Christian Nationalism and the Struggle for LGBTQ Equality: Who is my Neighbor?

March 26, 2021 By Rev. Jen Butler

A couple weeks ago, I joined a group of religious leaders at the Capitol to lift up the voices of 15,000 faith leaders nationwide who are calling on the Senate to pass the Equality Act which would grant non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people. Two out of three LGBTQ people experience discrimination in employment, housing, healthcare and other important services and 29 states still have no anti-discrimination protections. In Georgia, Florida and North Carolina, Faith in Public Life has seen… Read more

Religious Freedom Amid an Attempted Coup

January 15, 2021 By Rev. Jen Butler

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Religious Freedom Day falls at a dangerous moment this year. As the nation reels in response to President Trump’s attempted January 6th coup, and the senate prepares to vote on whether to convict the outgoing president of inciting insurrection, we can’t miss the relevance of this critical First Amendment issue. Discrimination in the name of religion and attempts to overturn the results of legitimate elections are violations of our nation’s values cut from the same cloth by the same politicians… Read more

6 ways to protect your church from conspiracy theories

September 18, 2020 By Rev. Jen Butler

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One month after the 2016 election, a gunman stormed into a pizza parlor three blocks from my house and fired three shots from an AR-15 before being disarmed and arrested. His attack was fueled by the baseless conspiracy theory that Democratic elites were running a child sex ring out of the restaurant’s basement. He thought he was rescuing trafficked children. As we approach the 2020 election, this same delusion is a hallmark of QAnon — a cult-like movement seeping… Read more

Women of faith ready to dump Trump

July 20, 2020 By Rev. Jen Butler

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From day one of his political career, President Trump’s rhetoric and policies have harmed women. We know very well his greatest hits of misogyny. Granting a broad “religious exemption” from contraception coverage in employer-provided health insurance, gutting sexual assault prevention programs, and ripping toddlers away from their mothers at the border are just a few examples of his anti-women policies. And his pattern of degrading women who challenge him — from journalists to Congresswomen — attacks our dignity. In 2020,… Read more

DACA: A Dream Endures

June 19, 2020 By Rev. Jen Butler

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The struggle over legal protections for young immigrants is a proxy conflict about our nation’s future. Our debate over the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program pits the Statue of Liberty versus the wall, human dignity versus nativist anger. As demagogues have driven our nation’s immigration, asylum and refugee policies since day one of the Trump administration, young immigrants and allies have refused to back down. Homes and jobs, hopes and dreams, all hang in the balance. The long… Read more

Black Lives Matter to God

May 28, 2020 By Rev. Jen Butler

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Racist violence is swirling in the air this week, telling us to sit powerless in its presence. We must defy it. In Minneapolis, a white police officer pinned his knee to the neck of George Floyd, a black man who died pleading for breath. A day earlier in Central Park, a white woman threatened a bird-watching black man by whipping out her phone and saying “I’m going to tell them there’s an African American man threatening my life,” because he… Read more

Religious liberty isn’t a license to kill

April 29, 2020 By Rev. Jen Butler

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Debates about church and state have never been for the faint of heart. Whether the issue is school-sponsored prayer, or conservative Christians asserting a right to discriminate against LGBTQ people, or the Trump administration’s Muslim ban, the stakes cut to the heart of our nation’s values. What happens when religious conscience and civil rights collide? Is it ever permissible for one person’s faith to proscribe another person’s rights? Are we pluralistic or theocratic? Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re on the… Read more

Addressing the moral pandemic at Easter

April 9, 2020 By Rev. Jen Butler

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Most of us are closing our church doors to the virus. Will we open our minds to a new politics? Don’t let the news stories about pastors refusing to cancel in-person services give you the wrong impression. While some are making this unconscionable choice, the overwhelming majority of us have closed our church doors to the virus, and we’re working to meet our congregations’ needs via FaceTime, Zoom and Facebook Live. Loving our neighbors as we love ourselves remains our… Read more

Revisiting the Cross During a Pandemic Holy Week

April 8, 2020 By Rev. Jen Butler

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This week I’m going back to Mary Oliver’s poetry collection called Thirst. It is a great read for Holy Week. Today’s poem is “The Uses of Sorrow.” Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand That this, too, was a gift. Today we have inherited a box full of darkness. It may take us years to understand it. While the pain is not in itself a good, perhaps the understanding that… Read more

Tell President Trump: No Easter Massacre

March 28, 2020 By Rev. Jen Butler

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We’re all frightened of the COVID-19 pandemic for very good reason right now. But, like you, I’m doing my best to love my neighbors. Washing our hands frequently, staying home except for absolute necessities, and communicating with our loved ones are essential steps. Keep it going. Listening to public health professionals’ guidelines right now is critical, but President Trump has disregarded their expertise by calling for an end to social distancing by Easter – which could lead to horrific deaths…. Read more