diagnostic Changes Say 'Maybe'
Originally Posted: 05/21/2013 - 9:18am | Type: Blog

At issue are questions as fundamental as how long we grieve, what clinical label we assign to sadness, and when grief transforms into mental illness. The modification also rekindles long-standing debates about ...

Do Americans Really Care How Their Clothes Are Made?
Originally Posted: 05/20/2013 - 6:27pm | Type: Blog

The scale of the mismanagement and breadth of the human tragedies in Bangladesh powerfully illustrated what years of abuse, inhumane conditions, and unthinkable danger could not: Garment workers in Third World ...

Humanists Find Ways to Say ‘I Do’ Without God
Originally Posted: 05/20/2013 - 2:59pm | Type: Blog

Amanda Holowaty didn’t need God to get married. She just needed her husband Mike. Amanda Holowaty didn’t need God to get married. She just needed her husband Mike. When the ...

Catholic Rocker Matt Maher Finds Cross-Over Appeal Among Evangelicals
Originally Posted: 05/20/2013 - 1:49pm | Type: Blog

Growing up Roman Catholic in Newfoundland, Matt Maher never imagined that his childhood interest in music would lead to a career as a Grammy-nominated, chart-topping Christian rocker — let alone a crossover ar ...

DRONE WATCH: Yemen Drone Strikes
Originally Posted: 05/20/2013 - 11:35am | Type: Blog

Two drone strikes in Yemen kill at least six. After nearly a month’s lull, two drone strikes were carried out in Yemen over the weekend, killing at least six suspected militants ...

The Christian Inferiority Complex
Originally Posted: 05/20/2013 - 9:22am | Type: Blog

Many Christians have a confidence problem. They love Christ but are ashamed of everything associated with him. They want to be known as a Christian — just not that type of Christian. ...

Five Questions with Author of 'The Invisible Girls'
Originally Posted: 05/20/2013 - 8:52am | Type: Blog

Sarah Thebarge is the author of The Invisible Girls, a new memoir from Jericho Books. I was fortunate to get a few minutes to ask her a few questions about her touching, funny, compelling new piece of work. ...

It's Time for Outrage: Sexual Violence and the Church
Originally Posted: 05/17/2013 - 3:52pm | Type: Press

May 16, 2013 Sojo in the News Jim Wallis ...

Women, Voice, and Pentecost
Originally Posted: 05/17/2013 - 2:20pm | Type: Blog

Repentance begins in the heart. So, I must ask: “Will I repent of my silence — my safe silence?” Yes. And a wild wind rushed down and tongues of fire rested on the heads of the ...

DRONE WATCH: Drone Pilot Burnout
Originally Posted: 05/17/2013 - 11:02am | Type: Blog

Drone pilot burnout leads to concerns over how they are selected. A high rate of burnout among drone pilots is leading to concerns in the U.S. Air Force over how they are select ...

DRONE WATCH: Authorizing Drone Strikes
Originally Posted: 05/17/2013 - 11:01am | Type: Blog

Congress asserts oversisght role in drone strikes. Congress is beginning to assert its oversight role in declaring war by examining drone attacks. Yet, in Congressional testimon ...

What If 'Sex Week' Came to First Baptist Church?
Originally Posted: 05/17/2013 - 9:38am | Type: Blog

With apologies to Campfield’s ever-vigilant protection of Christian sensibilities, the real problem here is not that mandatory student fees are being used to promote sexual education and awareness. The problem ...

Celebrity, Identity, and Angelina Jolie's Medical Choice
Originally Posted: 05/17/2013 - 9:00am | Type: Blog

I don’t feel scandalized or in a position to judge. She made a personal decision and because she’s a personage she went public with it; it’s as simple as that. On Tuesday,  Angel ...

Disney Princesses, Merida's Makeover, and Empowering Girls
Originally Posted: 05/17/2013 - 9:51am | Type: Blog

Maybe sexualized images are more marketable, but that is not the point — empowering our girls is. I’m pleased that Disney has reversed its decision to alter one of their best examples of an empowered girl. I h ...

Food Aid Reforms Could Save Millions of Lives
Originally Posted: 05/17/2013 - 7:54am | Type: Blog

There might be big changes coming to the United States food aid program this year, and it could save millions of lives. There might be big changes coming to the United States food ...

Theologian and Bestselling Author Jim Wallis Discusses New Book
Originally Posted: 05/16/2013 - 1:31pm | Type: Press

May 13, 2013 Sojo in the News Craig Fahle ...

How Abercrombie & Fitch Became Uncool
Originally Posted: 05/16/2013 - 1:00pm | Type: Blog

Over the weekend, BusinessInsider.com published an article titled “Abercrombie & Fitch Refuses to Make Clothes for Large Women.” The article included a comment made by Abercrombie CEO Mike Jeffries in 2006 ...

It's Time for Outrage: Sexual Violence and the Church
Originally Posted: 05/16/2013 - 12:16pm | Type: Blog

It's time for all people of faith to be outraged. It's time for our Christian leaders to stand up and say that women, made in the very image of God, deserve better. And it's time for us in the f ...

Canadians Turning Away from Organized Religion
Originally Posted: 05/16/2013 - 11:14am | Type: Blog

TORONTO — A new national study shows that while Canada remains overwhelmingly Christian, Canadians are turning their backs on organized religion in ever greater numbers. Results from the 2011 National Househo ...

Congregations Tend the Soil and the Soul with Vegetable Gardens
Originally Posted: 05/16/2013 - 11:09am | Type: Blog

Henderson’s congregation is one of a growing number throughout the country that are raising fruits and vegetables for soup kitchens and food pantries in what are often called food justice programs; in some syn ...

Human Cloning Breakthrough Prompts Religious Objections
Originally Posted: 05/16/2013 - 10:16am | Type: Blog

News that scientists had for the first time recovered stem cells from cloned human embryos prompted dire warnings from religious leaders who say the research crosses a moral red line and could lead to designer ...

In the Image of God: Sex, Power, and ‘Masculine Christianity’
Originally Posted: 05/20/2013 - 11:50am | Type: Blog

Most of us are too familiar with this story: an Upper Midwestern Baptist minister claims that “God made Christianity to have a masculine feel [and] ordained for the church a masculine ministry.” Or a Reformed ...

Break the Chains of Modern Slavery
Originally Posted: 05/15/2013 - 5:02pm | Type: Magazine Article

The Editors Resources to help you raise awareness about--and liberate--the slaves among us. Thousands of wome ...

The Battle for the Anna Louise Inn
Originally Posted: 05/16/2013 - 9:10am | Type: Magazine Article

the battle and—as Dawn found out—so have the 17 interfaith denominations of the Metropolitan Area Religious ...

PHOTOS: A Historical Look at the Anna Louise Inn
Originally Posted: 05/16/2013 - 9:28am | Type: Magazine Article

Dawn Araujo The Anna Louise Inn first opened in 1909. Built on the Taft family’s front yard, the Inn provided safe and affordable housing for women in Cincinnati. Since then, the I ...

Americans Debate Concept of Evil in Relation to Terrorism, Shootings
Originally Posted: 05/15/2013 - 2:35pm | Type: Press

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

The Common Good, The Planet, and Humankind
Originally Posted: 05/15/2013 - 10:36am | Type: Press

May 15, 2013 Sojo in the News Joanne Boyer ...