No too long ago, a leader from a large, suburban faith community – one for which I have great respect – told me that they don’t discuss politics in his church. Its not allowed in the pulpit, he said, and the people who plan worship are very purposeful to avoid anything that might sound “political.”
On [...]

Andrew Stack was right to call for revolt. And, it isn’t altogether wrong-headed to believe that violence is the answer. After all, unjust systems don’t really change from internal “tweaking;” revolutionary action is required. And conventional wisdom holds that violence is a necessary part of revolt.

Living on Hope While Living in Babylon: The Christian Anarchists of the 20th Century
by Tripp York
Wipf and Stock / $17.00 US (list)
[Amazon] [Wipf and Stock]
The publication of Tripp York’s Living on Hope While Living in Babylon marks a significant contribution to the recently re-emerging interest in the connection between Christianity and anarchism and for that [...]

Goshen College president, Jim Brenneman, recently announced that the Mennonite college will begin to play the National Anthem at their sporting events. The move to overturn 114 years of resistance to the war song came in response to local pressure and press after 300 people — mostly non-Mennonites — contacted the school after hearing about [...]

One of the benefits of reading a wide spread of news sources is that very different publications seem to talk to each other. I found myself in the midst of an unintentional dialogue between Christianity Today and Dissident Voice a week or two ago, as they wrestled with some of the less comfortable implications of widespread adoption. This [...]

Maybe it’s just me, but I usually don’t associate the Prince of Peace with blowing off some guy’s head.

Today, according to some accounts, is the Feast of the Holy Innocents. The Holy Innocents are those boys under the age of two who Herod (out of fear of coming King of the Jews) killed in Bethlehem. Many traditions regard these masacred children to be the first martyrs, for they (in a very literal sense) [...]

Traditional kingship (with absolute power, hoards of wealth, and power over the weak) has nothing to do Jesus; it’s something Jesus rejected (John 6:15). Traditional kings demand allegiance and servitude, but Jesus is about liberation—from suffering, sickness and death, exclusion, persecution, and our own sin. Jesus is a “king” who serves the “least of these”, [...]

This is called MY introduction rather than AN introduction due to the fact that everyone is unique and has their own take on these ideas. It would be misleading to assume that I could posit an introduction to these ideas that would be collective, embodying the thoughts of all people dealing with these issues, and [...]

What if? What if Obama’s speech had not simply referenced Gandhi and King but followed them in following the way of Jesus? I have a number of friends like Nobel Prize nominee John Dear and Ken Butigan who has articulately raised concerns about Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr’s teachings [...]

As he taught he said, “Beware of the scribes … they devour widows houses … ” He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two copper coins, which are worth a penny. Then he [...]

Editor’s Note: In the first half of 2009, almost 1.9 million foreclosure filings have been reported. Millions more are at least one month behind on their home payments. If foreclosures continue at current rates, over 9 million homes will enter foreclosure by 2012. While there are some indications of an economic rebound, with unemployment [...]

Health care. No other two words have stirred up so many emotions as these lately. Some say health care is a right; others say it’s only a privilege. Some believe that there should be a government-run “public option”; others say it will only expand government control. But where should we, as Christians, [...]

Recently, I launched our discussion on Islam with a challenge for Christians to fast and pray and engage with their communities alongside their Muslim neighbors. Today I’ll step backward a little and attempt to give a brief overview of Islam itself, who modern Muslims are, and why the terms are less homogeneous than many realize.
Islam [...]

Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for a man to humble himself?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
and for lying on sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD ?
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the [...]

As with many people who grew up in rural areas, it was while I was in college that I first knew a gay person.  A friend of mine came out to me during my junior year in college because I had spent a year in a metropolitan area and he sensed that I was now [...]

On this day 64 years ago, the US vaporized thousands and poisoned hundreds of thousands with radiation in Hiroshima. On August 6, 1945, the first atomic bomb (nicknamed Little Boy) was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Over 70,000 residents were incinerated. Several days later, on August 9, a second bomb (nicknamed Fat Man) [...]

Editor’s Note: I’ve been going through some previously submitted articles (I’ve realized a number have fallen through the cracks) and found the following thought-provoking article. It is, I hope, the first of a number of articles exploring the topic of homosexuality and the way of Jesus. For the remainder of August, JM welcomes submissions exploring [...]