Race
We often speak of 'loving our neighbors,' but it's really hard when we don't even know our neighbors. I see this to be a growing problem -- not just in the Church but our larger society. Why is it so hard to meet and grow with our neighbors?
"Dallas needs this."
Those are the two statements Aaron Graham (Sojourners' Justice Revival Coordinator) and I heard over and over again as we visited pastors and other community leaders all over the city, lifting up the vision of a Dallas Justice Revival.
For many in the US, Halloween is a time to dress-up as a character from a movie, a politician, a witch, vampire, and
One of the big conversations in my household this year has revolved around the question of whether my 9-year-old daughter is ready to get her hair "permed." Some girls at her school have already been initiated into the world of relaxed hair, so the peer pressure is in effect.
Photo via Gurgen Bakhshetsyan / Shutterstock.com
As an explorer, Columbus was not the first to reach the Western Hemisphere. Native Americans had been here for 10,000-20,000 years, and Vikings and Chinese are among those others who hold prior claims. Even after four attempts, Columbus never realized his goal of finding a western ocean route to Asia. As a “founding father type figure” he never set foot in what is now considered America but landed in the present day Bahamas, Cuba, and Haiti.
As a Christian example he enacted terrible cruelties to friendly natives: assuming unlawful rights of authority; robbing and subjugating whole nations of their freedom and entire capital; allowing his men to rape, murder and pillage at will; and deliberately leading the way for the genocide of millions, considered by many to be the worst demographic catastrophe in recorded history.
So why do Americans celebrate Columbus Day?