Claire Lorentzen is director of mission engagement for Schools of the Sacred Heart.
Posts By This Author
The Fierce Urgency of Gen Z
Illustration by Michael George Haddad
I CAN NAME Emma’s favorite foods: roasted sweet potatoes and acai smoothie bowls. I’ve spent hours with her two sisters and classmates. We’ve traveled across the country together and danced to all her most-loved songs.
Week after week, with one tap on my screen, I instantly enter Emma’s world. As we laugh and smile at each other, it feels as if I am spending time with a friend, albeit a virtual one.
Emma Abrahamson is one of the countless Generation Z video bloggers on YouTube (some with tens of millions of followers) who are re-creating the nature of human friendship and experience.
The next presidential election will include a wave of Gen Zers voting for the first time. Who are they? What do they care about?
Beginning with those born in 1995, the same year as the commercial internet, Gen Zers only know a life of navigating multiple realities. While I (a millennial) am part of the generation shaped by the arrival of instant communication, Gen Z is the generation shaped by the arrival of instant experience. They are constantly living on the cusp of the virtual and the physical—and, just like Emma, draw the rest of us in.
Some worry that such a technology-centered existence, filled with YouTube friends and instantaneous everything, leaves young people isolated and ill-equipped to live with uncertainty. Researchers claim it is leading to the highest rates of anxiety, depression, and suicide ever recorded.
Studying War More?
ROTC is back on campuses -- but military thinking still conflicts with the life of the mind.
WWWired for Freedom
An activist in Phoenix launches a website -- and supports a revolution on the other side of the world.
Environmental Activist Anna Clark: 'Christians Must Conserve Resources'
At the Wild Goose Festival in North Carolina last weekend, I was able to speak with Anna Clark, author of Green, American Style, president and founder of EarthPeople, a green consulting firm, and a contributor to Taking Flight: Reclaiming the Female Half of God's Image Through Advocacy and Renewal. Anna has a heart for equipping churches to make small and big changes for the sake of creation care and stewardship of the earth's resources. How can Christians do this, you ask? Read our conversation to find out.
Worship, Liturgy, and an Introduction to Poet Scott Kinder-Pyle
Are Millennials Conflicted About Morality?
The Public Religion Research Institute recently released the results of their newest survey, "Committed to Availability, Conflicted About Morality," which shined new light on the complexity of opinions on abortion between different religious groups and age demographics. The study results were presented two weeks ago at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C.
The most intriguing age group in the study are Millenials, ages 18 to 29. In the introduction to the survey results, the authors claim that given Millenials' self-described characteristics of being "confident, self-expressive, liberal, upbeat, and open to change," they have a "peculiar profile" when it comes to their views on abortion. And this is especially "peculiar" when viewed alongside their strong support for gender equality and rights for gay and lesbian people. Millenials' complex, label-defying views of abortion make them "conflicted about morality," the report states. But are Millenials really, actually conflicted about morality?
What Do People of Faith Have To Say About Torture?
In 1998, when former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan announced June 26 as the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, he stated, "This is a day on which we pay our respects to those who have endured the unimaginable. This is an occasion for the world to speak up against the unspeakable."
Earlier this month, The National Religious Campaign Against Torture, one of the founders of Torture Awareness Month, as discussed in Robin Kirk's July 2011 Sojourners article, released a video of interreligious leaders speaking against torture, as well as faith-based study guides that frame opposition to torture. Sojourners also asked Robin Kirk, executive director of the Duke Human Rights Center, to write "The Body in Pain: What do people of faith have to say about torture?" for our July issue.
Nonviolent Resistence Resources
Studies, Films, Websites, and Books on Nonviolence
Books, Films, and Studies on the Surprising Power of Nonviolence
Friday Links Round Up: Royal Pizza. Gamification. Three Words on Art.
Study on Budget Cuts Finds Evangelicals' Social Priorities 'Have Faded'
Audio Reading and Interview with Joseph Ross
Hear Joseph Ross read his poem, Luke 5:1 Disciples.
Video Clips of Michelle Alexander
Michelle Alexander, a longtime civil rights advocate and litigator, is an associate professor of law at the Moritz College of Law and the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at Ohi
Resources on Selective Conscientious Objection
Current regulations (Instruction 1300.6 for the Department of Defense) are clear that conscientious objector
Grading Civility: 75 Percent Give the United States a C, D, or F
Five (More) Must-See Social Justice Documentaries From 2010
1. Dive! The United States throws out 263 million pounds of food per day, much of which is perfectly good to eat.