We are in the midst of a strange election season, to say the least. I have heard more people say, “I’m just not voting,” or “I don’t have anyone to vote for,” in this election than in any other in my lifetime. In an extremely polarized society, perhaps the one
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In March 1948, theologian Reinhold Niebuhr graced the cover of Time. His appearance came at the end of two decades in which Niebuhr had risen to cultural prominence not just as a religious thinker, but also as one of the country’s foremost political leaders. Mainline Protestantism was riding high, and
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Growing up in Kansas, it was virtually impossible to learn about American politics free of a certain partisan slant. Bob Dole was ever-present: I remember voting for him in our kindergarten mock election in 1996 (Yes, they had the kindergartners voting—I’m still unsure why). And even into the early 2000s
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(Because Real Discourse Requires…) The September 6 issue of The New York Times featured an Op Ed article by David Brooks who exposed Donald Trump’s mis, dis, and simply false information about the effects of immigration on American life. But David had begun his article with something generic and anterior
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A Pentecost Sermon Preached May 15, 2016 Texts: Genesis 11:1-9, Acts 2:1-21 In the story of the Tower of Babel, humanity has come together under a single vision. They speak only one language. They are powerful and ambitious. Their goal is to build a glittering monoculture symbolized by a great
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So we all know how we are supposed to pay attention to the 2016 election. Watch CNN or Fox or MSNBC at least six hours a day for the latest breaking “news alerts.” Feel outrage. Follow the polls and see how they are moving, preferably every day. Feel anxious. Retweet
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Editor’s Note: The following article was originally published as the lead article in the September/October 2008 issue of The Progressive Christian and later appeared as the lead article in Faith & the Common Good: The Best of Zion’s Herald and The Progressive Christian, 200-2011, A Limited Collectors’ Edition (ed. Stephen
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Poster-Cult for Total War Almost daily, the media calls our attention to the horrendous behavior of a group known as ISIS. We are rightly concerned about the threat this group poses to the quality of life as we know it. However, discussions of ISIS seem to focus more on the
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I was in Russia when the first sanctions against her were announced about two years ago, and looking back today, it’s far from clear those sanctions have “worked” in the way they were intended. Russia is still involved in Ukraine’s civil war because Ukraine has always been within Russia’s traditional
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The upcoming General Assembly (2016) will act on “Risking Peace in a Violent World and the Five Affirmations,” as recommended by the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy. The Report and the Five Affirmations are a substantial move toward strengthening the PC(USA) witness for peace. The report has been six
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