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The United Nations Population Fund estimates that as many as 5,000 women and girls are killed annually by their families in so-called “honor killings.” But nobody is jumping up and down screaming, “THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS AN HONOR KILLING!” And dammit, someone should be.

Dorothy Day at the Catholic Worker offices, circa 1969. (Getty Images)

At the National Prayer Breakfast, President Obama named Dorothy Day as a “great reformer in American history." Who woulda thunk it? This is the same woman J. Edgar Hoover once called a "threat to national security."

Tim Tebow on the sidelines at the Broncos- Packers game, 1/12/12. (Getty Images)

Whether it's a matter of faith, common decency or just good manners, Tebow's choice not to disrobe for Jockey isn't a reason for anyone else to get his (or her) undies in a bundle.

Missouri State University Sociologist John Schmalzbauer.

Retired political scientist Lyman Kellstedt says there is no single way to define the term "evangelical." But this does not mean we can redefine evangelicalism in our own image. While dreaming of what evangelicals might become, we must take a hard look at who they are.

Eric James Borges. Photo via Facebook.

In the suicide note he left, 19-year-old Eric James Borges wrote:

"My pain is not caused because I am gay. My pain was caused by how I was treated because I am gay."

 

Eric Metaxas speaks at the National Prayer Breakfast. (Getty Images)

Wes Granberg-Michaelson attended Thursday's National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. "My worry always has been that such a gathering merely sprinkles holy water on the nation’s powerful leaders without any real accountability to the prophetic message of the Gospel," he writes.

On The Blog

  • They may not be as large as Catholics or as active as evangelicals, but white mainline Protestants have a big thing going for them this election cycle: they are divided, and possibly persuadable. That's according to a new poll released today (2/2/12), which found white mainline Protestants are more evenly split between President Obama and his Republican challengers than other religious groups.
  • In the name of “fiscal responsibility,” the Tea Party-led House GOP passed H.R. 1956, a bill that takes cash from the hands of America’s poorest working families in order to protect the richest of the rich.
  • While not every man has committed a crime of violence against women, all men are responsible to make sure such crimes end. The statistics show that rape and assault are not isolated incidents but rather are a consistent and constant part of our society and culture.
  • While Bill and Melinda Gates don't wear their religiosity or spiritual predilections on their sleeves, they most certainly are doing God's work, intervening to care for and advocate on behalf of the poorest of the poor — the "least of these" among us about whom Jesus spoke.
  • President Obama connected his faith with his policies toward the poor at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday (2/2/12), a subtle but sharp contrast to remarks made by presidential hopeful Mitt Romney the day before.
  • We're not sure whether they were inspired by Sojourners’ ongoing "What Is An Evangelical" series, but TIME Magazine has published an interesting set of short articles from influential conservatives.
  • I understand the interest in us evangelicals, I really do. The way much of the mainstream media covers our communities in the news can make us seem like a puzzling subspecies of the American population, not unlike the Rocky Mountain long-haired yeti. Are we really that difficult to comprehend? In a word, yes.

In The Magazine

  • Hugo, Take Shelter, and The Mill and the Cross have little in common on the surface other than their quality; look deeper and you may find love-filled, theologically profound, hopeful invitations to live better.

  • Caught in the crossfire of army, guerrilla, and paramilitary forces, women, farmers, and Indigenous leaders in Colombia fight bravely for the right to live.

  • A Quaker community in North Carolina reaches out to its Muslim neighbors.

  • The apostle writes his letter to folks who are feeling anxious, worried, insecure, and unsettled. They don’t know what the future holds for their lives, the church, their well-being, their community. Sound familiar?

  • Chinese churches face off against human trafficking -- and start to see social justice as part of their mission.

  • What will it take to shut down "Satan's marketplace," the global slave trade? Every weapon in the arsenal of nonviolence.

Put Your Faith In Action

Featured Resource

RISE

I see you dreaming by the ocean window

I hear you breathing like the waves upon the shore

The tide is turning on your time of sorrow

You will never be so lonesome any more



The breezes whisper as the curtain dances

Your dreams are deeper than the mystery of the sea

The sun itself is in the room beside you

With a message of how good your life can be



I know that a heart can just get buried

Stone by stone,  crushing hope until it dies

Far away,  but the message somehow carries

Beloved,  it is time for you to rise.
 

(from the song "Rise" by David Wilcox)