Forty years after the passage of the Voting Rights Act, veterans of the Civil Rights era still expected that they would not live to see an African American elected to the presidency. But iconic figures like C.T. Vivian supported Obama and believed that the arc was bending toward justice.
A professor of African-American religious history talks about teaching with a heavy heart, year after year, about the truths of racism. With the election of Barack Obama, this year will be different, but the journey of healing has only just begun.
When we think of Obama as “savior-elect,” we court trouble. When we forget history we weaken our own resolve; mysteries can be dangerous and days of Jubilee do not always end with eras of sublimity.
Gay and Lesbian people are weary of being used as a political and spiritual football, tired of being kicked around. This election brought history-making moments for progressives, but some crucial setbacks for the rights of gay citizens.
In a small town in Spain, a yearly festival celebrates the hybrid racial and cultural identities, both Christian and Muslim, of the local populace—a ritual of reconciliation.
If we allow the progressive movement to be reactive without first building the shared values and beliefs that make such actions sustainable, then our house will turn out to have been built upon sand. And when the electoral rains come, we will be washed away…
Does Obama’s selection of a militarist Democrat as Chief of Staff mean that the Religious Left will be left behind in an Obama Administration? New: Bloggers respond.
People are lined up at soup kitchens in congregations across the country. Religious communities, the first line of support for struggling families, need to be be vocal in the call to improve conditions for the American worker.
Is President Obama destined to disappoint progressives? Our columnist channels theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, reminding us of the human potential for both good and evil, and offering a pragmatic approach…
