Faith and Politics
For [a king] delivers the needy when they call, the poor and those who have no helper. He has pity on the weak and the needy, and saves the lives of the needy. From oppression and violence he redeems their life; and precious is their blood in his sight.
- Psalms 72:12-14
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As an act of love, prayer is a courageous act. It is a risk we take. It is a life-and-death risk, believing in the promises of the gospel, that God's love is indeed operative in the world. In prayer we have the courage, perhaps even the presumption and the arrogance or the audacity to claim that God's love can be operative in the very specific situations of human need that we encounter.
- John E. Biersdorf
excerpt from Healing of Purpose.
Yesterday we had a meeting at the Iranian Foreign Ministry headquarters, in some of the most beautiful and historic buildings I have ever visited. I wish I were able to send a picture to show you all the beautiful architecture and attention to detail in the craftsmanship of the building. Our meeting was with the Deputy Foreign Minister for Europe and the United States, a very senior level official [...]
We have been keeping quite a schedule here in Iran, meeting with various religious leaders, government officials, and visiting historic and cultural sites. We have had two dialogue sessions with Muslim clerics in the last two days, both of which were very interesting. The first dialogue was at the Center for Islamic Culture and Information [...]
OK, I'll be honest. I'm ambivalent about Mormonism, and, be it Mitt Romney or any other Mormon, I'm ambivalent about the idea of voting for a Mormon. And I'll bet that a lot of Christians, if they're honest too, agree with me.
My ambivalence stems, I suppose, from my ignorance. I'm [...]
Apparently there was something about Jim's tone in his last post that struck a nerve within the progressive faith blogosphere. From Pastor Dan:
...there's a whole constellation of faithful people in the netroots who have been working these issues out while Jim Wallis has been
Also, watch the panel discussion with Pat Buchanan and Peter Fenn that follows Jim's interview - he and his ideas are mentioned several times:
As I mentioned on Wednesday, I will be participating in a delegation of 13 religious leaders who will be leaving tomorrow, Feb. 17, for a trip to Iran. Our delegation, which is [...]
E. Ethelbert Miller, who has been called "Washington D.C.'s unofficial poet laureate," recently interviewed Melissa Tuckey, a poet and activist involved in DC Poets Against the War. (I was lucky to have a poem published in the [...]
I knew I was asking for it by writing a post about choosing one's words carefully. One reader hit the nail mostly on the head, while making a general appeal for fairness:
Well isn't the key whether it is the kind of comment one might make about a white contender? But there is the additional factor that words might sound different depending upon the stereotypes surrounding [...]
"God weeps," Archbishop Tutu told participants in the ecumenical gathering near the conclusion of the World Social Forum in Nairobi, "and says, 'Who will help me so we can have a different kind of world, one [...]
A Sojourners/Call to Renewal contingent joined the thousands at Saturday's peace rally on the National Mall. On March 16, in observance of the fourth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, we're also helping to organize a worship [...]
Click on the image below to see video of Jim Wallis among religous, cultural, and political leaders from around the world engaging in a forum titled, "Rules for a Global Neighbourhood in a Multicultural World" at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. They even gave Jim the last word...
After all of the pundits and commentators were done picking apart President Bush's State of the Union address, one glaring point had still not been made. In 49 minutes, President Bush barely uttered the words "poverty" or "the poor." It's as though our president has taken Jesus' words in Matthew ("the poor you will always have with you") to justify making scant mention of their crushing needs in what is arguably the most important political speech of the year. How did this omission sound to the [...]
After all of the pundits and commentators were done picking apart President Bush's State of the Union address, one glaring point had still not been made. In 49 minutes, President Bush barely uttered the words "poverty" or "the poor." It's as though our president has taken Jesus' words in Matthew ("the poor you will always have with you") to justify making scant mention of their crushing needs in what is arguably the most important political speech of the year. How did this omission sound to the [...]
After all of the pundits and commentators were done picking apart President Bush's State of the Union address, one glaring point had still not been made. In 49 minutes, President Bush barely uttered the words "poverty" or "the poor." It's as though our president has taken Jesus' words in Matthew ("the poor you will always have with you") to justify making scant mention of their crushing needs in what is arguably the most important political speech of the year. How did this omission sound to the [...]
DAVOS, Switzerland - The first comments I heard in response to President Bush's State of the Union message were from a diverse group of business, political, media, and civil society leaders from all over the world, gathered in Davos, Switzerland, for the World [...]
Active duty service members are saying no to Bush's proposed escalation of the war in Iraq. On January 16, to commemorate Martin Luther King day, messages are being delivered to Congress from more than 1,000 active duty and Guard and Reserve service members who are opposed to the war in Iraq and have signed the
I see little or no value to weighing in on the subject of capital punishment. People have their opinions and relatively few seem interested in changing them. But I would like to express in personal terms how I felt after the news coverage of Saddam Hussein's hanging. I'd like to share it especially [...]