Down on the Ashram

When men are laid off, yes; when women are laid off, no.

This post is my transcription of a recent lecture by Ted Jennings, with some minor additions, posted with his permission. Latin America has a unique situation that distinguishes the theology that i…

The Color Purple traces the life of the protagonist Celie through her own words via her correspondence first with God and then with her sister Nettie. Alice Walker narrates Celie’s journey towards …

I’ve always had mixed feelings about George W. I voted for him once (his second term) and coming from Texas had something of an emotional tie to the former President. Not only that, but I like him. I naively believe, of all the former Presidents, he and I would get along the best. I’d rather sit in a duck blind with a dog and George W. than with anybody else. I think we’d get along. If only he drank beer. That said, I wonder at times if his Presidency didn’t get swayed too strongly by Dick Cheney and the whole Neo-Con control machine (without which he would not have gotten elected). It’s a shame, really. W. may have done more for the continent of Africa than any other President, at least from a foreign policy/financial perspective. Despite popular belief, he was a strong advocate for the poor and marginalized. And I like the fact he wanted to lower taxes, but I hate the fact he increased the national debt

A former student’s account of coming out at Liberty University

Gay marriage is a lightning rod issue these days. We talk with bridge-builder Andrew Marin about how the church can respond to this issue without getting burned.

Sunday morning church services are still a very segregated hour. Is that okay? Is it okay for white American Christians to go celebrate God at one church and black American Christians to go celebrate God in another church? Should changing that reality be on our radar, an idea on our to-do list? I honestly don’t know the answer to that question.

I ached as I stood over the casket preaching Marcus’€™s eulogy. I had known and worked with Marcus for 15 years before he was killed when four bullets found his body while stopping to buy diapers for his child. Sometimes in life, you are in the right place at the right time€” and other times you find yourself in the middle of gun fight. I told the family and friends who had gathered, “€œGOD IS PISSED OFF AND SO AM I. We are not supposed to be here today! We are to be celebrating college graduations, birthdays, and weddings, not mourning at the funeral of a 24-year-old son, dad, nephew, and cousin.” The reality of my ministry in Chicago is that I have story after story of young men who have been a part of my world and life who have been both victims and shooters. Yet, every time tragedy strikes, the pain is the same. If you have never held a mother, father, or crying child who has had to bury a family member because of gun violence, you might not understand the need to make the to

The implications of allowing women to teach “indirectly.”

A few days ago, country music star Brad Paisley teamed up with rapper LL Cool J to release a twangy inter-disciplinary apologia for the wearing of the Stars and Bars.In the oddly entitled “Accident…