Our jails are overflowing, people are receiving life sentences for minor crimes under three strikes laws, racial disparities leave minority populations disproportionately represented in the incarcerated population, and we’re so obsessed with killing that we’re now using untested concoctions of drugs that recently took a condemned inmate more than 20 minutes to finally die. Our system isn’t working. It might surprise you however, to understand how we arrived at such a broken justice system. We got here because of poor theology. While we... Read more

by Nyasha JuniorSpecial to R3 *This post first appeared at No Extra Credit  Educating African-American clergy was one of the primary concerns of the founders of Howard University. Although Howard has provided stellar theological education for clergy and laypersons since its founding in 1867, it has not developed a Ph.D. program in religious studies. Such a doctoral program would be the first of its kind at a historically Black theological school. It will be the crown jewel of the life... Read more

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This summer I will be taking up yet another rite of passage familiar to graduate students everywhere: teaching the US History survey. And like most grad students building a syllabus and planning lectures for the first time, I’m experiencing an uneasy mix of excitement and confusion as I try to answer all the questions that emerge from the process. It seems the key word here, and the source of so much difficulty, is balance. How do we balance the need... Read more

Pope Francis has created a big buzz worldwide. He compares the Roman Catholic Church to a field hospital after battle. He says it’s not necessary to talk about hot-button issues like abortion and contraception all the time. When asked about gays in the church, he replied, “Who am I to judge?”His past in his homeland of Argentina has been controversial. Some have questioned whether he stood up to the dictatorship during Argentina’s “dirty war” in 1976-83 when tens of thousands... Read more

When thinking about an appropriate beginning for my blog, which exists as a space to explore the broad intersections of LGBTQI life and religiosity within a global context, it seems critical to acknowledge that various conversations centered on queer sexualities and religion have been circulating already on RD and within traditional and new media outlets. Ideas have been theorized and captured on the pages of print publications over time, and myriad forms of religious and spiritual expression—both foreign and indigenous to communities—continue to daily shape the lives of queer and trans people throughout... Read more

Religiousness across the U.S. in 2013 remained similar to previous years. With 61% of its residents classified as very religious, Mississippi held on to its position as the most religious state, while Vermont, with 22% very religious residents, remained the least religious. The most religious states were in the South, except for Utah, while the least religious states were clustered in New England and the West. Gallup classifies Americans as very religious if they say religion is an important part... Read more

By Rev. Earle J. Fisher R3 Contributor *This is a response to the planned closing of 13 schools in Memphis, Tennessee by the Shelby County School Board.  In one of the most thought-provoking and controversial songs released in 2011 was Lupe Fiasco’s “Words I’ve Never Said”.  There is a piercing line in the song that speaks to the paradox of local educational institutions today.  Lupe said, “…your child’s future was the first to go with budget cuts… if you think that... Read more

President Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech last week renewed the call to action on climate change. After stating unequivocally that “climate change is a fact,” he emphasized our urgent moral responsibility to address the issue. “When our children’s children look us in the eye and ask if we did all we could to leave them a safer, more stable world, with new sources of energy, I want us to be able to say: ‘Yes, we did.’ ” As... Read more

Germany’s Catholic bishops, responding to a worldwide Vatican survey, said on Monday that many Church teachings on sexual morality were either unknown to the faithful there or rejected as unrealistic and heartless.They said the survey, drawn up for a synod on possible reforms in October, showed most German Catholics disputed Church bans on birth control and premarital or gay sex and criticized rules barring the divorced from remarriage in church.The results will not be news to many Catholics, especially in... Read more