How do churches build immunity from racial and ethnic tensions that threaten to divide rather than unite congregations? Jacqui Lewis and John Janka believe that the answer lies in the development of multiracial, multicultural communities of faith.
read moreFinding peace through social justice.
read moreLast week, a CNN editor reached out to me and asked if I would write a piece for them regarding the crowd at President Trump’s rally in Greenville, North Carolina, that shouted “Send her back!” in response to his criticism of four Congresswomen. The editor wanted me to reflect on how Christians could justify chanting such a thing.
read moreThe treatment of “otherness” I experienced from my years of being bussed, I learned had less to do with the people targeted, like myself, and everything to do with the group in power.
read moreAll Rev’d Up explores where faith intersects politics and culture. Reverend Irene Monroe and Reverend Emmett Price III come from different black faith perspectives, they’re of different generations, they hail from different parts of the country and they come together in this podcast to talk about faith in a different way.
read moreFlunder uses examples of persons most marginalized by church and society to illustrate the use of village ethics–knowing where the boundaries are when all things are exposed–and village theology–giving everyone a seat at the central meeting place or welcome table.
read moreBased on a true story that gripped the country, When They See Us will chronicle the notorious case of five teenagers of color, labeled the Central Park Five, who were convicted of a rape they did not commit.
read moreIn A Joyful Path, Year Two, we focus on some of the main tenets of Progressive Christianity and Spirituality, giving our children the foundation they need to walk the path of Jesus in today’s world. It has stories and affirmations written to help children clarify their own personal beliefs while staying open to the wisdom of other traditions.
read moreCan we convince white people that their future will be better without racism? Can we convince them that there is a place for them in a more open, diverse, inclusive world?
read moreNobody wanna talk about it
She used to say I’m too dark, habibi
She used to say I’m too thick, habibi
But even then she was so thin, habibi
America continues to struggle with its battle against white racism. However, what’s not addressed is the internalized racism people of color struggle with, too consciously and unconsciously. And, it’s called “colorism” or “intra-racism.”
read moreWhen Paul dictated a paean to love in his message to Corinth, he was not thinking of wedding ceremonies; rather, he was imploring the community to overcome internal conflict.
read moreWestern standards of beauty currently dominate our world because we still live in the imperial model which continues to colonize and enslave. We resist white supremacy, “western” superiority and colonized ways of thinking and being by LOVING ourselves, generously, beautifully and joyfully in spite of any active or subliminal efforts to make us feel unworthy of love and life.
read moreInspired by a couplet written by the Greek poet, Dinos Christianopoulos, the rock group, Violet and the Undercurrents, wrote a song entitled “They Tried to Bury Us,” and Dr. Ray based an interactive Easter sermon on the music of Violet and the Undercurrents to produce a sermon about a revolutionary way to think about resurrection. Violet and the Undercurrents performed life in this service but we used their YouTube versions of their songs because of the quality of their professional recording.
read moreThe high holy holidays of Passover and Easter are fast approaching and Ramadan is in May. Attacks, however, on places of worship are becoming too frequent in this global climate of intolerance. As a worshiper, I need our president to make us safe.
read moreDespite Jesus’ prayer that all Christians “be one,” divisions have been epidemic in the body of Christ from the beginning to the present. We cluster in theological groups, gender groups, age groups, ethnic groups, educational and economic groups. We criticize freely those who disagree with us, don’t look like us, don’t act like us and don’t even like what we like.
read moreRev. David Felten interviewed Bishop John Shelby Spong on September 18, 2018 at his home in Virginia.
read moreI’ve been immersed in watching animated films these days along with my toddler. Two of the movies in our daily rotation include Trolls and Sing (both 2016). Both are very well done. Both went to great lengths to offer something for parents as well as for children. And both, I believe, made efforts to avoid negative racial and cultural stereotypes. Yet, in both movies, some unfortunate mistakes fell through the cracks.
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