Protests, demonstrations, and solidarity encampments are currently center-stage on college campuses in the U.S. and worldwide. With an upcoming presidential election mirroring many of the concerns of the previous two elections, more are surely coming. Christian faith communities have an uneven relationship with protest movements. Hesitation to respond to injustice in embodied ways is likely related to their uneven sense of what these movements mean.  As a seminary professor, former pastor to a congregation with a long social justice history, and an erstwhile chaplain at Harvard and MIT ..read more

There’s something you learn by reaching the end of yourself and standing face-to-face with your shadow. Nothing in this world will ever satisfy us and I mean nothing.  As the author of Ecclesiastes states, it’s the “vanity of vanities.” Even if we had it all, the house, the marriage, the kids or the stuff, would it ever be enough? And if so, we’ve then become dependent on image, status, and possessions.  To some extent, it is all an illusion, a construction and part of a fantasy world. When we face any type of suffering or darkness, this glamor fades away. We are left with ourselves ..read more

Good Faith Media (GFM) attended this week’s inaugural National Conference of Pastors for Children in Orlando, Florida. Pastors for Children began in Texas as the brainchild of Rev. Charlie Johnson, who was encouraged by former Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Executive Coordinator Suzii Paynter to unite pastors in support of public education.   According to their website, Pastors for Texas Children, the first state chapter, is a dynamic ministry that “empowers Texas’ neighborhood public schools through the transformative power of prayer, service and advocacy. We bolster our schools by ..read more

Editor’s Note: The following is a press release issued by Invested Faith, a Good Faith Media Partner Organization Washington, DC: Invested Faith has named an eleventh class of faith-rooted social entrepreneurs. These six social innovators are working to address systemic issues of injustice in their communities while building sustainable financial models. The Fellowship includes an unrestricted grant, an invitation to tell their story through the Invested Faith community, and the opportunity to join the Invested Faith RESOURCED program, a peer support network of Fellows across the U.S. Invested ..read more

The final event at the 2024 Religious Freedom Summit, hosted by Americans United (AU) for the Separation of Church and State, was a screening of the film “Bad Faith.” The documentary, produced and directed by Stephen Ujlaki and Christopher J. Jones, highlighted the history and current threats of Christian Nationalism to the United States.  The now infamous events of June 1, 2020, were featured prominently in the film. On that day, law enforcement cleared peaceful protesters with tear gas to open a path for President Trump to cross Lafayette Square from the White House and stand on the ste ..read more

Most people have never heard of Identity theology. But they have heard of the Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nations, the 1992 Ruby Ridge siege, the 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing, Cliven and Ammon Bundy’s 2014 and 2016 standoffs against the US federal government, the 2015 Charleston church shooting, the 2017 Unite the Right rally and the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shooting. And how many of us were unable to look away on January 6, 2021, when our televisions showed live footage of white supremacists attacking the U.S. Capitol and waving a Confederate battle flag in its rotunda? Identity theology (Identity) i ..read more

Editor’s Note: The following conversation with Jim Wallis has been edited for space and clarity. Jim Wallis is a man on a mission to expose what he believes is a narrative being spread by a large majority of white evangelicals about the gospel message of Jesus. Wallis, a professor at Georgetown University, where he hold the inaugrual Archbishop Tutu Chair of Faith and Justice, is known by many as the founder and editor of Sojourners. He is also the author of a new book, “The False White Gospel,” which he believes is his most prophetic book yet. “I just had to write something about what we’re f ..read more

In 1964’s “Mojave Crossing,” Western novelist Louis L’Amour argued, “Anger is a killing thing: it kills the man who angers, for each rage leaves him less than he had been before – it takes something from him.”  A recent study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association suggests that he might have been on to something.  The research, sponsored by the National Institute of Health, examined the endothelial cellular function of 280 healthy adults after exposure to tasks designed to generate elevated levels of anger, anxiety, sadness and neutrality. The study revealed that ..read more

A new survey from West Health and Gallup finds that most Americans see gaps in mental and physical health. Seventy-five percent of U.S. adults polled say mental health issues are treated worse than physical health issues. This view increases for adults 65 and older. Generally, 38% of U.S. adults surveyed say mental health issues are treated “much worse” and 37% say “somewhat worse” than physical health issues. A minority (15%) say both health concerns are treated “about the same.” Only 4% of respondents believe mental health issues are addressed “somewhat better” than physical health issues, w ..read more

It is downright lazy to say that calling for the end of the senseless killing of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip is “anti-semitic.” For it to be considered anti-semitic, the killings would have to be only of those in Hamas who, according to an April 30th NPR article, carried out the mass rape, senseless killing, and torture and who are currently holding hostage about 133 people. Any good military plan should include contingencies to prepare for and deal with innocent civilians standing in the line of fire. A former IDF soldier stated in a YouTube interview that Hamas made it nearly imp ..read more