1. What led you to start an intentional community ministering to gang members? Gangs have a really strong sense of community: They fight and die for their homies and they support each other. Other programs offer job skills or anger management, but don’t offer community. We offer a community like the community they have. After many years working with them, we realized that was attractive to them—they feel at home.
Departments
Duane Beachey 9-24-2011
Regarding Elizabeth Palmberg's article on healthcare costs ("Sky High and Rising," June 2011): I've been under the impression that a lot of our high medical costs are related to the restricted number of doctors.
Richard Schiffman 9-01-2011
Eschewing perfection, they knotted in a flaw,
the human signature and kink that made
the carpet whole -- not less perfect, but more
for the fraying edge, the bleeding dyes
that cloak their treasure in disguise,
an act of indirection modeled from on high:
as when the Deity said Be ...
and out crawled -- the twisted,
the crippled, the deformed.
Russ Records 9-01-2011
Re: Elizabeth Palmberg's "The Safety Net Frays" (July 2011): I don't believe that we, as citizens, have any voice in these issues any more. According to an article published last October, "more than half of the [Senate's] membership, 54 lawmakers, reported a minimum net worth of more than $1 million." I don't think a millionaire has any inkling of what happens on Main Street and those who live on it. With the Supreme Court decision allowing corporations to contribute to political parties without limit, it became apparent that they are setting the agenda.
Jennifer A. Nolan 9-01-2011
"The Safety Net Frays" is a nice piece, but we've seen this movie before. The American chattering classes chatter marvelously, but stopped believing in anything of value some 40 years ago. This constant repetition of the same moral-budget complaints, while LGBT rights claimants are left out of our circle of protection, is just one more sign of this.
Jennifer A. Nolan
Newton, Massachusetts
Grant Bakewell, Jr. 9-01-2011
Please continue to address the importance of promoting and building peace ("The Things that Make for Peace," by Jim Wallis, July 2011), whether in Afghanistan, Palestine-Israel, Libya, or right here at home, rather than simply opposing our nation's current wars.
The Editors 9-01-2011
Loving our neighbors is usually easier in the abstract. The members of Heartsong Church, just outside of Memphis, Tennessee, made that love very real last year in a concrete act of welcome. An Islamic faith community was moving in nearby, and their new center wasn’t going to be ready in time for Ramadan. So the members of Heartsong, in a simple act of Christian hospitality, invited their neighbors to use the church building during the Muslim holy month.
The Editors 8-01-2011
Mohandas Gandhi was keenly aware of the root causes of hunger, and he knew that the problem was not a lack of resources on God’s good earth.
Enuma Okoro 8-01-2011
During Ordinary time, the season after Pentecost, it might appear that not much is going on, ecclesially speaking.
David Ish 8-01-2011
In "The Gospel According to the Tea Party" (November 2010), Jim Wallis overlooked points.
Bernard Kern 8-01-2011
David Cortright's "Finding the Way Out" (March 2011), about why it's time to end the war in Afghanistan, was excellent and timely with one exception -- his appeal to the just war doctrine.
Wendy Clarissa Geiger 8-01-2011
Re: Carolyn McKinstry's "From Mourning to Gladness" (May 2011): Birmingham Sunday spurred many African Americans and European Americans to get involved in the civil rights movement.
Larry Carney 7-27-2011
<p>I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed Ed Spivey Jr.'s article in the March 2011 <i>Sojourners</i> ("Grandfathers Are Our Future") on being a grandfather
John G. MackKinney 7-27-2011
In Danny Duncan Collum's reflection on the attempted assassination of Rep.
Sasha Adkins 7-27-2011
Reading Joel Hunter's "Civility Is Only a Beginning" (March 2011), I was struck by the contrast between his beautifully stated intention -- "Let's listen so well that we can state others' cases in
Karen Van Fossan 7-27-2011
Fracking ("Meet the Frackers," by Tyler Edgar, March 2011) is well-known to people in Colorado, Wyoming, Pennsylvania, Texas, and other states for its disastrous use in natural gas extrac
Jim Winhold 7-27-2011
"Taking the Bible Seriously" by Charles E. Gutenson (April 2011) was right on the mark. I often see issue groups take the word of God and twist it to serve their purposes.