by James Perkinson*Special to R3Light-skinned neighborhood-watch patroller sees dark-skinned teenager walking through his housing complex. Five minutes later, gun in hand, the former is standing over the dead body of the latter. How those five minutes between those two personas relate (or not) to the history of racial violence in this country is now a question of the relationship between all the rest of us in this country. The event is over. Trayvon Martin will not come back from the dead... Read more

Abortion. Moral Mondays. It is one of those times when there is no neutral, when to keep silent also speaks. What’s a rabbi in North Carolina to do? Here is what I shared with my congregation this past Saturday: A friend said to me this week, “You’re our rabbi. We’re looking to you for some guidance, some inspiration.” It was July 4, 2011 when we arrived to Durham from Israel — two years and two days ago. I am still... Read more

The old Southern preacher had walked through many airport security gates using his cherry-wood cane and was surprised — especially years before 9/11 — when a guard ordered him to send it through the X-ray scanner. — After that rite, the Rev. Will Campbell asked the guard to bring him the cane. The guard, somewhat miffed, asked if he could walk through the scanner without it. The preacher, somewhat vexed, said that was a question for his doctor. Facing a... Read more

America has long been the most religious of the affluent, western nations, having the most professing and practicing population. (A couple of the nearly 100-percent-Catholic countries are close, but only Canada otherwise.) Explaining this aspect of American exceptionalism has preoccupied many scholars of religion. Part of the answer is that since the early 1800s the United States has had no established religion and has had instead a free “marketplace” of religion. Suppliers—that is, churches and ministers—emerged to meet nearly every... Read more

The twentieth of every month is about to get a whole lot less interesting for readers of this blog. That’s because instead of getting a dose of historian extraordinaire Ed Blum, you’ll get to read words typed by a first-year doctoral candidate whose last name doubles as an old-timey derogatory term. If you’re a regular reader, then you’ll finally know how Chicago Bulls fans felt when Pete Myers replaced Michael Jordan in 1994.By way of introduction, I suppose I should mention... Read more

What is this country coming to? Anyone who pays attention to religion in America can see monumental changes and conflicts affecting the present and looming in the future. And anyone with a smidgen of historical awareness knows that religion has always been at the core of American society. Americans are divided over the theological meanings bound up in the recent not guilty verdict in the Trayvon Martin trial… Americans can’t decide if gay marriage is a sacred vow or a heinous sin… Americans are... Read more

One-in-five Americans (19 percent) are religious progressives, while 38 percent are religious moderates, 28 percent are religious conservatives, and 15 percent are nonreligious, a new survey finds. The new Economic Values Survey, conducted by Public Religion Research Institute in partnership with the Brookings Institution, was used to develop a new religious orientation scale that combines theological, economic and social outlooks in order to paint a new portrait of the American religious landscape. “Our new research shows a complex religious landscape, with religious conservatives holding an... Read more

A native of the Bronx, New York, Rev. Dr. Noel Hutchinson obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree from Brandeis University in 1982 in the areas of Sociology and American Studies. In May of 1991, he graduated cum laude with the degree of Master of Divinity from Drew Theological School located in Madison, New Jersey, and in 2007 received his Doctor of Ministry degree at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio Dr. Hutchinson was also the first-ever Youth Minister of the... Read more

by Andre E. Johnson R3 Editor There have been many articles, editorials, and comments about the George Zimmerman verdict. We here at R3 have collected many of them here. However, while many offered solutions and ideas on the verdict or called us to the ubiquitous “national conversation on race,” I was interested in how church leaders reflected on the verdict. I am interested in reflection because I maintain that reflection is the springboard for a public theology. For instance, Crystal... Read more

by Paula Penn-Nabrit*This first appeared on the Telos Training blog We Sunday School Sisters met as we do each week, but this last Sunday was the Sunday after the “not guilty” verdict rendered by a jury of white women in the Zimmerman trail. I’ve taught and baked for this class for the past seven years, and I try to be conscious of the personal biases I bring to our discussions, especially the ones fraught with emotional energy.  I’m a 1981... Read more