Departments

The recently released 2005 yearbook from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reviews armament, disarmament, and international security.

I read with great interest the article about the homeschooling parents who found themselves among the conservative Christian homeschooling culture (“When Them is Us,” by Danny Duncan C

Religious leaders—including UCC pastor Diane Baker, theologian Cornel West, Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Father Paul Mayer, and pentecostal pastor Osagyefo Sekou—were among the 370 people, including military families, who were arrested at the White House in September.

Atlanta’s city council passed a controversial bill in August banning panhandling within a “tourist triangle” that covers most of the central business district.

In this space we usually poke fun at religious kitsch, but occasionally we give a shout-out when someone makes a really great product—such as Plumpy’nut, made by Nutriset. In 2000, this 50-person French company rolled out a vitamin-rich peanut paste that has already saved the lives of thousands of children in famine-stricken regions around the world.

Two recent reports examining global economic inequality emphasize the need for substantive economic policy changes.

my mother bleeds for me in a barn
she gives birth in a tree as the flood waters rise
she is a refugee

my mother bends and gathers
she pounds and sweats to quiet many hungers
she is a worker

my mother calls for mercy
she forms pieces of sky into shapes that heal
she is a maker

Thanks for the wonderfully inspiring and challenging piece by Brian McLaren (“A Bridge Far Enough?” September-October 2005). This call to genuine care for those with whom we disagree is solid gospel sense. McLaren wears those boot prints well, even though it surely sometimes hurts.

The t's were crossed and i's dotted for this issue with our special focus on books and music when Hurricane Katrina roared into the Gulf Coast stringing houses, cars, and boats together like so ma