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Sojourners Magazine: July 2011

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Using online and wireless communication to organize large, diverse groups of people has been a key component of the nonviolent Arab Spring uprisings. But these tools aren’t just for deposing dictators -- organizers are finding new ways to use them here in the U.S., from defending individuals under threat of deportation to spurring nationwide public rallies around key political issues. As Jeannie Choi writes in our cover feature, "A Web of Power," the best tech-savvy organizers are rooted in the same priorities that have shaped successful movements for decades -- listening to, learning from, and communicating with people to mobilize them to create change.

Watch an introductory video on online organizing from the New Organizing Institute.

Listen to our reading and interview with poet Scott Kinder-Pyle.

Cover Story

An activist in Phoenix launches a website -- and supports a revolution on the other side of the world.
How online tools are transforming the way social change happens.

Feature

What Matthew 4 has to say to the age of climate change.
What do people of faith have to say about torture?
A former Army intelligence analyst in Iraq talks about Bradley Manning, the weight of conscience, and the witness of St. Paul.
Love, justice, and the radical challenge raised by the untamed Christ.

Commentary

Morally and economically, it's wrong for federal budget makers to go after the poor.
A U.S.-Colombia trade pact would not address, and might even reward, paramilitary violence.
Off-the-shelf renewable power can meet 100 percent of world need -- if we have the will.

Columns

In this fallen world we are often faced with imperfect choices in response to clear evil.
None of us is free until all of us are free.
Fracking is just one more way to keep from coming to terms with our addiction to fossil fuel.
I got accused of everything from turning my back on Christ to taking God out of the classroom!
Eventually, a Rapture prediction will come true, right?

Culture Watch

One man searches for balance between family and solitude, nature and technology.
Lauren F. Winner reviews The Furnace of Affliction: Prison and Religion in Antebellum America, by Jennifer Graber. UNC Press.
The mainstreaming of Rand is, in large part, the work of one man (and his money).
Digital Jesus: The Making of a New Christian Fundamentalist Community on the Internet, by Robert Glenn Howard. New York University Press.
Gareth Higgins reviews Submarine, Project Nim, and Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives.
Humanitarian, award winning actress, and best-selling author Ashley Judd reflects on her faith and "true calling" -- social justice activism.

Departments

The argument of "Taxes and the Common Good," by Chuck Collins (April 2011), is supported by none other than Adam Smith, the "father of capitalism." Like Collins, Smith criticizes extreme concentrat
The purpose of poetry is to remind us how difficult it is to remain just one person, for our house is open, there are no keys in the doors,
Using online and wireless communication to organize large, diverse groups of people has been a key component of the nonviolent Arab Spring uprisings.
Thank you for the excellent articles about Egypt's use of nonviolence in its successful liberation from the Mubarak regime ("The Surprising Power of Nonviolence," May 2011).
I'm rejoicing in the news from Egypt.
Could Doug Thorpe's meaningful "Living Waters" (April 2011) have been complemented by a fact file on the injustice caused by Israel's water control?
Reflections on the Revised Common Lectionary, Cycle A
To quote my husband on "The Surprising Power of Nonviolence" issue (May 2011): "Best cover ever."                &nbs
As an agrobiologist and faithful reader, I was disappointed that "For God So Loved the Dirt ... " by Norman Wirzba (April 2011) did not mention genetic engineering.

Web Extra

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