By Kimberly Smith.   “Evidence suggests that this optimism owes more to government hype than reality.” This statement could easily be from any mainstream media source accurately covering U.S. politics or our current electoral posturing. In this case, however, it happens to be from a report on the government of Nigeria whose corruption, including of U.S. funds, leaves innocent women and children vulnerable to the world’s most deadly terrorist group, Boko Haram. In a one-week spree, Boko Haram committed mass... Read more

By David Moe. On New Year’s Eve, Burmese pastors normally read Isaiah 43:18-19—“Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing.” Emphasizing verse 19 as a fundamental text for a New Year’s resolution, they encourage church members not to remember the past. But for me, it is important to review an old year with gratitude and to envision a new year with hope because our past is the clue... Read more

By Shantha Ready Alonso. Embed from Getty Images Burns-Paiute tribal council member Jarvis Kennedy asks protest…The Burns Paiute tribe has asked armed protesters to leave and stop desecrating the land. Read more: http://on.kgw.com/1JXQLVL Posted by KGW-TV on Wednesday, January 6, 2016 An armed “militia” of white men has taken over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. They plan to stay. They demand “return of local control” of the land to the mostly white population in the area. They are recruiting others... Read more

By Kathleen Mulhern. The year was barely a week old when the first of many tragedies struck. Charlie Hebdo’s offices in Paris were stormed and eleven journalists and magazine employees were slaughtered by Islamic terrorists. Thus began a central and sorrowful theme of 2015: ideologically driven violence. Whether the undergirding ideology was religious fanaticism or racism, 2015 suffered more than its share of painful news events. Patheos writers together mourned, analyzed, and often castigated via their blogs. Islamic extremism clearly... Read more

By Stuart Parker. On Thursday, November 5th, 2015, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), colloquially known as the Mormons, announced a new set of policies to reinforce the hard line it has taken against homosexuality. Since becoming the primary sponsor and proponent of Proposition Eight, the 2008 amendment to California’s state constitution to prohibit same-sex marriage, the LDS have jockeyed for position among conservative American religions to distinguish themselves as the most intractably opposed to homosexuality. In... Read more