Category: Politics
Public Justice Review’s Manifesto
I have long admired the work of the Center for Public Justice, and their new manifesto about sums up why: First, the kingship of Christ moderates any pretensions to royal earthly authority. This matters because in the old covenant with...
powers, principalities, and Dr. King
I’ve wanted a discussion of “powers and principalities” with regard to racism for a while… and Eugene Rivers has brought it! To the extent that a biblical conception of supernatural forces informed King’s analysis of the challenges he faced and...
loneliness, refugees, and the spaces we live in
This essay by D.L. Mayfield in Comment is very relevant to my interests: The suburban neighbourhood where I currently live was not built for community. This was done by design—the suburbs were meant to be bastions of happy isolation, with...
seeking asylum across a border is not illegal
I am not in any remote sense an “evangelical leader”, but I was asked to sign this petition asking our President to end the policy of separating families at the border. Specifically, the policy of separating families who seek asylum —...
the power map of baltimore
Dr. Lawrence Brown and his public health students have produced a fascinating map of Baltimore that illustrates historic and contemporary inequities. They’ve also produced a set of ideas that can help remediate these inequities: In a hypersegregated city, segrenomics results in the redlining...
when the plant closes
Alec MacGillis has been doing stellar work about some of America’s neglected places, and this piece about a town in Ohio grappling with the imminent closure of a coal-fired power plant is no different: Lee Anderson, director of governmental affairs...
it’s all about governance and trust
Shadi Hamid, Vanda Felbab-Brown, and Harold Trinkunas share an excerpt from their new book on governance and trust, a subject that I’ve been banging on about for quite a while now: The Taliban claims to adhere to a strict interpretation of...
why can’t white Christians take black Christians at their word?
I’ve seen this article on Christians of color slowly backing away from white churches shared over and over this past weekend (for good reason, though Amy Sullivan notes that very similar reporting was done a year ago at Religion Dispatches). The...
we can make up great things — like national identity!
Michael Brendan Dougherty has a bone to pick with people who want to sneer at “made-up” national identities: Nationalism as a political movement was also what made democracy possible; it helped to overthrow ancient monarchies that routinely bequeathed nations with...
can Black Lives Matter achieve its goals?
This is a fascinating essay from Cedric Johnson examining the history of the Black Panthers and comparing its political activism to the Black Lives Matter movement: The racial justice frame simply does not adequately explain the current crisis of police...