Mitchell Atencio is the senior associate news editor at Sojourners. He began as a contract reporter for Sojourners in 2020.
In his work, Mitchell is charged with further fortifying the award-winning reporting of Sojourners, ranging investigative reporting and breaking news to Q&As and features. He has reported on L’Arche founder Jean Vanier’s sexual abuse, the intricacies of Christian nationalism, backlash to pro-Palestinian theology, the evolution of Christian hip-hop, and more.
He co-leads the Sojourners Journalism Cohort and the Q&A series “The Reconstruct.” He has interviewed WNBA players, Biblical scholars, farmers, and bishops. Occasionally, he reviews art—from Kendrick Lamar to Godzilla; he would love to interview either one of them.
Mitchell is the author of a forthcoming biography of Clarence Jordan.
Born in Atlanta and homeschooled in Phoenix, he now lives in Chicago where he plays lots of tennis and donates blood as often as he can.
Posts By This Author
More Than 800 Faith Leaders Are Ready to De-Escalate Election Tension
Demonstrators at an interfaith rally in Philadelphia in August 2017. Photo: Michael Candelori / Shutterstock.com
According to a recent survey, nearly 70 percent of people in the U.S. are worried voters will be harassed or intimidated on Election Day; the same survey found that more than three-quarters of Americans worry there will not be a peaceful transition of power after the election. But community leaders and clergy are determined to avoid a violent outcome.
These Congregations Are on a Creative Quest for 100 Percent Voter Turnout
And they made a lot of phone calls.
Images: Shutterstock / Design: Candace Sanders
Faith communities across the U.S. are looking to help further democracy by ensuring that 100 percent of the eligible voters in their congregations turn out for the 2020 election.
Can All Churches Survive in this Pandemic?
Photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash
The threat to churches across the country, especially churches in low-income areas, caused Justin Giboney, President of the AND Campaign, to start the Churches Helping Churches Challenge. The goal: raise $500,000 in the month of April from financially secure churches, and distribute one-time grants to small churches with financial hardship.
The U.S. Prison System Poses a Public Health Threat
FILE PHOTO: Signage is seen outside of Rikers Island, where multiple cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed, in Queens, New York City, March 22, 2020. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly
While many adjust to a new normal of isolation during the coronavirus pandemic, others are sounding the alarm, warning of the vulnerability of those in America’s prisons and jails.
“If I’m not speaking for the least and the last — and a large group of those are incarcerated people — then who will speak for them?” Rev. Dr. Kelle Brown of Plymouth United Church of Christ in Seattle, told Sojourners. “My solidarity most certainly must be attached to those who are most vulnerable.”