Michel Zajur, CEO of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Virginia, lauded the entrepreneurial spirit of immigrants and Jim Wallis of the Christian social justice organization Sojourners stressed the religious aspect of immigration reform.
Source: Finger Lake Times | Vaughn Baker
I am continually reminded that we are a Christian country. Evangelist Jim Wallis has pointed out that there are several hundred references in the Bible to helping the poor. Taking food off their plates does not seem very Christian to me.
Source: CBS Philly | Cherri Gregg
“We’ve been calling on people to fast because now is the time,” said Lisa Sharon Harper (at lectern in photo), who works for the DC-based Sojourners.
Source: Christian Retailing | Christine Johnson
Select titles from the Religion Nonfiction finalists are: Boring by Michael Kelley (B&H Books); Consider the Birds by Debbie Blue (Abingdon Press);On God's Side by Jim Wallis (Brazos Press/Baker Publishing Group); Playing God by Andy Crouch (IVP Books); Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart by J.D. Greear (B&H Books); and The Good Funeral by Thomas G. Long and Thomas Lynch (Westminster John Knox Press).
Source: Patheos | Carl McColman
The last forty years — basically, ever since Roe vs. Wade — the Christian right has so dominated the way Christianity’s politics and social identity is understood in America, that when the new generation of “the Christian left” — folks like Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove and Shane Claiborne — came along in the last fifteen to twenty years, it felt like they were truly pioneers. But Walter Wink and Walter Sullivan are, like other “old timers” like Dorothy Day and Jim Wallis, wonderful reminders that progressive Christianity, while always somewhat marginal in America, is hardly an invention of the internet age. On the contrary, Christianity’s quest for peace and justice has deep roots indeed, and both of these men are exemplars worth remembering.
Source: Media Matters | Solange Uwimana
Jim Wallis, the president and founder of Sojourners, reiterated that fact in a Time.com op-ed, writing: "Young people, who came here as children, live as 'illegals' in the only country they have ever known as home."
Source: Huffington Post | Jim Wallis
I live in Washington, D.C., a city in which mistakes are messaged and shortcomings are spun. True confession and true repentance do not occur -- unless it is politically advantageous. Naturally, cynicism runs rampant.
Source: Salon | Jay Monaco
According to Timothy King, chief strategy officer for progressive Christian advocacy group Sojourners, these are conditions which run entirely contrary to the intent of the Divine. “God is a laborer and part of what it means to be made in the image of God is that we are co-laborers,” he says, something that gives labor inherent dignity. Just as importantly, however, it is not solely work that bestows this dignity. “God labored for six days, God rested on the seventh. The idea of a ‘sabbath’ was radical at the time. [Everyone] had time to rest. Even the land was supposed to rest and be laid fallow every seven years. While there is dignity in work, it is not all we are created to do and be.”
Source: The Wire | Esther Zuckerman
Co-writer Ari Handel said in an interview with Cathleen Falsani of Sojourners that Ila was a way to explore Noah's love. "Obviously the notion of barrenness and infertility is a very biblical concept and it fits right in with the Noah story because it’s all about the death of life and the birth of new life; it’s all about second chances and next generations," he explained. "So I think she came out of those places. She ends up also becoming, as you see, in some ways a different kind of a voice — a humanizing voice — that is able to bring Noah back from his despair."
Source: The Mennonite | Ervin Stutzman
Several years ago, in response to heated political rhetoric in Washington,Sojourners invited Christians to sign a pledge of peace and civility. I signed that pledge and invite you to savor the selected quotations for yourself:
"We commit that our dialogue with each other will reflect the spirit of the Scriptures, which tell us, in relating to each other, to be ‘quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry'" (James 1:19).
Source: The Mennonite | Ervin Stutzman
Several years ago, in response to heated political rhetoric in Washington,Sojourners invited Christians to sign a pledge of peace and civility. I signed that pledge and invite you to savor the selected quotations for yourself:
"We commit that our dialogue with each other will reflect the spirit of the Scriptures, which tell us, in relating to each other, to be ‘quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry'" (James 1:19).
Source: Elmira Star-Gazette | Vaughn Baker
I am continually reminded that we are a Christian country. Evangelist Jim Wallis has pointed out that there are several hundred references in the Bible to helping the poor. Taking food off their plates does not seem very Christian to me.
Source: Huffington Post | Lisa Sharon Harper
There is a moment in John Steinbeck's classic, East of Eden, when readers witness the transformation of a stereotype into a human being.
Source: Ecclesio | John Gromek
Jon Gromek currently serves as Central Regional Organizers for Bread for the World, a Christian voice urging our nation’s decision makers to end hunger at home and abroad. He has organized and worked throughout faith communities both in Washington DC, Ohio, and Florida for over 10 years. He holds a degree in Theology and Political Science from Xavier University in Cincinnati and is currently pursuing a graduate degree at Wright State University. He has worked at the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, Sojourners, Network, a National Catholic Social Justice Lobby, and as a community organizer for congregation based community organizations in Ohio and Florida in the DART Network. He is active in the life of his local church community serving as an officer on the Parish Council of Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Dayton, OH. He and his wife Colleen live in Dayton, OH.
Source: Religion Dispatches | Elizabeth Drescher
Evangelical leaders like Jim Wallis have long attempted to construct a “body of Christ” in service to others that would ignore controversial theological issues, which in practice means that progressives set their concerns about gender equality, marriage equality, and reproductive justice aside in the name of serving the poor, healing the sick, and so on. World Vision is now, in effect, asking conservatives to return the self-censoring favor. Mohler makes clear what most progressives have known all along: religious conservatives just can’t.
Source: Journal Star (Illinois)
The Interfaith Peacemaking Coalition, made up of organizations promoting peace, many churches, adjudicatories, the Unitarian church members of the Niagra Foundation, Jewish South Street Temple, and Muslim representatives have organized the weekend Peacemaking event to stimulate conversations among the three faiths to promote understanding, friendship and possible continuing activity as a peacemaking community. Past speakers include Jane Goodall, Jim Wallis, Admiral Eugene J. Carroll, Helen Caldicott, Matthew Fox, William Sloane Coffin and Joel Sartore.
Source: EIN Press Wire
Interfaith conversation involving evangelical theologian Jim Wallis on the role of clergy in the elevation of and working for the "common good"
Source: Time Magazine | Jim Wallis
Fred Phelps died early Thursday morning. Phelps was best known for his deeply rooted hatred and promulgating the tasteless slogan “God Hates Fags.” His little group of mostly extended family members that comprised the 59-year-old Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, carried their signs with such ugly and painful statements all over the country. Phelps’ small cult got the most attention for their protests of military and other high-profile funerals, claiming that the slain soldiers deserved to die as a consequence of God’s judgment against America’s tolerance of gay and lesbian people. Such shameful and angry messages, understandably, caused great pain among the mourners and family members grieving their loved ones.
Source: Center for American Progress | Emily Baxter
As we near the March 25 arguments in Hobby Lobby v. Sebelius, it can feel as though men have the monopoly on religious activism in America. After all, 38 protestant theologians signed on to an amicus brief suggesting that a business owner’s religious beliefs should dictate the consciences and actions of female employees – none of those theologians were women...
This article was originally published in Sojourners.
Source: Religion New Service | Sarah Pulliam Bailey
Sojourners founder Jim Wallis pointed to former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Here’s the blog post, in case you want a flash to the past.