Violence against women is the most prevalent and the most hidden injustice in our world today. From rape as a weapon of war, to human trafficking, to the attack of a young girl seeking an education, the treatment of women and girls across the globe is in a...

The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world -- about 1.6 million people in 2010. Mass incarceration in our country is a problem, one that too often serves to line the pockets of 

This week marked six months since Superstorm Sandy left entire communities devastated, families homeless, and many with little hope. But in the midst of this natural disaster, many banded together. As is true with many of our nation's tragedies, recent and throughout our history, communities form and hope...

Stories are what change the world, more than just ideas. And that's what I am seeing and hearing on the road -- stories that will change people for the common good. Nobody outside of Washington trusts Washington because there are no more...

I hear it over and over again both during my conversations on the road, and as I skim the headlines each day, that we are in a battle for the common good.

I learned about the Boston bombings as my plane landed in Portland, Ore., traveling for an...

Today, on the National Mall, I stood with fellow faith leaders, including clergy from Newtown, to remember lives lost at Sandy Hook elementary school and the 3,364 gun deaths that have happened since.

We stood in front of a field of crosses, Stars of David, and other grave markers, and...

Years ago, I tutored inner-city kids from my Washington, D.C., community in Columbia Heights. I would often take them to my favorite monument -- the Lincoln Memorial. I would stand with them and help them read Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and his Second Inaugural Address...

Farm workers in one of the biggest orchards in the country have been studying their Bibles during this season of Lent. That doesn't surprise me -- immigrants, including both documented and undocumented, are the fasting growing population in the American churches. What is unusual is that they are using the...

A revealing thing happens when you remove yourself from the daily drum of politics and become a mere observer. I did just that last year, during some of the most divisive moments of the presidential election. Sitting back and watching the deluge of insults...

It's a constant story line involving powerful men in politics, sports, business, and even religion: they behave with utter disregard for the dignity and humanity of women, using and abusing them at will, and somehow believe that -- as men -- they are entitled...

Gordon Cosby was perhaps the most Christian human being I have ever known. But he would always be the first to raise serious questions about what it meant to be a "Christian" and lived a very different kind of life than many of his...

Francis. Pope Francis. This could be good news for the Catholic Church, for the whole church, and for the world. Let's hope and pray so.

Jorge Bergoglio, the Argentinian cardinal from Buenos Aires, will be the first pope from...

The Bible. Just the phrase sends messages, signals, and feelings to our hearts and minds, and around the world. It's the best-selling book in human history, and one that the majority of humanity (including me), believes to have been inspired by God, with myriad...

Politics at its best serves the common good -- far above any one interest or political party. And right now in Washington, we see that playing out as we continue to reach accord on immigration reform. But when it comes to our budget debate, partisan ideology and special interests are...

I know I am not the only one who is sick and tired of Washington's manufactured crises around budget and deficit debates. Brinksmanship has replaced statesmanship in trying to find a sound path to fiscal responsibility. It is time to make the right moral choices that will defend the most...

There is a tradition in the black church named "call and response." It's simply the experience of the preacher "calling" and the congregation "responding." I've always loved it. When you're preaching in a black church, and the congregants begin to actively and vocally respond, your sermon...

It was the biggest story inside the Beltway. Since last Thursday's hearing, the whole Washington media machine has been discussing and dissecting the extraordinary confrontation in the Senate Armed Service Committee regarding the potential confirmation of former Sen. Chuck Hagel as the new Secretary of Defense. Several Republican senators were...

John McCain angrily insisted on "right" and "wrong" answers to his questions of Chuck Hagel yesterday. As a theologian and a religious leader, I want to say that John McCain is "wrong."

I watched the hostile questions that Sen. McCain asked Hagel in the hearings on his nomination...

Pastors, parents, and people of faith -- they can make the most difference in this country. We have seen it just this week on immigration reform. On Monday, in a breathtaking display of bipartisanship not seen for years in our dysfunctional capital city, Democratic and Republican senators unveiled their...

In the past 20 years, the world has witnessed the death of social contracts. We have seen a massive breakdown in trust between citizens, their economies and their governments. In our own country, we can point to years of data painting a bleak picture of the confidence Americans have...