Commentary
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As your pastor, I am proud of you. God is proud of you. I can say that without any doubt in my mind. Yes, you have passed your exams, but the pride I am talking about is the hard work and spiritual dedication you’ve put into your own soul and spiritual growth.
Palestinian women walk at the site of destroyed houses in the aftermath of Israeli air and artillery strikes in the northern Gaza Strip on May 14, 2021. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
By May 14, reports indicated that at least 122 Palestinians, including 31 minors, had been killed and more than 900 wounded since May 10. In Israel, at least seven people were killed, including one child. While the immediate violence must be brought to an end, the realities of the ongoing Israeli occupation of Palestine cannot be ignored.
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The American Jobs Plan invests in rebuilding our economy, creates millions of good-paying jobs, helps workers transition out of the fossil fuel industry, and protects our health, land, air, water, and global climate.
Biden's plans are not just about good politics or good policy — they’re about what government can do to relieve human suffering, about whom government should invest in. These are not just political matters but ethical ones. So let’s look at Biden’s three big plans from a moral, theological, and biblical perspective.
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Punishment should not be synonymous with "accountability" or "justice." Rather, justice and accountability should be centered around acknowledging damage and seeking restoration.
Steve Harmon (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) in Monster on Netflix
Director Anthony Mandler's movie Monster, focuses in on a myriad of social issues — race, class, mass incarceration, crime, and the U.S. penal system — but it also is a monster movie of sorts.
The voices of mothers, of women, and all who have mothered us have long been essential in movements for justice. That work continues, as we are closer than ever to winning the 100-year battle to add the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The amendment would protect women and LGBTQ people from discrimination on the basis of sex and gender-based violence. But until the Senate acts, the amendment will not move forward.
Chuck Collins and Rev. Jim Wallis talk about the extreme wealth inequality and how everyone has a role in fixing it.
The U.S. prison system is an afront to human dignity and in sharp contrast with God's vision for justice on earth. Christians' commitment to love, hope, and justice should inspire us to work toward abolishing the prison system.
People with breathing problems due to COVID-19 wait to receive oxygen support for free at a Sikh temple in Ghaziabad, India on April 27, 2021. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi
It is painful to know that here in the U.S., some states have vaccines that are going unused when vaccine shortages exist around the world.
Garden Of The Gods, Colorado Springs, Colo., United States
With each new instance of gun violence, creation cries out with the victims. Creation also helps us center ourselves in relation to God when God feels absent.
A man practices inside his car on one of the main street of Harlem in 2010. Photo: wagner stephane / Shutterstock.com
Two important promises I’ve made to myself: I will never again watch a video of a person being lynched by the police and I will not allow my writing to be used in a way that makes Black pain a spectacle.
A local resident walks along the “Say Their Names” cemetery on the day former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minn., on April 20, 2021. REUTERS/Carlos Barria
By now the ritual is regrettably predictable. A public official approaches a podium emblazoned with an official seal, perhaps flanked by the flags of their city and state, and maybe the U.S. flag. Just outside the frame, the shutters of a dozen cameras snap, capturing the official’s somber expression and ever-so-gently bowed head.
Police officers stand guard as people demonstrate outside the Ohio State House after an officer shot and killed a teenage girl in Columbus, Ohio, on April 20, 2021. REUTERS/Gaelen Morse
Chauvin’s conviction was a relief, but our policing and justice systems still need a radical overhaul.
Balmeet Singh. Photo by Simrin Singh.
At Darbar-E-Khalsa, a large celebration of Guru Gobind Singh Ji in Southern California, I invited members of the community to tell me about their struggles and triumphs as Sikh Americans. These are their faces and stories.
Stanisha Land receives a COVID-19 vaccination at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, Ill., on February 13, 2021. REUTERS/Kamil Krzaczynski
Given that people of color are most likely to die from COVID-19, will those of us who are white Christians choose to get the vaccine in order to practice the selfless love Jesus demonstrated for his disciples? If we’re following Jesus, then the answer to the question of whether or not to get vaccinated must be yes.
On Clubhouse and Instagram, some Black Christians blend practices of enslaved ancestors with traditional African religions.
Protesters hold signs at at Black Lives Matter demonstration in Omaha, Neb., in support of Daunte Wright on April 12, 2021. Photo by Aspect and Angles / Shutterstock.
Christians talk a lot about grace but we don't seem to have the same grace for everyone in the U.S. I’ve heard people say they feel sick for former Brooklyn Center police officer, Kim Potter, who despite serving 26 years on the police force, claimed she grabbed her gun by mistake, killing Daunte Wright just 2.5 miles from the Brooklyn Center Community Center where I went with my church youth group as a kid. Potter seems to automatically receive a lot of grace from the same people who say if Wright had just followed instructions, he would still be alive.
Asylum seeking migrants from Central America await transport on March 12, 2021 after crossing the Rio Grande river into the United States from Mexico. REUTERS/Adrees Latif
This March, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents encountered nearly 19,000 unaccompanied children at the U.S.-Mexico border — a record high. To many, this number was shocking; media outlets used militaristic language to describe the arriving minors as a “surge.” However, this influx is not surprising given seasonal migration patterns and the horrific immigration policies instated by the Trump administration — policies the Biden administration has not yet repealed. The current administration must address the immediate needs of people seeking refuge at the southern border while also tackling the root causes of forced displacement and migration: U.S. imperialism.
If you’ve heard white evangelical pundits lately, you’ll know there’s a dangerous “new” enemy threatening U.S. Christianity. If left unchecked, they say, this enemy will wreak havoc on traditional values and transform our entire nation into atheists. What is this growing enemy of evangelicals? Democratic socialism.