By Crystal St. Marie LewisR3 Contributor “I AM what I AM…” (Exodus 3:14) “I AM.” And that’s all? God’s self-description seemed terribly incomplete to me when I read it in my Bible for the first time. In fact, I remember being fascinated that Moses didn’t ask for more details. If I had been Moses, I would likely have retorted: “YOU ARE what? What does that even mean?” It wasn’t until several years into my spiritual journey that, for reasons I... Read more

Might be a hard pill to swallow, but the rapper who reminded us that Jesus walks with pimps, hoes and crack dealers makes a timely revelation: There is “No Church in the Wild.” One of the most talked about songs off Kanye West and Jay-Z’s recent collaborative LP Watch the Throne, people are calling the newly released single “No Church in the Wild” an “existential rejection of organized religion.” That it most certainly is. I personally can’t stop singing the... Read more

The good king, according to Thomas Aquinas, had to be motivated by charity. Love must animate the way he regarded and treated his subjects, especially the least of his kingdom. Thomas well knew that the great prophets of the Hebrew Bible summoned rulers, over and over again, to show solicitude for the widow and the orphan. Those who had no natural defender, those whose welfare depended upon the kindnesses of others, they were the ones kings were charged most directly... Read more

“Radicalism,” particularly in the context of religion, evokes ambivalent if not conflicting reactions. On the one hand, for many, religion provides a sanctuary from the “Sturm und Drang” of dramatic change and discontinuity, as well as feelings of security rooted in the anticipation of continuity. On the other hand, our Abrahamic traditions all embrace narratives of dramatic change, both for the individual and for the world. Personal salvation, in different formulations in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, are important components of... Read more

In selecting Paul Ryan for his running mate, Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has made modern political history: a major party ticket with no Protestant Christian. Some historians call it the first ever. Others say it’s technically the first since Abraham Lincoln. And there is an argument to be made regarding Dwight Eisenhower. But in any case, “this Republican ticket really symbolizes the passing of an era,” said William Galston, senior fellow with the Brookings Institution. Romney is Mormon. Ryan... Read more

Sometimes, it is tough being a liberal. Rush and his legions of loyal Dittoheads call you a “libertard” and like to pretend they’re more skillful at being Americans than you. As a liberal, you think this country and the world could be better places and want to help make those ideals come true. Conservatives warn that you’re actually a communist and the folks at Fox News howl and hiss that you and your type want to wipe your feet (or... Read more

It’s mourning in America again. Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote that the blood of the innocent cries forever. We join our cries with the blood split in a Sikh sanctuary last Sunday. As a Black American, I cannot contemplate this tragedy without contemplating the legacy of domestic racial terrorism my people have faced since being brought in chains to these shores. I’m reminded of Angela Davis’s description of the sound of bombs going off in her Birmingham neighborhood as a child,... Read more

In July of 1844, word reached New York that Joseph Smith Jr., founder of the LDS Church, had been murdered by a mob in Illinois. Reporting for the New York Herald, James Gordon Bennett wrote, “There can be no doubt that political feeling entered largely into the popular excitement in that region against the Mormons.” He noted that the Whig party worried LDS Church members would support their rival, Democratic candidate James K. Polk, in that year’s presidential election. In... Read more

Mitt Romney continues to keep his Mormon faith off the presidential campaign stage, despite the quiet urgings of ideological allies to talk about his spiritual core. If he did, he might explode the soft bigotry of critics, particularly liberals who could use a little refresher course in their own values.The Republican presidential candidate seems too calculating and cautious to talk about one of the most admirable pieces of his biography. His critics, meanwhile, seem blissfully unaware of how intolerant they... Read more

This has been the summer of discontent with David Barton. First, in a poll taken by History News Network, Barton’s newest work, The Jefferson Lies, topped the list of “least credible history works in print.” The same work met a unanimous chorus of refutations from Jefferson public humanities scholar and radio personality Clay Jenkinson, from religious historians ranging from Martin Marty to John Fea, and (in the full length work Getting Jefferson Right) from Grove City College professors Warren Throckmorton... Read more