This post is mostly for other white Christians. It’s not about what we should all be doing today in response to what’s happening in #ferguson and dozens of other cities today. Nearly two weeks into this spreading eruption there’s so much powerful and precise writing out there now on that, that not a one among us can possibly say again, “I’m so upset and outraged, but I just don’t know what a white person’s to do.” Find something. Do it. Right now. But this post is about the longer haul... Read more

Racism and state-sponsored violence nullify another sun-kissed life in America. Innards, as the Black Youth Project laments, cover boulevards across the land. Law enforcement divisions spin truth into fiction. Red herring press releases abound and critiques of deadly force are misconstrued as resentment of police officers. Part of our democratic dilemma is that law enforcement personnel too often shoot first, draft talking points next, and then grudgingly investigate after residents organize for equal justice under the law. Meanwhile, from sea to shining sea,... Read more

by Edward BlumR3 Contributor Follow Edward J. Blum on Twitter: @edwardjblum  Fifty-one years ago, dynamite rocked Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Four girls were killed, and the face of a stained-glass Jesus was blown to pieces. The event, like that going on in Ferguson right now, left Americans and communities throughout the world wondering what to do with regard to issues of race and violence. Then, in New York City, two of America’s best-known thinkers debated what it meant... Read more

The Greater St. Mark Church was raided today as St. Louis County Police thought that protesters were spending the night in the church, which has been used as a staging area for protestors. Police have since closed the building and stated that if anyone congregates on the premises at night, there would be arrests. One member of the Dream Defenders said “what [the police] did today is tell us, what? There is no safety here.” The Pastor of the church, Missouri Representative Tommie Pierson (D), said of the police“they don’t like us... Read more

by Peter GathjeR3 Contributor Follow Peter on Twitter @petegath Most of our guests at Manna House stay pretty well informed. The daily newspaper makes the rounds of the front porch before we open, and then it gets shared around the back yard after we open. A few guests carry small radios, and many of those who are housed, watch the news on TV. There is also the “word on the streets,” a distillation of the eyes and ears of those... Read more

I was profoundly disturbed when I saw the chilling images initially coming out of Ferguson, Missouri last week. Mike Brown, another unarmed black teenager, laid dead in the streets. His mother: crying, pleading. Brown’s father: holding up a sign reading “Ferguson Police Just Executed My Unarmed Son!!!”. Then came the images of Ferguson police’s militarization and brutality in response to protests and unrest. What pained me, in the midst of this, was knowing the inevitability of many—but certainly not all—Christians... Read more

This summer I had the pleasure of working with Professors Kurtis Schaeffer and Charles Mathewes to run the National Endowment for the Humanities-funded Summer Institute “Problems in the Study of Religion.” Each year, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) strengthens the American study of the humanities through funding dozens of summer workshops, seminars, and institutes, which bring together university and secondary school educators to discuss pressing issues in their fields. After their successful 2011 NEH-funded seminar on a similar... Read more

While discussing the news of the murder of journalist James Foley at the hands of ISIS, a friend of mine posed to me the question: “What does it say about your religion when you have to kill people who won’t convert?” If the religion in question is Islam, then Foley’s murder says virtually nothing about Muslim belief. The death of Foley is deplorable. The actions of ISIS are despicable. But atrocities committed by ISIS are no more representative of Muslim... Read more

by Andre E. Johnson R3 Editor Follow Andre on Twitter @aejohnsonphd I had already completed the syllabus. The required textbook, reading assignments, videos, and other class material already assigned. Matter of fact, I had already sent the syllabus out to the students so they could get an early start on the reading. Everything was done and after my trip to the National Summit on Race in Chicago, I looked forward to having a least a couple of weeks off before... Read more

It was July 19, 2013, and we were leaving New York City for a spiritual retreat, six days after a Florida jury found George Zimmerman “not guilty” in the death of Trayvon Martin. The sadness, anger, and weariness was well worn on the liturgies, prayers, and preaching of many of the churches in our Harlem neighborhood. We found ourselves joining local church leaders and a few pastors in a conversation about justice that would eventually make its way toward a... Read more