I am asking you to hold fast to that faith written into our founding documents; that idea whispered by slaves and abolitionists; that spirit sung by immigrants and homesteaders and those who marched for justice; that creed reaffirmed by those who planted flags from foreign battlefields to the surface of the moon; a creed at the core of every American whose story is not yet written:
Yes We Can.
Yes We Did.
Yes We Can.
On Jan. 10 a federal jury sentenced Dylann Roof to death for the fatal shooting of nine African American parishioners, reports CNN. The shooting took place in the basement of the parishioners' church — the historic Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C. — in June 2015.
Roof’s sentencing comes after family and friends of the nine churchgoers publicly expressed their forgiveness of his actions, and others called for Roof to not receive the death penalty.
Religion is increasingly viewed as highly politicized, not least due to the way that it is frequently covered in the news. Numerous studies have shown that news stories with emotional cues tend to both gain audience attention and prolong audience engagement.
It may therefore come as no surprise that online debates about religion are packed with emotional cues that evoke strong reactions from those who participate in them. This sets the stage for passionate online debates.
The election of Barack Obama to the presidency of the United States was a fundamental blow to white supremacy — a black man in the highest office of the land and most powerful position in the world. That was and will always be a great legacy of the Obama presidency — a historic moment in the longstanding and ongoing movement to undo white supremacy and privilege that challenged and threatened all the ways the original sin still lingers.
“This magnificent grace, this expansive grace, this ‘Amazing Grace’ calls me to reflect. And it calls me to pray. It calls me to ask God for forgiveness, for the times that I’ve not shown grace to others, those times that I’ve fallen short.”
The Obama administration consistently underwent robust stakeholder engagement surrounding all initiatives, including any potential monument designation. The love that communities show for these new monuments evidences our collective ownership of them as national treasures. I am grateful that the Obama administration’s public lands agenda sent a clear message that diversity and inclusion matter, and I believe future administrations have much to learn from their example. In fact, I am part of a coaltion that is asking President Obama to issue a Presidential Memorandum which would transmit the values of diversity and inclusion to public lands agencies. May the stories enshrined in the national monuments of the Obama years nourish us for struggles in the years to come.
Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions' Senate confirmation hearing for attorney general begins this week. On Monday, Jan. 9, faith leaders marched to the Capitol to pray and protest his confirmation in light of the senator's stances on the Voting Rights Act, immigration, and other issues. Faith leaders delivered a petition written by Christian theologians opposing Sessions' nomination, which had received more than 4,000 signatures by the afternoon of Jan. 9. Here, some of those theologians offer alternate testimony for consideration by the Senate Judiciary Committee as they interrogate Sessions' record.
Sessions has long been, in the words of one prominent immigration advocate, the “most anti-immigrant senator in the chamber.” When George W. Bush, a self-styled “compassionate conservative” and born-again Christian, pushed a comprehensive immigration reform bill in 2007 that was supported by many business and law-enforcement officials, Sessions railed against what he called the “no illegal alien left behind bill” and led the charge against the failed effort. “Good fences make good neighbors,” he said at a press conference the year before.
Calvary Baptist Church, a progressive Baptist landmark in the heart of downtown Washington, has named a gay couple as co-pastors.
Sally Sarratt and Maria Swearingen were presented to the congregation during worship services on Jan. 8 and will begin their new jobs on Feb. 26.
We have lost touch with the deep significance of work by separating the dignity, creativity, and livelihood of work from the individual person. In today’s emphasis on consumer capitalism — results and products — we have forgotten the interconnectedness of all our work, and the way we are baptized into the human community and live out that baptism through participating in purposeful work with our hands and feet.