The Main Issue That Faith-Based Voters Should Be Asking Tough Questions About

Last updated on: October 12, 2016 at 12:19 pm By Erin Wathen

Here are things that I hear faith-based voters talking about this election season: -Abortion -Marriage -Guns (because Jesus…?) -Freedom of Religion -Abortion again -Terrorism -Abortion some more At least, this is what candidates address when they court the faith-based vote. When we say ‘faith-based’ voters, that typically implies a certain demographic of socially and fiscally conservative Christians. But there are a wide range of people across the religious, political and ideological spectrum whose voting practices are influenced by their faith. From Progressive Christians to people... Read more

How Trump is Making Misogyny Great Again

Last updated on: October 8, 2016 at 8:56 am By Erin Wathen

Last week, women’s health experts and other commentators detailed the “abusive behaviors” exhibited in Trump’s debate performance. And all the lights came on. So THIS is why he’s so hard to watch, I thought. This is why our stomachs turn when he talks; when he belittles opponents and unleashes verbal tirades and refuses to stay on topic. He’s not just unpleasant. He is a predator. And any woman who’s ever been in an abusive relationship–physical or otherwise–can see it a mile away.... Read more

Read the Comments: Terence Crutcher and Our Sin of Silence

Last updated on: September 20, 2016 at 9:10 am By Erin Wathen

Again. AGAIN. Again this morning I am sitting in front of the screen with the struggle that is starting to feel all too familiar–to watch, or not to watch? I do not want to watch the video of Terence Crutcher being shot by police. It is no small thing to witness the end of a human life. I’ve been in the room when people die. More than once. In those cases, it is a sacred thing. But it is no... Read more

Exit the Echo Chamber: Bipartisanship As An Act of Faith

Last updated on: September 14, 2016 at 7:47 am By Erin Wathen

Guest Post: by Sarah Stewart Holland Twice a week, I co-host a political podcast with a Republican. I’m a Democrat. This means that twice a week I sit down and engage in political debate with someone who feels very differently than I do on a great many issues. We start each show the same. “No shouting. No insults. Plenty of nuance.” Willingly volunteering for political confrontation is most people’s worst nightmares. It’s certainly my mother’s worst nightmare but I do... Read more

Let Love Be Overheard

Last updated on: September 9, 2016 at 8:07 am By Erin Wathen

I went to breakfast yesterday at a usual neighborhood place. There was a Muslim family there too– an older woman and a two young women in full hijabs; plus a younger couple with two small boys, all of whom were dressed in a completely suburban way. They were talking and laughing and bustling around to get situated. As you do when you are a fairly large dining party and there are small children involved. They were seated at a big table right... Read more

We Don’t Dance on Graves: To Those Celebrating the Death of Phyllis Schlafly

Last updated on: September 7, 2016 at 5:39 pm By Erin Wathen

People. Get ahold of yourselves. I get it. She tried to single-handedly squelch the Equal Rights movement with her own cold, unfeeling hands. She has been the unsmiling, judgy face of the Moral Majority. She made “feminism” a bad word in a whole lot of circles She was a hypocrite who enjoyed a wildly successful political career, even as she insisted that a woman’s place was in the home. She used her privilege as a wealthy white woman to exact social change... Read more

Holy Ground: The Story You Aren’t Hearing About the Dakota Access Pipeline

Last updated on: September 7, 2016 at 7:27 am By Erin Wathen

The summer after college, I was part of a traveling crew that set up, and led, a mission trip experience for high schoolers. Youth groups and their leaders would come and camp out at a local high school; spend their days working on area homes, getting to know the residents and local culture; then come back to the school at night for activities and evening worship. After a week they’d leave, exhausted and maybe more grateful for the relative comfort of their regular lives. That... Read more

10 Ways to Celebrate The National Parks Centennial

Last updated on: August 25, 2016 at 2:38 pm By Erin Wathen

There are few things I love more than National Parks. So there are many places I would love to be this week to celebrate the Centennial of our National Parks Service. Like the edge of the Grand Canyon. The narrows of Zion National Park. Standing knee deep in the cool perfection of Jenny Lake. Heading up Going to the Sun Road in a “Jammer.” Surrounded in the pure darkness of Mammoth Cave. On a pristine beach in the Channel Islands. Or crashing an elk... Read more

10 Meaningful Ways to Start Your Kids’ School Day

Last updated on: August 24, 2016 at 4:18 pm By Erin Wathen

We’ve probably all read the beautiful, powerful, tear-jerking letter that Glennon Melton (of Momastery fame) wrote to her son Chase for the first day of school. The letter is several years old, but it always re-circulates in the newsfeed this time of year. I love that letter. I shared it far and wide. I used it in a sermon. I read it and cried into my latte with the best of them. But also, that letter is long. It is a... Read more

Get Ready for the Polyamory Movement

Last updated on: August 22, 2016 at 7:55 pm By Erin Wathen

Guest post, by Katherine Willis Pershey. As a theologically progressive pastor serving in the United Church of Christ, which is by most measures the most liberal Christian denomination in the country, I have watched and prayed from a comfortable distance as other mainline churches wrestled with questions of human sexuality. Presbyterian and Episcopal communions have fractured over same sex marriage and the ordination of gay and lesbian pastors; meanwhile, the UCC just waves its rainbow flag a little higher,... Read more