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October 7, 2020

Volume 137, Issue #21

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Features

How My Mind Has Changed

How do we know Black lives matter to God?

I used to wonder about the propriety of faith in a White Jesus. Now I struggle with the efficacy of faith at all.

by Kelly Brown Douglas

Readers Write

Movement: Essays by readers

We gave our readers a one-word writing prompt: “movement.”

Opinion

The way we build our cities is racist

American buildings, streets, and neighborhoods don’t just host oppression—they embody it.

by Gabe M. Colombo

Four ways faith leaders can shift to trauma-informed ministry

When everyone is traumatized, caregiving takes on new dimensions.

by Danielle Tumminio Hansen

Opinion

The pandemic didn’t make our food system vulnerable

It always has been—because vulnerability is part of creation.

by Nathan Stucky

Books

Sexual assault is a public health issue

Jennifer Hirsch and Shamus Khan’s study of agency, consent, and sex on college campuses

by Frances Kitson

Can the religious left be as effective in Washington as it’s been on the streets?

Jack Jenkins’s book is informative and persuasive, if not exactly unbiased.

by David P. Gushee

The artist at the end of the world

Scott Russell Sanders’s essays balance ecological despair with the promise of human creativity.

by Tom Montgomery Fate

Are we trapped by the way others see us?

Brit Bennett’s novel explores racial passing, gender transition, and family trauma.

by Katara Patton

Departments

Faith Matters

I don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus

I experience God through the embodied community of faith—and I miss it.

by Debie Thomas

On Art

The Return of the Prodigal Son, by Marie Romero Cash

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

art selection and comment by John Kohan

Screen Time

I May Destroy You takes us on a quest for wholeness

As Arabella struggles to remember the night she was assaulted, other memories emerge as well.

by Kathryn Reklis

From the Editors

Trump’s eviction moratorium doesn’t help tenants pay their rent or landlords pay their mortgages

A real solution would require a large infusion of cash.

First Words

Why didn’t the police show any empathy for Daniel Prude?

Jesus, too, encountered a naked man living with mental torment. He responded quite differently.

by Peter W. Marty

News

Religious groups offer aid, spiritual care during West Coast wildfires

In recent months, volunteers with United Sikhs have logged hundreds of hours, handing out thousands of meals to people without homes during COVID-19....

by Alejandra Molina

Georgia UMC church leaves denomination in support of LGBTQ rights

A church in Savannah, Georgia, is the first congregation in recent years to depart the United Methodist fold in support of LGBTQ inclusion....

by Heather Hahn

Divinity school professors among participants in ‘scholar strike’ for racial justice

Anthea Butler, professor of religious studies and Africana studies at the University of Pennsylvania, said thousands of faculty supported a “scholar strike” for two days in September, during which they focused on racial injustice in or out of thei...

by Adelle M. Banks

Myanmar army deserters confirm atrocities against Rohingya Muslims

Two soldiers who deserted from Myanmar’s army have testified on video that they were instructed by commanding officers to “shoot all that you see and that you hear” in villages where minority Rohingya Muslims lived, a human rights group said on Se...

by Grant Peck

Liberal Christian group kicks off new swing-state voter campaign

The liberal-leaning Christian group Faithful America is launching a new project focused on chipping away at President Donald Trump’s support among religious voters in three swing states....

by Elana Schor

People

United Methodist civil rights activist Gil Caldwell dies at 86

Gil Caldwell, a civil rights activist who later in life stood up for gay rights in the United Methodist Church, died September 4 at the age of 86....

by Adelle M. Banks

People

Former Christianity Today editor Mark Galli converts to Catholicism

On September 13, Mark Galli—a former Presbyterian pastor and former editor in chief of the evangelical magazine Christianity Today—was confirmed as a Roman Catholic....

by Yonat Shimron