A few weeks ago, I participated in a private convening with multifaith leaders who are working for justice. We were Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, and Sikh; sprinkled among the participants and facilitators were a few secular humanists, agnostics, and atheists. The passion for justice among all of us was fierce. Leaders in the group are fighting anti-Muslim bigotry; striving for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, or LGBT, equality; working to reduce poverty; and more. We are allies in the struggle... Read more

There is much to criticize in the recent Supreme Court decision on prayer at public meetings in the case regarding the town of Greece, New York. The decision found such prayer acceptable because it was merely “ceremonial.” Even such ceremonial prayers, in my opinion, do clearly violate the principle that government shall not endorse religion in general, or a religion in particular. Permitting prayer at such public gatherings disenfranchises those who come before them to do public business who may... Read more

I’m not an expert in or scholar of “youth ministry,” but many of my students are either doing youth ministry or plan to. For some time now I’ve been hearing a lot about something called “Moralistic, Therapeutic Deism” (MTD for short). From 2003 to 2005 sociologist of religion Christian Smith and his colleague Melinda Denton carried out a massive study of youth religion in the United States. It was called the “National Study of Youth and Religion” (NSYR). They summed... Read more

Religion, according to Emile Durkheim (1988) is “a united system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things that set apart and forbidden beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community called a church; all those who adhere to them”. He adds that culture is the cumulative deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, spatial relations, concepts of the universe, material objects and possessions acquired by a... Read more

As I sat in my father’s car driving down Billy Graham highway in North Carolina, I heard my father utter the words, “I don’t like Black lady preachers.” That was at the very beginning of my journey, when I had just started seminary. Since then I’ve chosen to sarcastically refer to myself that way. Beyond writing about it, sarcasm has been my favorite tool to fortify myself against the downright foolishness I’ve faced as a young black woman in ministry.... Read more

Almost everyday, it seems, there’s a new story about how “Millennials are leaving the church.” But there’s a problem with these trend pieces: They aren’t true. American Christianity still has plenty of Millennials — they’re just not necessarily in white churches. Instead, they’re found in places like Iglesia de Dios, a 3,000-member Hispanic megachurch in Nashville. The church was started in the mid-1990s by the Rev. Jose Rodriguez, a native of Venezuala who moved to Nashville in order to get... Read more

A new PRRI study, “I Know What You Did Last Sunday: Measuring Social Desirability Bias in Self-Reported Religious Behavior, Belief, and Belonging,” asked random samples of Americans identical questions about religious attendance, affiliation, salience and belief in God on two surveys – one via telephone and the other online – and compared the results. The research shows that every subgroup of Americans inflates their levels of religious participation, with young adults, Catholics and white mainline Protestants particularly likely to inflate... Read more

In Notes from a Colored Girl, Karsonya Wise Whitehead examines the life and experiences of Emilie Frances Davis, a freeborn twenty-one-year-old mulatto woman, through a close reading of three pocket diaries she kept from 1863 to 1865. Whitehead explores Davis’s worldviews and politics, her perceptions of both public and private events, her personal relationships, and her place in Philadelphia’s free black community in the nineteenth century. Although Davis’s daily entries are sparse, brief snapshots of her life, Whitehead interprets them in ways... Read more

by Peter Gathje R3 Contributor He told me later he didn’t want me to think he was drawing attention to himself; he just wanted to help some one in need.  When I came to Manna House this morning around 6:30a.m., Jacob was standing near the gate along with six other guests.  They were patiently waiting for me to come and unlock the gate.  Then they would be able to sit on the benches in the front yard and wait some more... Read more

The Tapestry of Life, focuses on the behavioral sciences. Host Pascal Scoles Jr. D.S.W. professor of Behavioral Health/Human Services Community College of Philadelphia Dr. Sheena C. Howard, Assistant Professor of Communications and Journalism Rider University, and Alison Amyx, Senior Editor Believe Out Loud. Renee Norris Jones,Executive Producer For the People Radio Talk Show, co-hosts. Read more