What is at stake in constantly requiring that God's name is invoked throughout this political ceremony inaugurating the leader of all Americans?
Hospitality is not at the margins of Scripture. It is a central theme. In fact, the Hebrew word for "alien" or "stranger" appears 92 times in the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament.
There is a policy myth is that churches and charities alone could take care of the problems of poverty -- especially if we slashed taxes. But this really has more to do with libertarian political ideology than good theology.
Knowing something about the Bible -- its historical backgrounds and development, its origin and translation, and its use in different contexts -- enables readers to make sense of biblical texts and references for themselves.
There is an ancient law in the Jewish Torah that forbids combatants from surrounding an enemy on all four sides, requiring instead that there is always an escape route.
When California preacher, Harold Camping, predicted the world would end this Saturday evening, several of my Rapture-ready friends insisted I finish reading the "Left Behind" series and make my preparations.
NFL football doesn't have a prohibition against or a penalty for pre-game prayers, even though they do penalize certain other attempts to enhance neurotransmitters and fast twitch muscles.
Beck promised on his radio show that "the hammer" would be coming down on me, and that he would devote a week of his TV show to bringing me down. I took that as a "no" to dialogue, but I've decided to go ahead without him.
Editor's Note: This post has been removed from the Huffington Post....
After almost a century of Dorothy Height making this country and world a more just, equal, and hopeful place she is now in heaven, and the rest of us are now going to have to step it up down here.
On Tuesday, a group of local faith and community leaders, along with Jim Wallis and Noel Castellanos, called on the Governor of Arizona, Jan Brewer, t...
We seldom hear the rest of the story about Passover. At a time when religiously motivated terrorism is a daily concern, it might do us well to contemplate the sequel.
I was heartened to hear Beck affirm the nonviolence of King, but I would also like to remind him of King's tireless commitment to social justice.
Jesus said that we should love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. I invited Beck to a civil and respectful conversation about the issues at stake here, but he has chosen a different path.
I thought Beck's rather extreme and misguided comments needed a response, but I did not attack him personally; nor will I.
Moving toward a "clean energy economy" will require more than just a re-wiring of the energy grid; it will also take a re-wiring of ourselves -- a conversion, really, of our habits of the heart.
Glenn Beck says Christians should leave their social justice churches, so I say Christians should leave Beck. Beck attacks the very heart of our Christian faith, and Christians should no longer watch his show.
Anyone care to provide a theological foundation for the Republican policy preferences for the rich and for war? I would really like to see it.
I believe our nation is in deep trouble. Sometimes things get so bad that you really don't know what to say or do. When that happens, it's a good time to fast and pray.
To reduce a $1.6 trillion shortfall in the 2011 budget, we should cut the contracts of private defense contractors who serve their own profits.
Bank bonuses are merely a symptom of a deeper erosion of societal values and the new maxims that have overtaken us: Greed is Good and It's All About Me. Those values wreak havoc on economies, cultures, families, and our very souls.
Church leaders who have been personally and privately supportive of immigrants and their struggles have now publicly declared that it is morally wrong to keep families apart.
There is no one "right" religious position on how health care should look; but I believe there are some fundamental moral and even biblical principles on which to evaluate any final legislative agreement.
With an issue like health, deeply personal but of great public concern, the faith community has a unique and important role to play: to define and raise the moral issues that lay just beneath the policy debate.
It's important to remember your audience, and Obama clearly did at Notre Dame. Here are eight key lines from Obama's address and the biblical passages they reference.
