Jim Wallis 10-31-2017

Yesterday, we saw the first wave of what is expected to be a much longer investigation into possible Russian collusion. And while reporters and pundits dig into the timeline, what struck me the most about the revelation is that the downfall of those named was lying — lying to federal agents about money and lying about contacts between representatives of the Russian government and representatives of the Donald Trump presidential campaign.

Abby Olcese 10-30-2017

George Clooney’s new film Suburbicon is very obviously a response to the MAGA line of thinking. The film uses two parallel stories to explore both the hidden nastiness of the archetypal white, suburban family, and the day-to-day racism faced by an African American family trying to achieve their own American dream. It’s a setup ripe with allegorical potential, but while Suburbicon is built on good bones, it’s an unfocused mess that wastes its opportunity.

the Web Editors 10-30-2017

"I am directing the Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of Homeland Security with respect to the U.S. Coast Guard, to return to the longstanding policy and practice on military service by transgender individuals that was in place prior to June 2016."

The second prayer request is for each member of the Special Counsel’s team. As Christians, we are instructed not just to pray for systemic issues, but for individual people. The Special Counsel team is not an amorphous blob — it is a set of veteran prosecutors.

Luther esteemed the Church of Ethiopia because he thought Ethiopia, located far beyond the orbit of the Roman Catholic Church, was the first nation in history to convert to Christianity.

In a move many Native American and religious groups have feared, President Trump reportedly will shrink the boundaries of Bears Ears National Monument in southeastern Utah.

The Salt Lake Tribune reported an account Oct. 27 from Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch’s office in which the president said: “I’m approving the Bears Ears recommendation for you, Orrin.”

Podcast   10-27-2017

As a teenager in the '60s, Jim's activism drove him from the church. His search for a deeper meaning in social justice brought him back. Listen to his story about conversion and bringing faith to public life.

10-27-2017

Scores of clergy have signed their names to statements opposing the white nationalist groups’ values. They have planned community prayer vigils celebrating diversity and advocating for unity. And, ahead of [the] Oct. 28 protest, they have sent a strong message that hate is not a religious value.

the Web Editors 10-27-2017

1. A Complicated Reformer

On the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, a look at some of the details of its most well-known leader’s life — a reformer, though far from modern: “Unless we appreciate his thought in its own, unfamiliar and often uncomfortable terms, we will not see what it might have to offer to us today.”

2. The Dark History Behind Letting Male ‘Geniuses’ Get Away with ‘Bad Behavior

“The convenient narrative by which male artists are able to claim that this case of seducing a young female artist is so special that it is unlike all the others that have come before it, or will come after, is exactly that — convenient. Not only is this untrue in a moral sense, it’s also historically untrue.”