Emily McFarlan Miller reports An entire Lutheran denomination has declared itself a ‘sanctuary church body,’ signaling support for immigrants: The action was part of a prayer vigil for migrant children and their families during the ELCA Churchwide Assembly this week at Milwaukee’s Wisconsin Center. It took place on the same day the Evangelical Lutheran Church…
Faith
America, Bigotry, Cruelty, Faith, Immigration, Migrants, Trump
Moral Monday at the Borderlands
by JOHN ADAMS •
From Facebook: Moral Monday at the Borderlands: Faith leaders, congressional leaders and people whose conscience compels them, come together to demand an end to child detention; that all refugees seeking asylum are granted due process; that that the 14th Amendment granting equal protection under the law for all persons is upheld; that human rights are…
Babbittry, Boosterism, City, Culture, Faith, Philosophy
That’s Been Done for Generations
by JOHN ADAMS •
The Atlantic has a story, from Faith Hill (not the singer, obviously), about how gatherings of atheists in Secular Churches Rethink Their Sales Pitch (‘They Tried to Start a Church Without God. For a While, It Worked). These groups are learning – like all civic groups – that it’s hard to sustain membership. There’s nothing…
Ethics, Faith
A Scriptural Reminder
by JOHN ADAMS •
Faith, Fortitude
Worthy Resilience
by JOHN ADAMS •
Three Louisiana churches destroyed by arson face a long road to rebuilding. But on Easter Sunday, the healing process began.
Faith, Holiday
Happy Easter 2019
by JOHN ADAMS •
Faith, Immigration, Law, Trump
‘Christians Build Bridges, Not Walls’
by JOHN ADAMS •
In Texas, a white adobe chapel built in 1899 on the banks of the Rio Grande sits in the proposed path of President Donald Trump’s border wall. A Border Patrol agent stands sentry yards away. A military helicopter—part of Trump’s troop surge at the border—drowns out Father Roy Snipes. It’s akin to “saying Mass in…
Faith, Politics
Who Said It Better: Falwell or Christ?
by JOHN ADAMS •
A poor person never gave anyone a job. A poor person never gave anybody charity, not of any real volume. It’s just common sense to me. — Jerry Falwell Jr. can’t imagine Trump ‘doing anything that’s not good for the country’. 41 He sat down opposite the treasury and observed how the crowd put…
City, Faith, Local Government
Humility in Discerning God’s Will
by JOHN ADAMS •
One hopes – sometimes in fulfillment, sometimes in vain – that the simple circumstances of a small town might encourage humility in discernment. In the course of listening to politics, one may encounter a local politics that is grandiose where it should be plain. Indeed, local claims of this kind may arrogate to people and…
Faith, Holiday
Happy Easter 2018
by JOHN ADAMS •
Embed from Getty Images Palestinian Christian youth carry candles during Easter prayers at the Church of Saint Porphyrius in Gaza City on April 1, 2018.
America, City, Culture, Faith, Local Government, Politics, School District, That Which Paved the Way, Trump, University
Rabbi Sharon Brous’s Advice for Small Towns (and Everywhere, Really)
by JOHN ADAMS •
Over at The Atlantic, there’s an interview with Rabbi Sharon Brous, the senior rabbi at IKAR, a non-denominational synagogue in California. See ‘I’ve Spent My Life Studying These Books That Say Decency Actually Matters.’ Rabbi Brous describes religious belief among progressives in contemporary America, and two of her observations are particularly suited even to Whitewater…
Faith, Holiday
Easter 2017
by JOHN ADAMS •
From Pope Francis’s Twitter account (@Pontifex) this morning — Happy Easter! May you bring to all the joy and hope of the Risen Christ! pic.twitter.com/SB50xA3Gp5 — Pope Francis (@Pontifex) April 16, 2017
America, Authoritarianism, Ethnicity, Faith, Law, Liberty
Against a Registry
by JOHN ADAMS •
Faith, Politics
The Rev. William Barber at the Democratic National Convention
by JOHN ADAMS •
I watched the national conventions of both major parties, although I am a member of neither. Of the many speeches over many days, some were exceptional. The one from the Rev. William Barber, for example, is worth watching, either for the first time or again. The Rev. Barber’s political views, to be sure, sometimes (but…
