Hearing about the news of James Dobson’s death reminded me of a conversation I recently had with my sister while we were making our way to an Ethel Cain concert.
We were conversing as we hurried to the car, excited to profess our love to Willoughby Tucker, and I told my sister she was the only reason I knew about Ethel Cain—whose real name is Hayden Anhedönia. We then indulged in some cynical jokes about the “woke” impulse to cancel Anhedönia because of old social media posts, which she has since apologized for and described as “deeply shameful and embarrassing.”
Last week, I returned from vacation to find more than 2,100 National Guard troops in my city, our nation’s capital, deployed from the district and six other states at a cost estimated to be upwards of $1 million a day.
As I walked from Union Station to our nearby offices, I was filled with righteous anger—not at the National Guard troops who were milling around, simply following orders, but toward the Trump administration’s wasteful, political stunt of misusing emergency powers granted to the president with dire consequences.
It’s not just the optics of Humvees parked outside Union Station or soldiers in desert camouflage patrolling the National Mall; an ever-present sense of menace has settled over many parts of the city, especially for many Black and brown people and others whose identities or circumstances make them vulnerable to over-policing. It’s unmarked cars directly outside bilingual childcare centers, and nannies asking to be escorted to and from their jobs. It’s also the presence of vested, armed, and often masked federal agents on our streets—all too often, we see them because they are taking a person of color into custody. It’s hearing that a former colleague couldn’t worship at their church because ICE was parked outside the sanctuary doors. It means having to go through militarized checkpoints in some of D.C.’s most popular areas for nightlife, such as U Street, and in neighborhoods with a high concentration of Latinos and immigrants, such as Columbia Heights.
Faith in Public Life, a nonprofit that organizes clergy and faith leaders toward progressive causes, laid off 90% of its staff, CEO Jeanné Lewis confirmed to Sojourners.
Lewis said the decision, which reduced FPL’s staff from 19 to just two on Aug. 1, was both strategic and financial, in response to changes from institutional philanthropy and grant-makers. FPL and its sister organization, Faith in Public Life Action—which Lewis also heads—will scale back programming as a result of the shift.
As part of an investigation into the Trump administration’s dangerous Anti-Christian Bias Task Force, Americans United for Separation of Church and State today filed a federal Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the U.S. Department of State.
God is not up in heaven thinking up bad things to happen to you. He loves you so much and only wants the best for you. But sometimes that means you have to go through a little bit of pain and heartache. But if you trust him and you love him, he will not let you down.
These words of comfort were given by James Dobson to a young girl in an episode of a Christian radio drama created by his organization. Within these few short sentences, you can find the entirety of Dobson’s ideology: God’s love entangled with the necessity of His punishment.
Two children were killed and 17 other people were injured on Wednesday after a gunman opened fire on schoolchildren who were attending Mass at a Minneapolis Catholic school, authorities said.
The assailant, wielding a rifle, a shotgun and a pistol, fired dozens of rounds through the church windows, officials said. The shooter then took his own life, they said.
Full disclosure: It’s entirely possible you wouldn’t be reading this interview right now if not for its subject. Let me explain.
In 2013, Jemar Tisby and Phillip Holmes, co-founder of the organization then known as the Reformed African American Network, started a podcast called Pass the Mic.
James Dobson, the Christian family psychologist and media mogul who became one of the key architects of the Religious Right, has passed away.
At his height, Dobson’s influence was vast. His Colorado-based organization Focus on the Family helped build American evangelicals into a political monolith. He enjoyed access to the highest levels of Republican administrations—so much so that the New York Times dubbed him “the nation’s most influential evangelical leader” in 2005. He served on President Donald Trump’s evangelical advisory board in 2016 and supported his re-election bid in 2020.
As a former strong-willed child, I’ve had the notion of James Dobson’s mortality in the back of my mind for the last half-decade or so.
I was not expecting a few tears to fall at the news of his death at age 89, but they showed up anyway. Even though this guy hadn’t hurt me for decades, it felt like a relief. I know he inflicted damage on millions of others that might never fade, but his death made it feel like Earth had just become a little less cruel.
When I am acclimating myself to my neighbors, one of the things I enjoy doing is asking them how they came to be my neighbors. You never really know people’s backgrounds, and it’s always interesting to see people light up at the opportunity to tell you a bit about themselves. Very often, both in Washington D.C. and my home state of Texas, I’ll run into people from Ethiopia.
When I went to college in Austin, I got to know a lot of people whose families came from Ethiopia. In getting to know them, I learned about the conflicts that have forced people to leave their homes and to obtain protection under Temporary Protected Status in 2022 due to the nation’s ongoing wars and humanitarian crises. The TPS designation allows migrants to temporarily live in the U.S. when they cannot return to their countries safely, often due to dire circumstances. For the people I met from Ethiopia, TPS offered an escape from physical danger and a chance to thrive here in the U.S. while working to end the conflict back home and caring for their loved ones as best they can.