Opinion

Jenna Barnett 1-21-2022

Photo by Hester Qiang on Unsplash

On New Year’s Eve, exactly five cats cuddled on Starlink user Aaron Taylor’s dish, slowing down his movie-streaming experience. “Starlink works great until the cats find out that the dish gives off a little heat on cold days,” he wrote in a now viral tweet. 

Jes Kast 1-19-2022

'Until Now' by Carrie Newcomer

Carrie Newcomer, a musical light-bearer, is a Quaker singer-songwriter who has inspired listeners throughout her career. Her latest release, Until Now (Available Light Records), offers an salve of spiritual renewal. In the past few years we have been through difficult terrain politically and culturally; Newcomer’s music is like dipping our hands in a baptismal font.

In her new book, theologian Candice Marie Benbow takes readers on a journey through some pivotal and transformational moments in her life, highlighting the conversations she had with her mother, the theology informing her, and the sources — such as literature and hip-hop — that have shaped who she is. Red Lip Theology: For Church Girls Who’ve Considered Tithing to the Beauty Supply Store When Sunday Morning Isn’t Enough is an invitation to reflect on the moments, the people, and the religious institutions that have contributed to making us who we are.

JR. Forasteros 1-13-2022

Mirabel in 'Encanto' via Disney.

My friend Myca pointed out that Encanto doesn't have a villain. Disney villains are almost as popular as the princesses — they even have their own board game. And the animated movie Encanto, available for streaming on Disney+, would seem ripe for villainy. The magical Madrigal family at the heart of the film begins to lose the magic that made them special — surely someone is to blame! But no one lurks in the shadows, twirling a mustache and absconding with magic. Instead, the story of Encanto is one of families, systems, and prophets — one that can serve as a warning and a balm to churches struggling to cope with a changing world.

Mitchell Atencio 1-13-2022

Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, 1963 via Reuters. 

One of the best jobs I ever held was assistant manager at Grace Records. I was a founding staff member at the new and used vinyl shop in Arizona, a father and son venture that was a thrill to work at.

Andrew Wilkes 1-13-2022

A woman holds a portrait of Martin Luther King, Jr. at a memorial dedication at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Photo credit Yuri Gripas/Reuters.

 

In order to understand King's life and legacy, it is critical that his activism be understood in the context of his call as a minister. In 1956 a sermon titled, “Paul's Letter to American Christians,” King called for a “better distribution of wealth.” He also asserted that “God never intended one people to live in superfluous inordinate wealth, while others live in abject deadening poverty.” Holistically interpreting King’s theological work as a pastor, public theologian, and faith leader requires grounding his anti-capitalism in his self-identification as a “minister of the Christian gospel.”

A statue of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. outside Brown Chapel AME Church in Selma, Ala., the starting point of the 1965 marches for voting rights.

A statue of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. outside Brown Chapel AME Church in Selma, Ala., the starting point of the 1965 marches for voting rights.  Ian Dagnall / Alamy

We can honor King’s vision by working to restore the voting rights that he knew were so central to dismantling racism in this country. As King proclaimed, “Voting is the foundation stone for political action.” 

Holly Stallcup 1-10-2022

Attendees at Passion 2022. Image via @Passion268 / Instagram.

Passion made it clear that their plan to combat COVID-19 was to do the bare minimum: They did not require social distancing, proof of vaccination, nor testing; per the venue’s guidelines, masks were not required unless the stadium’s roof was closed. They farmed out any safety protocols to others and emphasized that their goal was for the in-person gathering to not be interrupted. 

Olivia Bardo 1-10-2022

The characters of Don't Look Up. Photos from the film; graphic by Nicholas McMillen.

In the new apocalyptic movie, religious expression reveals what really matters to people when the world is ending. As a planet-killing comet comes hurtling toward Earth, some characters, like Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence), a Ph.D candidate studying astronomy at Michigan State, and her professor, Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio) take action; others turn toward denial. But all of them, at some point in the movie, pray. How they pray on their final days on Earth says a lot about what they value.

A person touches the Washington monument as the sun rises over the U.S. Capitol, on the first anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump, in Washington, D.C., Jan. 6, 2022. REUTERS/Tom Brenner

Remember the sobering images of the U.S. Capitol building attacked and overrun by rioters and insurrectionists; those images can feel unfathomable unless we remember the breadth and depth of racialized violence in our nation’s history. History is about both the what and the why. Given the volumes of footage and visible evidence, it is difficult to refute what happened on Jan. 6, 2021. The deeper struggle will be understanding why it happened.

Miguel Petrosky 1-06-2022
January 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol

Pro-Trump protesters wave banners, including a Confederate battle flag, during clashes with Capitol Police at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. Jan. 6, 2021. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

Jan. 6: The Feast of the Epiphany. The day that marks the revelation of God’s incarnation in Jesus Christ. It was an important day in my family growing up. On “King’s Day,'' in Puerto Rican custom, children would go to the fields and pick grass to leave under their beds. By the next morning, the “Magi” would have already visited — leaving presents in lieu of grass, their camels well-fed from the grass for their journey to the next house.

A tray with material for injections is seen at a supervised injection site.

A tray with material for injections is seen at a supervised injection site in Paris on Oct. 11, 2016. REUTERS/Patrick Kovarik/Pool SCMR

Supervised consumption sites are controversial in the United States. Why? I believe opposition to them is rooted in mistaken Christian moral assumptions in regard to drugs — and the people who use them.

Photo by Jane Wolfe via Reuters | Supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump gather in front of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, U.S. January 6, 2021

In one America, an insurrectionist is granted permission by a judge to take a trip to Mexico with charges pending. In the other America, the National Guard is deployed in response to Black Lives Matter protesters organizing at the Lincoln Memorial. One group’s humanity is seen and validated, while the other group’s humanity is ignored and questioned.

Christina Colón 12-29-2021
California firefighter fighting Caldor Fire

A firefighter works as the Caldor Fire burns in Grizzly Flats, California, Aug. 22, 2021. REUTERS/Fred Greaves TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

“We are hungry for renewal,” Valarie Kaur wrote in the January 2021 issue of Sojourners. “Sound government is necessary but not sufficient to heal and transition America. Only we the people can bring our communities together, tend to our wounds, and do the labor of reckoning, reimagining, and remaking our nation, block by block, heart to heart.”

Adam Russell Taylor 12-28-2021

Brigitte Tohm / Unsplash

While this prayer may sound overly sentimental in the face of great peril and challenge, love has the power to cast out fear and undergirds the very pursuit of justice and peace. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.”

Sergio Lopez 12-23-2021

'Nightmare Alley' / Searchlight Pictures

Despite the discomfort some viewers might feel from the film’s visceral violence, Nightmare Alley is ultimately an old-fashioned morality tale, one in which del Toro refuses to let his central character escape the weight and judgment of his own actions. The film barrels towards the moment when Stan’s schemes fall apart with unrelenting brutality, and eventually Stan’s machinations begin to unravel. Nightmare Alley also thrills in the strong performances of characters: Cate Blanchett’s Dr. Lilith Ritter, cool and unflappable, always in control even when she seems not to be; Toni Collette’s Zeena, whose love is more complex than it initially appears.

JR. Forasteros 12-22-2021

Dr. Strange casts a spell on behalf of Peter Parker in Spider-Man No Way Home. Matt Kennedy, Marvel Studios

Spider-Man: No Way Home is the end of a lot of things. It's the end of the (first) Marvel Cinematic Universe Spider-Man trilogy. It’s the end of a lot of speculation about how the multiverse will play into the MCU’s future (since the Loki TV show broke it open). But it also signals the end of the MCU’s innocence — and by extension, superhero movies in general. Spider-Man: No Way Home insists that true heroism looks markedly different from what superhero movies have offered thus far.

Olivia Bardo 12-21-2021

Photo by Laura Kapfer on Unsplash

Novelist Edwidge Danticat expressed a similar sentiment in Create Dangerously, her 2010 memoir about making art in exile. Reflecting on the aftermath of the earthquake that had struck her home country of Haiti that year, she wrote, “I did what I always do when my own words fail me. I read.” We share this human practice of story sharing and story seeking. Danticat writes of her “desire to tell some of [her] stories in a collaged manner, to merge [her] own narratives with the oral and written narratives of others.” Through the transformative power of creating and remembering, we connect to the threads of humanity, discovering the woven patterns that are formed through our stories.

Sandi Villarreal 12-21-2021
White and blue Christmas lights

thr3 eyes / Unsplash

Blue Christmas gatherings offer a place for grief.

Liz Theoharis 12-20-2021
Sen. Joe Manchin

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) speaks with an aide during a break in the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump in Washington,  Jan. 24, 2020. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

After months of negotiations, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) decided to kill the Build Back Better agenda. He made the announcement on Fox News Sunday, just days before an already-fraught holiday as we’re seeing COVID surges, essential workers still being paid wages of those considered expendable, and storms and extreme weather wreaking havoc on lives and livelihoods. When voicing his dissent for the Build Back Better agenda, despite making promises that he was negotiating in good faith since the summer, Manchin had the nerve to say: “I tried everything humanly possible.”