Mitchell Atencio

In his 12 years as pontiff, Pope Francis forged a legacy of compassion, humanity, and joy. The pope’s concern for social justice was on the mind of many mourning his death. From climate change to global poverty, war and violence, LGBTQ+ people and women’s roles in the church, Francis was remembered not just for his teachings or leadership on hot-button topics, but also the Argentine’s pastoral approach to the people caught up in them. 

Meta's new "Llama 3" AI model was trained on the stolen text of poetry, sociology, fiction, theology, and more from countless writers, including a few who have written for Sojourners. Now, those writers are speaking out. 

The culture war and a moral panic around "wokeness" has many in Christian higher education living in fear. Now, one former educator is charting a new path.

In late January, the Pew Research Center released a study of religious nationalism worldwide, including in the U.S. The results? Only 6% of Americans fit Pew’s definition of “Christian nationalist.” That's a smaller number that several previous estimates, but sociologists and researchers suggest it may just provide a shade of nuance to the way we think about religious nationalism in America.

More than two dozen Christian and Jewish groups are suing the Department of Homeland Security over President Donald Trump’s decision to allow law enforcement raids and arrests in churches and other sensitive locations.

In 2019, poet and reporter Eliza Griswold began reporting on Circle of Hope, a church founded in the spirit of a radical evangelicalism that motivated the likes of Tony Campolo, Ron Sider, and Jim Wallis. Her new book, Circle of Hope: A Reckoning with Love, Power, and Justice in an American Church documents her experience.

The church, founded in 1996 by the couple Rod and Gwen White, had spread to four locations by 2019. Griswold saw the flourishing, growing community as an intriguing example of evangelicalism untied from the Religious Right.

Rev. Robert W. Fisher, the rector of the church, told Sojourners in an email before the service that the church was making a concerted effort to return the service to its traditional roots. “The service is meant to be centered on God and humility before the almighty, and to be a call to ‘the better angels of our nature’ for those who are entering into a new season of service,” Fisher wrote in an email.

“Jimmy Carter’s importance to faith and public life was reintroducing into the public square the principles that animated nineteenth-century evangelicals: concern for the poor, racial equality, peacemaking, human rights and equality for women,” Randall Balmer, professor of religion at Dartmouth told Sojourners. “He did so as an avowed and unapologetic Baptist, which means that he respected the First Amendment and the separation of church and state.”

If you’ve encountered Mason Mennenga online, it’s likely due to one of his viral tweets.

Gems like “bible college girls are like ‘marriage is so hard’ yeah, you married a 19-year old evangelical man” and “christians will name their kids after old testament prophets and then are shocked that their kids eventually speak out against injustices.” Occasionally, he dunks on a conservative personality, or he becomes the punching bag for conservative voices frustrated by his progressive theology.

But Mennenga is more than a social media account. He hosts two podcasts, writes about theology and culture, and works as director of admissions at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities.