By John Blake, CNN *Note: We will discuss Cone’s book “The Cross and the Lynching Tree” at our next book club gathering May 7 @ 6:00pm When he was boy growing up in rural Arkansas, James Cone would often stand at his window at night, looking for a sign that his father was still alive. Cone had reason to worry. He lived in a small, segregated town in the age of Jim Crow. And his father, Charlie Cone, was a... Read more

Bishop Phillip Davis had not planned to talk about marriage and politics, but five minutes into his sermon at Nations Ford Community Church in Charlotte he changed his mind.Not only should the 6,000 members of the overwhelmingly African-American congregation pray with one voice, he said, come May 8 they should vote with one, too.“You know, we got this amendment on the ballot,” Davis said, walking to the back of the church stage, then throwing his arm around a member of... Read more

A new wave of Christian fundamentalism is on the rise in American politics. The principle of America’s founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and James Madison, condoning a secularist state is under intense attack. In the twentieth century, when America was a rising and expanding imperial power, it believed in secular and liberal values. This is clearly evidenced by the famous John F Kennedy speech at a convention of Baptist ministers in Houston: “I believe in an America that is... Read more

It may not have even caught your attention. It may not appear to be that different. But when people, especially the current president of the United States, intentionally replace the words “freedom of religion” with “freedom of worship,” is it just a distinction without a difference, or is it a major change about which we need to be concerned? In order to explain what amounts to tremendous differences between the two phrases, let me offer a recent example. In Colorado,... Read more

Here’s a newspaper headline that might induce a disbelieving double take: “Christians ‘More Likely to Be Leftwing’ and Have Liberal Views on Immigration and Equality.” Sounds too hard to believe, right? Well, it’s true — only not here in America, but in the United Kingdom. That headline, from London’s Daily Mail, summed up the two-tiered conclusion of a new report from the British think tank Demos, which found that in England 1) “religious people are more active citizens (who) volunteer... Read more

Recently painter Thomas Kinkade, “painter of light” passed away at the early age of 54. While many viewers have decided views of what they think about this art, whether it suits them or not, one thing is certain: his work was decidedly informed by his faith. Kinkade had a particular theology about his art work and tried to convey his understanding of his faith through his art. Kinkade’s passing coincided with my preparation for a class session on understanding religion... Read more

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Public reports usually focus on the majority of evangelicals recently affiliated with the religious right. We generally hear little, however, about the third of evangelicals who lean in the other direction (except for a few well-known figures such as Tony Campolo or Jim Wallis). Likewise, many do not realize that evangelicals have never been a permanent constituency of the right: through most of their history, most evangelicals have been politically varied and unpredictable. President Obama and other Democrats who have... Read more

The war for liberty against the British created a battle-tested cohort of African American and White faith-based leaders who developed an ardor for extending freedom. The African American slaves in Harlem gained important allies in the form of John Jay and Alexander Hamilton. After the war, Jay wrote The Federalist Papers with Hamilton and James Madison to promote the passage of the U.S. Constitution. Jay was also long sympathetic to slaves and famously said, “Real Christians will abstain from violating... Read more