Sojourners @sojomag - Tumblr Blog

On Aug. 9, 2014, Michael Brown was killed by Ferguson, Mo., police officer Darren Wilson. In the year that followed, the #BlackLivesMatter movement challenged our nation — and our faith communities — to actively resist systemic racism. But "the church cannot be challenged without also changing our theology," Ryan Herring writes in Sojourners (Sept/Oct 2015). So we asked people of faith: how has the Black Lives Matter movement shaped your theology?

In this series, we hear from activists, writers, theologians on how their personal faith and, truly, their theology, has been shaped over the past year.

#blacklivesmatter #ferguson #mikebrown #sayhername

Sunday marked the 1-year anniversary of the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. Both in Ferguson, and across the country, the memorials and marches were held to remember those lost to police violence. Here in Washington, D.C., we attended one such demonstration and asked protesters what the #BlackLivesMatter movement has meant to them over the past year.

#racial justice

“The church cannot be challenged without also challenging our theology. When I began seeing protest signs that read ‘James Cone Was Right’ and ‘This Is What Theology Looks Like,’ I knew that, for the majority of Christians in this country, there would be a wide gap in understanding. Many Christians would not be familiar with Cone and his black liberation theology, would not understand that systemic oppression requires a theological analysis, would not know how to respond to the injustice that systemic sin creates or feel comfortable doing so."

Ryan Herring for Sojourners

#mikebrown #ferguson #blacklivesmatter

Seventy years ago, the city of Hiroshima, Japan, was obliterated by a single bomb. It was not only the first use of atomic weapons in warfare, but the beginning of the Nuclear Age — on which the world has spent, by some estimates, well over $6 trillion — that’s trillion with a “t.”

#hiroshima

Read Sojourners' 1980 interview with the U.S. chaplain who served the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bomb squadrons.

#Hiroshima #nagasaki #nuclear weapons #goodbyenukes

Sandra Bland’s death may be mysterious, but it is not an anomaly.

#sandra bland #police brutality

Can The Privileged Imagine Injustice?

For privileged Christians who have lived the majority of their lives receiving the benefits of systematic wealth, power, comfort, favor, and convenience, it can be almost impossible to conceive of a world where injustice, inequality, and perpetual oppression are daily struggles.

The prophet’s road is lonely not because she escapes the hubbub of everyday life in order to retreat and draw near to God. No, the prophet’s road is lonely because she is called to the most troubled corners of the world, places which existence we would rather deny or ignore.

When justice and changemaking are buzzwords, how do we embrace the long challenge of bettering the world while remaining HUMBLE about our place in it? Seattle pastor and justice leader Eugene Cho sat down with Sojourners to talk about just that.

If anyone questioned that Jon Stewart, a late-night host of a fake news show, could make a compelling political drama, viewing Rosewater should put those doubts to rest.

Jon Stewart's 'Rosewater' a Needed Depiction of Torture

This is an open letter to Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon urging him to maintain peace and protect those exercising their right to free speech. I encourage you to read the letter and join me and others across the country in signing it now. Your voice can make a difference.

"As a needed corrective to become inclusive rather than exclusive, churches have hit upon a simple formula. It goes something like this: "Let's add ‘ALL ARE WELCOME’ to everything we publish. Let's make WELCOME the center of what we do." ... but it's not really that simple.

3 Ways 'All Are Welcome' Is Hurting the Church

Gay Debate Challenges Traditional Definitions of ‘Evangelical’

As churches and colleges start to shift, [Matthew] Vines suspects that elites will simply try to withdraw the “evangelical” label from people who don’t agree. “They don’t have that power,” he said. “And they will not succeed in the long term.”

Washington voters made history by becoming the first state to expand background checks to all gun sales by popular vote. By strategically moving the fight for commonsense gun policies from gun lobby-dominated legislatures to the ballot box, democracy in Washington state was able to function on a person-by-person basis.

Our current compulsion to call today’s tragedy the worst ever is the arrogance of the present day. We feel that we must be the center of history, the moment when everything changes, the hinge upon which Jesus’ return will occur. That compulsion is driven by fear not sobriety, by anxiety not hope.

You just never know with panhandlers and street beggars. Are they telling the truth, or have they simply figured out how to pull our heartstrings? It’s easy to choose to ignore them, or to toss them some cash and pay off a guilty conscience. Don’t stop, just toss some coins and keep rolling on by... At the same time, I couldn’t help asking what Christ would do

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs

Sojourners