No one person, and yet seemingly every person in on the planning of this event, was in charge.
Cover Story
Amy Yarnell 6-01-2007
The depth of my sorrow for the loss of life on all sides seems beyond expression.
Rose Marie Berger 4-01-2007
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WHEN DISASTER STRIKES, churches—from the conservative Southern Baptist Convention to the liberal United Church of Christ—are among the first to respond. However, as Katrina so painfully revealed, churches and charities—no matter how much they give—can't build levees (though neither, apparently, can the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers).
Many faith-based disaster relief agencies are using 9/11 and Katrina as stark comparisons of how government should—and shouldn't—respond to disasters. A May 2006 Urban League report highlighted the differences: "The state response was strong after September 11, and the nonprofit sector tried to work alongside the government as well as fill in the gaps the government left behind, both short and long term. With Katrina, in contrast, the immediate state response was weak, and the nonprofit sector had neither the organizational structure nor the resources to meet immediate needs."
In disaster relief, efficient, well-organized faith-based organizations work best as an adjunct to a strong, responsive, and accountable state.
Jill Suzanne Shook 2-01-2007
Affordable housing is vital for working people- and for the health of our communities.
Tamara Draut 2-01-2007
Collaboration between low- and middle-income people is one of the keys to rebuilding the broken American Dream.
Harmeet Singh Sooden 12-01-2006
I have always been uncomfortable with the designation “peacemaker.” “Makers” usually have an intimate relationship with their craft.
Peggy Gish 12-01-2006
The faces of our Iraqi partners showed pain and worry in April 2006 when we asked them whether Christian Peacemaker Teams should continue to work in Iraq after Jim, Harmeet, Norman, and Tom had bee
Rose Marie Berger 12-01-2006
Tom Fox was profoundly affected by the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
Barack Obama 11-01-2006
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Editor's note: In June 2006, Barack Obama, then a U.S. senator from Illinois, delivered a speech about the role of religion in politics at a conference sponsored by Sojourners/Call to Renewal. Obama spoke candidly about as his own Christian faith as well as the dangers of sectarianism in a pluralistic democracy; to this day it remains his most comprehensive speech on faith in the public sphere. Sojourners ran the following excerpt of Obama’s speech in our November 2006 issue.
I’d like to look at the connection between religion and politics and offer some thoughts about how we can sort through some of the often-bitter arguments that we’ve been seeing over the last several years. We can raise up the religious call to address poverty and environmental stewardship all we want, but it won’t have an impact unless we tackle head-on the mutual suspicion that sometimes exists between religious America and secular America—a debate we’ve been having in this country for the last 30 years over the role of religion in politics.
For some time now, there has been plenty of talk among pundits and pollsters that the political divide in this country has fallen sharply along religious lines. Indeed, the single biggest “gap” in party affiliation among white Americans today is not between men and women, or those who reside in so-called Red States and those who reside in Blue, but between those who attend church regularly and those who don’t. Conservative leaders have been all too happy to exploit this gap, consistently reminding evangelical Christians that Democrats disrespect their values and dislike their church, while suggesting to the rest of the country that religious Americans care only about the issues of abortion and gay marriage, school prayer and intelligent design.
Democrats, for the most part, have taken the bait. At best, we may try to avoid the conversation about religious values altogether, fearful of offending anyone and claiming that—regardless of our personal beliefs—constitutional principles tie our hands. At worst, there are some liberals who dismiss religion in the public square as inherently irrational or intolerant, insisting on a caricature of religious Americans that paints them as fanatical, or thinking that the very word “Christian” describes one’s political opponents, not people of faith.