Understanding Christians’ Climate Views for Better Conversations on the Environment

August 5, 2019 By The Conversation

Emma Frances Bloomfield, University of Nevada, Las Vegas In their second round of debates, Democratic presidential candidates called for aggressive measures to slow climate change. As Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has said, “We are the first generation to feel the sting of climate change, and we are the last generation that can do something about it.” Politicians realize that many voters care about this issue. A 2018 survey conducted by Yale and George Mason Universities categorizes 69% of Americans as... Read more

After Evangelicalism: Brief Notes on Emerging Post-Evangelicalism and the Politics-Religion Divide

July 11, 2019 By Guest Contributor

American evangelicalism may have inflicted a mortal wound on itself in the mid-2010s. With the election of Donald Trump as a symbol of a broader philosophical sickliness, many young evangelicals hastened a speedy exeunt from their past religious affiliation. These “post-evangelicals” are not so much a denominationas they are a nebula suspended in limbo between various traditions and schools of thought, both religious and political, while still retaining certain key sentiments of evangelicalism. On the whole, however, they have a... Read more

Supreme Court Rules the Bladensburg Cross Stands for More Than Christianity

June 21, 2019 By The Conversation

In a complex 7-2 ruling, the Supreme Court ruled “the Bladensburg Cross does not violate the Establishment Clause” and can stay on public land. Experts believed the case could have far-reaching ramifications. Read more

Juneteenth—Freedom’s Promise Still Denied to Thousands of Blacks Unable to Make Bail

June 18, 2019 By The Conversation

June 19 marks Juneteenth, a celebration of the de facto end of slavery in the United States. For hundreds of thousands of African-Americans stuck in pretrial detention – accused but not convicted of a crime, and unable to leave because of bail – that promise remains unfulfilled. And coming immediately after Father’s Day, it’s also a reminder of the loss associated with the forced separation of families. Read more

Detaining Migrant Children at Military Bases Un-American? It’s Been Done Before

June 18, 2019 By The Conversation

At different times throughout the 20th century, the federal government kept groups of people from Hungary, Vietnam, Cuba and Haiti on U.S. military bases. The result can be either efficient immigration processing or a prolonged, confined and traumatic experience. It all hinges on the federal government’s refugee policy, its commitment to resettlement and on broader American views of the migrant population housed at the base. Read more

The Struggle to Find Silence in the Ancient Monastic World—and Now

June 12, 2019 By The Conversation

In our contemporary world, noise pollution has reached dangerous levels, leading to hearing loss but also heart disease, poor sleep and hypertension. Monasticism developed in part because people were seeking the solace of silence, of quiet places. But for them, like us, it was a struggle. Read more

More Than One Religious View on Abortion—What Jewish Texts Say

June 8, 2019 By The Conversation

In contemporary Jewish debate, stringent opinions hold abortion is homicide—thus permissible only to save the mother’s life. Lenient interpretations broadly expand justifications based on women’s well-being. Yet the former usually cite opinions, while the latter still emphasize Judaism’s profound reverence for life. Read more

What’s in a Shoe?

June 6, 2019 By Guest Contributor

There is a new post-game ritual taking place in the National Basketball Association. Star players are giving away the shoes that they wore for the game, mostly to kids. These transactions are usually caught on camera and put online where the videos have gone viral. Players such as Russell Westbrook, Kyrie Irving, Donovan Mitchell and Stephen Curry–all who have their own individualized shoes–have performed this ritual regularly leaving lucky and shocked fans holding this prized artifact. I want to suggest... Read more

Conservative Women at the Heart of the Christian Right for Decades

June 6, 2019 By The Conversation

Gov. Kay Ivey signed Alabama’s abortion restrictions into law, but the focus is on white male state senators. Since the 1970s, conservative women have helped shape the religious right’s rhetoric of “family values,” opposing abortion, feminism and same-sex marriage, but their contributions are often overlooked. Read more

Teaching in America’s Prisons Has Taught Me to Believe in Second Chances

June 4, 2019 By The Conversation

I know prison education can transform lives because I see it constantly in the incarcerated – and formerly incarcerated – people I’ve met. I see it every week when I enter prison to direct the University of Baltimore’s Second Chance College Program, which in the last 3 years has served 63 students. Read more