Corporations’ outsized power

But the departure from our past is visible not only in rising inequality and resultant pessimism – it is also apparent in the institutions that increasingly define our nation. Corporate conglomerates are replacing local and craft economies in almost every sector, including agriculture. America’s rugged individuals struggle against the loss of identity, autonomy, and mastery …

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They can’t identify as Christians any longer

I’ve traveled around the country working at the intersection of progressive politics and religion for the past decade and met countless activists bogged down by un-Christlike conservativism prevailing in our public square. Headlines in the media about conservative Christians doubting climate change or supporting a wall on the southern border defy a third-grade Sunday school …

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When was the last time you solved a problem by talking about people who weren’t in the room?

Think about everyday experiences outside of politics – in your family, neighborhood, workplace, or the voluntary associations to which you belong. In settings of that sort, when was the last time you solved a problem by talking about people who weren’t in the room? Almost certainly the answer is “Never.” That kind of talk is …

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Racist

                                                       Because I know the R-word freaks everybody out, let’s go about defining it too, because I mean something very specific when I use it. Racism refers to a system of hierarchy based on the belief that one race is superior to all others. Most often, and as is definitely the case in the United …

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Prosperity at a cost

Were Alexis de Tocqueville to travel to America once again  – further on in our national story – what might he find? Would America fulfill its promise of balancing individual liberty with the common good? Would equality of opportunity be realized, and indeed produce prosperity for all? And would shared cultural values, respect for democratic …

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Falling Upward

Back in 2011, Richard Rohr wrote a book called Falling Upward. Richard, a warmhearted Franciscan brother, Catholic priest, insightful teacher, and bestselling author, is founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation, and I am honored to call him friend, mentor, and colleague. Falling Upward resonated with hundreds of thousands of readers because it told …

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Three core commitments

For Jesus, a politics of love manifests itself in the form of compassion, which in Latin means literally to “suffer with another.” Genuine compassion evokes a deep concern for the suffering and well-being of neighbor, and is expressed most fully in the “basileia tou theou,” the Kingdom of God. Life lived in the Kingdom of …

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“Them”

As I listen in on private and public conversations about the problems of American democracy, I’m struck time and again by how often our political talk is about people who aren’t in the room. We almost always talk about them – “those people” in Washington, D.C., or in our state capitols – the people we …

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Forms of Privilege

White privilege means that even though your life may not be easy, the color of your skin does not provide additional obstacles to your success. Because privilege is often invisible to those who have it, here’s a handy list of some of the ways white privilege may operate – in society, and yes, in your …

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Secessionist Religion

After decades of regional tensions at the Triennial Conventions, where Baptists gathered to coordinate their church and missions work in the early eighteen hundreds, Baptists in the South brought the issue of the compatibility to slaveholding and Christianity to a head. The lead architect of these efforts was Reverend Basil Manly Sr., president of the …

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