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We are living in insane times. Like purveyors of a bad Orwellian joke, right-wing politicians and figures on the religious right too numerous to count have hijacked the meanings of justice and equity and, with cynical self-righteousness, have perverted them into something the biblical writers themselves would scarcely recognize. The Old Testament and the Gospel of Jesus both command all who hold them dear to care for the poor, the weak, the vulnerable and, yes, the immigrant stranger as well.... Read more

Dr. Jasmin Sculark takes a holistic approach to ministry, knowing that as the recently appointed senior pastor of the Jericho City of Praise in Landover, MD, her evangelism may one day require leadership in the most contentious of challenges. As she spoke to EBONY.com, thousands of mourners filed into the funeral of Michael Brown, Jr., an unarmed Black 18-year-old killed at the hands of police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Mo., on August 9. It was one of the hottest... Read more

ALMOST midway through Sam Harris’s new book, “Waking Up,” he paints a scene that will shock many of his fans, who know him as one of the country’s most prominent and articulate atheists. He describes a walk in Jesus’ footsteps, and the way he was touched by it. This happened on “an afternoon on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee, atop the mount where Jesus is believed to have preached his most famous sermon,” Harris writes. “As I... Read more

I am organized. I have to-do lists, stop-doing lists, someday lists, and checklists galore. When it’s time to prep for the semester, I pull up my teaching Excel spreadsheet and get to work. Order books. Revise syllabus. Set up BlackBoard. And request to be assigned to my favorite sunny classroom. I had my lecture ready for the first day of my Introduction to Old Testament/Hebrew Bible class. It is a combination of welcome, syllabus review, and class overview while channeling Lou Gossett,... Read more

By Alice Faye Duncan Special to R3 I am a Memphian who grew up in the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church. My childhood pastor was Rev. Henry Logan Starks. He was tall and towering like a tree. His smile was bright and golden like the sun. Rev. Starks was a seminarian whose scholarly preaching and homiletic artistry moved and inspired my teenage peers and me. Under his tutelage was a tiny spitfire minister named, Shirley Owens Prince. When she preached... Read more

by Andre E. JohnsonR3 Editor *Read part 1 here. Read Part 2 here. Read Part 3 here. Read Part 4 here Get your copy of the Forgotten Prophet: Bishop Henry McNeal Turner and the African American Prophetic Tradition American Prophetic Tradition in paperback. When not focusing on politics—in the public and in church, Turner was busy preaching and conducting revivals across the state. In one letter to the editor Turner wrote, “This has been a year of revivals.” When Turner called for a day of prayer, revival broke out. ... Read more

When Rev. Traci Blackmon picked me up from St. Louis International Airport last week, she was in a state of exhaustion that allowed her to be little more than present. A hospitable local clergywoman, she had been working on the front lines of the Ferguson demonstrations, organizing several of the local rallies demanding justice. I could see why she was one of the most respected pastors in the area. She told me how she had been establishing safe havens and... Read more

Ancestors, smancestors. Obviously, it doesn’t matter to some that previous generations faced death for the rights we enjoy, namely voting. Did your Pastor advocate staying home next Tuesday? Sadly, this has been the tune sung in some churches this year. Some Black Christian Dems have even been chided as “fools” for “voting against God” and focusing too much on race. Thankfully, it’s not everyone. Okay, so the current President isn’t interested in overturning Roe v. Wade and he’s ok with... Read more

People are already calling for rest in Ferguson. People are demanding calm and peace. Yet, there has been no justice. There has been no repentance for the crimes committed against young black men and women when they are murdered by police officers every 28 hours in this country. Civil Rights leader Ella Baker prophetically asserted, “Until the killing of Black men, Black mothers’ sons, becomes as important to the rest of the country as the killing of a White mother’s... Read more