Category: Social Issues
(-ish)(-less)(-ness)(-loathing): The Self/Soul and The Insidiousness of Mass Violence
I remember, over a decade ago, the first time I encountered the Wiccan Rede. Eight words the Wiccan Rede fulfill, An it harm none do what ye will I thought that made sense; felt, somehow, that for all... Read More
Planting Figs; Crossing Borders
Recently, I came across this poem by Naomi Shihab Nye, a Palestinian American poet. It’s a poem about her father, a Palestinian who lost his home in Jerusalem in the war of 1948 and came to the Unit... Read More
Social Justice is a Loaded Term
“If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.” – Lilla Watson Although the abov... Read More
We Are Brothers: Deepening the Conversation between American Jews and American Muslims
The appointment of Bob Silverman by the American Jewish Committee as the first official Jewish ambassador to the American Muslim community, as reported here by Lauren Markoe of the Religion News Servi... Read More
Stop Sympathizing and Start Supporting: A Close Look at What Moves us to Advocacy, Part 2
If you read Part 1 of this article, you have become acquainted with the members of the Rural Women’s Movement, many of them unmarried mothers who participate in my research project on the strugg... Read More
Wedding Cakes and Religious Pluralism
One of the first religious experiences I had as a teenager seeking a spiritual teenager was attending a Reform Jewish temple in St. Joseph, Missouri. The temple’s members were mainly elderly people,... Read More
Parashat Emor: On Bodies, Leadership, and the Public Sphere
Parashat Emor opens with a description of right priestly conduct. In Leviticus 21:17-23, we find a lengthy list of those Kohenim who have a mum—often translated as blemish which disqualifies them fr... Read More
Why Women Should “Do” Theology
Throughout history, God has used women in incredible ways to propel the Gospel forward. Whether in the Hebrew Scriptures where women like Deborah, Ruth, Esther, and Miriam were paramount to the pres... Read More