Presidential Candidate Rick Santorum announced that this presidential race is about theology, and he is right. We may differ on the right to an abortion, on the injuries of capitalism, even on the adequacy of the president's theology. But we agree that theology is the core of our argument.

Why in the middle of the night? Why with so much police power? Why did they think they had to shove people out? The good news is that this action, so unnecessary, will build the movement even more. Yes, the people in the park had become tired, irritable, a little...

When the paper Mache golden calf arrived at the church, it looked ever so much like the Wall Street Bull. I am not secretly cursing. The calf animal looked like a bull animal. Our choir director and one of our ministers carried it on their shoulders, from its rented van...

We live in a culture that leaves us starved for time. Technology lets us work 24/7 and the boundaries between home and work have dissolved. Perhaps we need to invent some new ways of keeping the Sabbath. Here are some practical suggestions to get you started:.

1. Give yourself permission...

When we get bored by both Fox News and MSNBC, and realize that CNN's middle is a muddle, a closer walk with Jesus sharpens our attention. Consider first the debt ceiling, then political polarization and the strangely popular new topic of queer gender bending.

Jesus always spent more than he...

If you want a closure beyond revenge, check out Carla Shapiro's hand calligraphed obituaries of those who died on 9 - 11.

We often talk about terrible tragedy as the time when the artists have to do our work for us. I am thinking now of Carla Shapiro, (Carla Shapiro.org)...

I was saved early by Jesus. I didn't know it was him then, and I am not entirely sure it is him now. Certainty about Jesus has never been our bond. Instead, warmth and trust come to mind.

Our relationship began on a tough night. The pastor of my...

The following is reprinted with permission from Religion Dispatches. You can sign up for their free daily newsletter here.

I used to be angry, now I am apoplectic. I also used to be fraulein and now I am a frau. I used to be a mademoiselle and now...

The Cordoba Initiative, led by Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, wants to build a Community Center at Ground Zero. The Initiative is an established mosque in Tribeca, the New York City neighborhood around the corner from Ground Zero. For 23 years they have worshiped in the neighborhood and been a part...

Breaking news that physicians were involved in medical experiments on people already being tortured leads us again to a place beyond right and wrong. That place is called sin. Sin is strong enough to approximate dehumanization. St. Paul was brilliant when he spoke of sin as the things that we...

Senator Schumer's Amnesia is heard in Arizona.

My name is Donna Osterhoudt Schaper, and I am a German immigrant. That means many things, including a tendency to enjoy Bach and to be proud of Einstein. I also like a good Sauerbraten and I don't like silence. I can't forget how...

I don't usually listen to Glenn Beck. It just happened tonight. He was raving about how Obama is indoctrinating students...and he misquoted scripture. Not just a little but a lot.

He quoted a minor passage which had to do with obedience to parents. He forgot to mention the words of...

Some people aren't going to be well, no matter how good the bill is or isn't. We need the very best bill -- and we need a little less, which is more.

Start with the word stress. If the various health Mafioso's could stop guilting people about the stress roots...

Civil Disobedience 21st Century Style

When we woke up in our several beds on the morning of December 30, 2009, we were one people. Now we are a different people. On that day, one of our members, who was born in Haiti, Jean Montrevil, was detained at his regular check...

Some of my best friends are straight....

Beyond Apology for Christians at Christmas

God is starting to show. Usually that doesn't happen for at least three months, at the end of the first trimester, when the fetus is so small that it creates no bulges. Many women can wear their...

If Gallup is right, and 40% of Americans describe themselves as conservative (up from 37% in 2008), 36% as moderates and 20% as liberals and the rest in various forms of indecision, then some people had better learn to live like the majority and some like the minority. This week...

Is Consensus Possible between people of faith on immigration?
by Rev. Dr. Donna Schaper, Senior Pastor, Judson Memorial Church, NYC

On October 6, 2009, I attended a panel discussion entitled "Religious Perspectives on Immigration" at the National Press Club in Washington DC. It was sponsored by the Center...

My head aches with hate speech. My own speech against hate speech spews and sputters anger and is part of the head ache. Call my frustration illegal and undocumented hating. Or part of the stress inducing sick care system. As a religious and spiritual, even ordained person! I know that...

For many people, God is not still speaking. God is still spanking. Setting up too high a bar. Telling us we are bad. God is still sneering. You are bad. Racism... needs a spanking. People don't.

Fumbling a way beyond racism is a lot like fumbling for your keys....

Holy Spirt, I pray for an overflowing gratitude that becomes a generosity of living, even in stingy and tight times. Amen.

I am tired of hearing the word recession and so are most of the people I know. We live now with an uninvited less. We are pawns in someone...