Undeterred by violence over the planned removal of a Confederate statue in Charlottesville, Va., municipal leaders in cities across the United States said this week they would step up efforts to pull such monuments from public spaces.
On Friday, I traveled to Charlottesville, Va., to bear witness. What I saw there deeply unsettled me. White supremacists, gathered for a rally at a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, boldly manifested the evil legacy of America’s original sin. Unfolding in streets throughout the city the heritage of whiteness was revealed in full display. Perhaps most disturbing was the unashamed nature of this hate-filled display: In 2017, white supremacists wear no hoods.
And our best chance at fighting supremacy on a daily basis is to know who we are, to know the truth of what we are called to be in the name of Jesus — based on his peace, his shalom, his justice, and based on the fact that all people are equally valuable in their own skin and own cultures. This forces us to take a look at our missionary ideologies, at the way we view light and darkness and what we teach from our pulpits and in our bible studies. It forces us to recognize that people who are outside the institutional church are doing the good work of Jesus, too, and we learn from them.
Photographer Heather Wilson accompanied dozens of faith leaders from a Friday night worship service to the streets of Charlottesville. Click through for her images of clergy presence in Charlottesville this weekend.
On this episode, our Associate Web Editor, @dhanyaddanki, talks to three of the 18 arrested death penalty abolitionists about why they fight against capital punishment.
The crowd that night believed something precious had been “stolen” from them as Christians. And it had to be “reclaimed.”
That long ago bitter sermon provides a warning as Americans ponder this question: Was the lethal violence in Charlottesville a one-time event, or does it represent the future of an America religiously and politically at war with itself?
At least one vehicle hit a crowd of people gathered in Charlottesville, Va., on Saturday, hours after police broke up a clash between white nationalists and counter-protesters, according to witnesses.
Can you imagine one of the white supremacists in Charlottesville, Va., making this same argument for the swastika, somehow trying to suggest that it isn't a display of hate but of the heritage of the ancient Hindu principle of "making of goodness"?
The evening before a scheduled rally of thousands of white nationalists in Charlottesville, Va., marchers carrying torches clashed with counter-protesters on the University of Virginia campus.
1. Inside the Faith-Led Counter-Protest to Charlottesville’s White Supremacist Rally
Starting this evening, clergy are gathering in Charlottesville, Va., to pray and protest the “Unite the Right” rally scheduled for this weekend.
2. How Fossil Fuel Money Made Climate Change Denial the Word of God
The story behind evangelicals’ resistance to climate science.