"We hereby charge Jefferson Beauregard Sessions...professing member and/or active participant of Ashland Place United Methodist Church and Clarendon United Methodist Church, with the chargeable offenses of: child abuse...immorality...racial discrimination"
Being a citizen of a society requires work from everyone within that society, writes Courtney Ariel. It is up to you whether you choose to acknowledge the work that is yours to do.
When love is the way, poverty will become history.
When love is the way, the Earth will be a sanctuary.
When love is the way, there's plenty good room—plenty good room—for all God's children.
@PB_Curry
Mary Oliver, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, died today at age 83. "To live in this world, you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal; to hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it; and, when the time comes to let it go," wrote Oliver in 1983.
Jesus is Lord. That is our foundational confession. If Jesus is Lord, then Caesar is not. We will not be silent.
#ReclaimJesus
[Full video and statement at ]
2020 candidate
@AndrewYang
breaks down the biggest challenges he'd take on as president, including the climate crisis, crumbling infrastructure, and how AI and automation will fundamentally change the global economy
"I believe you." A message from faith leaders for survivors. Watch the full video here
View more messages from faith leaders and resources for your church at
Rev. William Barber II said Sen. Joe Manchin is committing “political violence” toward those experiencing poverty and who’ve financially struggled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"My target audience is a 15-year-old kid, male or female or transgender, who is in his/her/their bedroom, wondering if God loves them and if there’s a place for them in the church,”
@JamesMartinSJ
told Sojourners.
"'Christianity has been co-opted by people who have a political agenda, and have a very particular narrative that is steeped in racism, and classism, and sexism, and all of these other forms of oppression,' she tells me."
The day before Taylor Schumann's bridal shower, she was at work when a young man came in with a gun and a plan to kill as many people as possible. Schumann was forced to flee to a closet, where she discovered her left hand had been mangled by bullets.
"Seven years ago this month, Trayvon Martin, an unarmed 17-year-old high school student, was shot and killed in Sanford, Fla." writes
@jimwallis
. "What does the killing of Trayvon Martin and its aftermath tell us about the United States today"
Christian spirituality idealizes stillness, silence, and other practices that are tough with ADHD. But there are other ways to experience God's presence, writes Jenna DeWitt.
It’s not enough to protest one policy as though it's an isolated act and the rest of it is acceptable. We must challenge the supremacy that underlies it, the heartlessness that enacts it, and the religious perversion that blesses it.
1/
#GOPTaxBill
passage will create a shift in the social safety net as we have known it, and it will signal a change that government will no longer care for the needs of the poor — the criteria that the biblical prophets demand of all those who rule.
"In 2017 ... We articulated the need for Christians to engage in honest and courageous theological reflection in the face of the threat posed by his leadership. Over the last three years, the need for such discernment has grown more urgent."
Bonhoeffer's first warning about the dangers of a leader who makes an idol of himself came in a radio address delivered in February 1933, just two days after Hitler took office.
"For the vast majority of us — Christian or not — the religious nationalism Trump binge drinks when he’s feeling politically vulnerable is really bad," writes
@wilsonhartgrove
.
"Denis Mukwege, a doctor who helps victims of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Nadia Murad, a Yazidi rights activist and survivor of sexual slavery by Islamic State, won the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday."
Catholics not only contributed to the platform for the so-called alt-righters who terrorized Charlottesville and killed Heather Heyer, but are leaders and even founders of the most dangerous neo-Nazi groups in existence, writes Eric Martin.
"The Trump administration’s assassination of Iran’s Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani on Thursday is a massive foreign policy blunder — one that takes away the power of the American people."
"There have been times when I have confused the kingdom of God with the American way of life..but the kingdom of God is not the same as America, and our nation is subject to the judgment of God just as much as any other nation." Remembering Billy Graham.
"Jesus was the first activist that I knew, and the first organizer that I knew, and the first example of how to be in service to people." -
@TaranaBurke
, Founder of
#MeToo
.
@Sandi
will lead Sojourners’ dynamic brand of Christian social justice news and commentary, continuing to grow Sojourners’ readership and further expanding our voice and strengthen our talented team of writers, editors, videographers, and strategists.
Jesus loves everyone. But he went out of his way to intentionally help specific groups of people—the alienated, mistreated, and those facing injustice.
Instead of saying all lives matter, Jesus said, “Samaritan lives matter.”
Instead of saying all lives matter, Jesus said, “Children’s lives matter.”
Instead of saying all lives matter, Jesus said, “Gentile lives matter.”
After losing the race for governor of Georgia in 2018, Stacey Abrams aimed higher—and took on the system of voter suppression that she faced in the process.
"Why is it politically viable to ask workers to choose between life and livelihood, and unimaginable to ask the very rich to live with a lesser version of more money than can be spent in a lifetime?"
This is a call to confront the broken system that is Colonial Christianity. Violent, abusive, racist, xenophobic, sexist, homophobic, ignorant, corrupt, and legalistic, it looks nothing like Christ.
Bonhoeffer argued, “As much as the Christian would like to remain distant from political struggle, nonetheless, even here the commandment of love urges the Christian to stand up for his neighbor.”
"Jesus promises: Whatever you do to the least of these, you do to me. Attempts to excuse human rights abuses committed against some people are thus not just unconstitutional — they assault God by denigrating and desecrating that divine, indwelling spark."
"Bonhoeffer argued, 'As much as the Christian would like to remain distant from political struggle, nonetheless, even here the commandment of love urges the Christian to stand up for his neighbor.'"
BREAKING NEWS: The United Methodist Church has adopted new language to its social principles, affirming the “right to legal abortion” and denouncing state bans.
When Jesus went to Egypt,
Safe on his mother’s arm,
His parents stayed beside him
To keep him safe from harm.
And when they crossed the border,
They were allowed to be
Together – seeking refuge –
A Holy Family.
"Many Christians are wary of participating in social justice because of a deep-rooted fear of being labeled 'liberal,' 'progressive,' or 'secular.' ... But the Bible tells us that Jesus cared deeply about the social causes around him."
As the news of
@repjohnlewis
's death reaches us, these words from our
@revadamtaylor
ring true: "He is known as a civil rights icon, the conscience of the Congress, and, according to Congressman Jim Clyburn, 'the most courageous person I have ever met.'"
Bonhoeffer argued, “As much as the Christian would like to remain distant from political struggle, nonetheless, even here the commandment of love urges the Christian to stand up for his neighbor.”
And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift upsword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
#thoughtsprayersaction
#MarchForOurLives
"This is an ungodly wall, being pushed by an ungodly man, for deeply ungodly reasons, and we must make it clear that we as Christians will never allow it to be built on our watch," writes
@jimwallis
.
Teach us how to be people who stand against it again and again...
Teach us to be brave, we pray,
When we have no idea what it looks like.
Amen.
@KaitlinCurtice
"Many Christians are wary of participating in social justice because of a deep-rooted fear of being labeled 'liberal,' 'progressive,' or 'secular' ... But the Bible tells us that Jesus cared deeply about the social causes around him."
Bonhoeffer argued, “As much as the Christian would like to remain distant from political struggle, nonetheless, even here the commandment of love urges the Christian to stand up for his neighbor.”
"There are moments when we are also called to name and critique religious hypocrisy, particularly when leaders misuse and abuse their moral authority to prop up and provide cover to immoral leadership."
"The reality, of course, is that white men (and many white women, for that matter) are gonna’ white men their way into retaining power at all costs. That’s how this works: Fear of losing power will justify an assortment of ills."
"We should encourage families to talk honestly about what the history of Native peoples has looked like in the United States. We should be talking about what our history books are missing."
"Many Republican leaders will invoke Dr. King on Monday but I wish more of them had considered his words before voting on impeachment. King’s vision of beloved community is the antithesis of the dystopian vision of 'Make America Great Again.'"
"Christians who see no alternatives to putting people into camps, not only lack political and theological imagination, they make these policies, behaviors, and language theologically permissible."
"Twitter is not a religious institution, and
@Lin_Manuel
does not use religious language. But he speaks the way a priest would, using words almost liturgical in their cadence, giving a high priestly blessing every morning and every evening."
Scrolling through the moving testimonies here on Twitter feels like attending an online memorial service. Many are calling this online community her church;
@rachelheldevans
had been their pastor.
These were tactics used to undermine the leadership of Martin Luther King Jr. when he served as a pastor of Ebenezer Baptist in the ’60s — and they’re what Warnock faces today during his campaign for one of Georgia’s seats in the U.S. Senate.
"The brutal irony is that to the extent there are struggling neighborhoods in Baltimore, they are largely a result of more than a century of racist and unjust policies explicitly designed to segregate and marginalize people of color."
"You can't love your neighbor or even your enemy, unless you love your neighbor's oxygen, food, and water.”
@LaytonEWilliams
chats with
@MargaretAtwood
, one of our top-read interviews of 2017:
2/ 91% of Congress members claim to be Christian. We'll be tweeting out some of the more than
#2000verses
in Scripture that reference justice & treatment of the poor. Retweet these to your senators to remind them. List of senators' handles here:
"Many Christians ignore environmental issues because they don’t view it as an important faith-related concern — but what if environmentalism was essential to evangelism?"