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By 2007, a record 47 million Americans were uninsured – either because they or their employers could no longer afford coverage, because they were not poor enough or old enough to qualify for Medicaid or Medicare, or because they had a preexisting condition. This led to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010 which, as […]

Most experts say that entrenched conflict is never solved by proving the correctness of an argument but is instead achieved by restoring a relationship. How much does “being right” matter versus moving toward a compromise, or reaching an adjusted outcome that promotes wound closure rather than amputation? In terms of managing expectations, I love what

by Brandan Robertson https://www.patheos.com/blogs/revangelical/2020/03/06/why-progressives-moderates-need-each-other.html

The Michigan lawmaker, mother and LGBTQ rights backer who was falsely accused of wanting to “groom kids” by a Republican colleague drew widespread praise for defending herself in a 5-minute speech from the Senate floor. McMorrow, who has not gotten an apology, said she will not stop forcefully addressing such attacks. (Michigan Senate via AP)

The Puritans relied upon the Calvinist theology to which they adhered, as well as the Bible, to justify their belief that God had created some human beings inferior to them. John Calvin taught that sin was hereditary; he also taught that an all-sovereign God determined who would and could be saved and granted the gift

The recent spate of challenges to books with LGBTQ content has been met with equally vocal resistance from booksellers, librarians, parents, and other advocates. Caught in the middle are the people who create the books. https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-industry-news/article/88977-confronting-cultural-illiteracy-lgbtq-books-2022.html

America’s healthcare debate began in the late 19th century, during the Industrial Revolution, when mill jobs led to workplace injuries and labor unions began advocating for sickness and injury protections. In 1929, a unique product was introduced: individual prepayment for hospital care, offered originally for teachers by a company called Blue Cross. Another company, Blue

Carrie Newcomer & Parker J. Palmer interview John Paul Lederach https://mailchi.mp/carrienewcomer.com/nov-the-growing-edge-news-podcast-more-1095425?e=258dda3d35 John Paul Lederach is Professor Emeritus of International Peace Building, and an internationally respected expert in conflict transformation. John Paul describes the stages that lead to violence in a society, as well as the ways people heal and create communal networks of change. In a

Released February 9, 2022, this report is the most complete accounting to date of how Christian nationalism contributed to the events leading up to January 6 and the day of the attack itself, and it looks at responses to January 6. Featuring contributions from scholars, historians, advocates, and researchers, this report was a joint project

At the heart of our case for reparations lies the claim that White supremacy is best understood as a massive, multigenerational project of cultural theft. In the name of White supremacy, American stole Black bodies from their homes, stole the labor from those bodies, stole the fruit of that labor, stole the wealth from that

PEN America released its annual Freedom to Write Index, a global report on crackdowns on freedom of speech, with Myanmar joining China and Saudi Arabia as this year’s top jailers of writers. 

“I would never have known; you don’t look autistic.” “Are you sure you have autism? You just need to learn to relax – smile, life’s not that bad. God is in control!” “My “nephew has autism and you’re not like him at all. You’re really high-functioning.” “I think you mean ‘a person with autism.’ Saying

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/digital/content-and-e-books/article/88905-books-e-readers-and-the-cost-of-reading-in-prison.html

A study that paid viewers of the rightwing cable network to switch shed light on the media’s influence on people’s views https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/apr/11/fox-news-viewers-watch-cnn-study

It was a dramatic finding, but it still wasn’t clear to me why white people would view the presence of more people of color as a threat to their status, as if racial groups were in a direct competition, where progress for one group was an automatic threat to another. And it was even more

The supreme court’s 2010 Citizens United decision opened the floodgates for special interests to pour money into elections. Could a constitutional amendment be the answer? https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/apr/06/dark-money-campaign-financing-citizens-united

What will it take to heal the generational wounds of unknowing and separation? Reunion and story sharing. In The Very Good Gospel, I examine the Hebrew understanding of “very goodness” when God looks around at the end of the sixth day of the epic Hebrew poem we now call Genesis 1 and considers it to

The Rev. Jacqui Lewis said East End Temple displays ‘an incredible act of generosity and trust to make space in their community for us to tabernacle with them.’ https://religionnews.com/2022/04/07/middle-church-to-begin-meeting-in-synagogue-on-easter-until-building-restored/

Yu and Me Books is a cozy oasis that uplifts writers of color and its own customers as well by Lauren Aratani https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/mar/31/yu-and-me-bookstore-chinatown-new-york-community

https://apnews.com/article/pope-francis-europe-religion-vatican-city-08a842346f2dd0ca645571d879d3124a

Historian David Chappell, however, offers an interesting nuance to the dominant narrative of a church-endorsed racism and the way many white Christians inhabited the middle ground: “The historically significant thing about white religion in the 1950s-1960s is not its failure to join the civil rights movement. The significant thing, given that the church was probably