Christians regularly affirm that Jesus was “conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary.” This faith is embedded as a cornerstone of all the major Christian creeds and is central to the Christmas story, read and re-told countless times at this season in both word and song. Surprisingly, the gospel of Mark has no account of the birth of Jesus. It opens with Jesus as an adult, traveling from Nazareth down to the Jordan River to be baptized by John.... Read more

by Carol Howard Merritt R3 Contributor*Originally posted at Tribal Church blog The good thing about being a blogger is that there is the vibrancy, immediacy, and energy in the act of posting. It’s like jumping into a lively conversation, with my attention being drawn in and then distracted by the next shiny object. On Twitter raw emotional responses are ephemeral, like the quick flicker of match light. Other times a thought catches on fire and spreads around the globe. The wonderful... Read more

Syria has been the bloodiest chapter of the Arab Spring. It’s estimated that in November alone, 3,400 Syrians were killed, with the total being estimated at between 30,000 to 50,000.   That it involves alliances and disputes betweens Arabs and Kurds, Sunni and Alawi Muslims, Salafis and secularists, peaceful protesters and armed fighters, only makes it a more complicated and fraught scenario. I sat down with Adnan Zulfiqar, Fellow at the Truman National Security Project and a doctoral candidate in Near... Read more

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Check out R3 blogger Crystal St. Marie Lewis response to the Newtown tragedy as she discusses the problem of human suffering and asks whether God’s “inaction” is really the problem.   Read more

Carol Howard Merritt has been a pastor for 13 years, serving growing Presbyterian Churches in the swamps of Cajun Louisiana, a bayside village in Rhode Island, and in an urban neighborhood in D.C. She served at Western Presbyterian Church, an intergenerational congregation in Washington, D.C. Western’s deep commitment to serving the poor in the city has helped to initiate programs like Miriam’s Kitchen, a social service program for the homeless which provides a hot, nutritious breakfast and dinner for over 200 men and... Read more

America’s “Mormon moment” is over, and public opinion appears to be little changed. Eight-in-ten Americans (82%) say they learned little or nothing about the Mormon religion during the presidential campaign, according to a new Pew Research Center poll. Most Americans still are unable to correctly answer basic questions about the history and sacred texts of the Mormon Church. And three-in-ten Americans continue to consider the Mormon religion a non-Christian faith, though there appears to be some warming of attitudes toward... Read more

A striking feature of the 2012 race for the White House – a contest that pitted the first Mormon nominee from a major party against an incumbent president whose faith had been a source of controversy four years earlier – is how little the subject of religion came up in the media. According to a new study by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism and the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, just 1% of the... Read more

by Edward Blum R3 Contributor Children die. Sometimes peacefully at home, as my eight-month-old son did about a year ago. Sometimes when bombs blow up churches, as was the case in 1963 in Birmingham, Alabama, when four little girls died. And sometimes they are slaughtered, as in several biblical tales and during the shootings in Connecticut. These are horrific moments that leave us wondering, “where is God?” We are not the first, and sadly, we will not be the last,... Read more

On Saturday morning, December 1, 2012 around 8:00am, Kansas City Chiefs football player, Jovan Belcher shot and killed his girlfriend, Kasandra Michelle Perkins in front of his mother. About ten minutes later, he went to the Chiefs’ facilities and shot himself in front of team officials. We here at R3 thought we would collect reflections about this horrific tragedy. If you have one to add, please contact us at [email protected]. Kasandra Michelle Perkins: We Must Say Her Name2. Remember Their Names: In... Read more