Ch-Ch-Ch-Check it out: The New Monastics

You won't want to miss the great profile of our friend Shane Claiborne and the New Monastics in Huffington Post's Religion section. HuffPo's religion editor Paul Raushenbush tells the story of Shane and his brothers and sisters in The Simple Way spiritual community in Philly.

The story also is accompanied by a slide show of images from The Simple Way. A beautiful tale beautifully told, both in words and images.

Raushenbush writes:

"I often say I was drafted by injustice," explains Shane Claiborne, one of the founders of The Simple Way, a Christian community located in North Philadelphia. Tall, thin, with dreadlocks and a ready smile, Shane shares with me the religious experience that changed his life.

In the late 1990s, a group of homeless families squatting in an abandoned cathedral in Philadelphia were threatened with eviction when the local diocese decided to sell the property. The homeless community hung a banner outside the cathedral that asked: "How can you worship a homeless man on Sunday and evict him on Monday?"

The standoff captured the imagination of Shane and several other evangelical students who were then studying at Eastern University outside of the city. Outraged, the students rallied in solidarity with the homeless cathedral dwellers. Angered by the poverty and violence, Shane recalls: "I threw my hands up at God and said, 'why do you allow this?' And then I felt God ask me the same question."

Read Raushenbush's complete profile of Shane and the New Monastics HERE.