Today, the NAACP has an LGBTQIA Committee Chairperson, Demar Roberts from S. C., who works to protect and advance the rights of the LGBTQ+ community.

As International Women’s Day rolled around, that simmering sense of anger came to the surface. It flowed out, however, not in the murky waters of a pity pool, but in a torrent of stories of women all around the world and the challenges they face on a regular, often daily, basis. I set my own concerns aside and wrote for them, my own difficulties of little consequence in the face of what it is other women do every single day. In the light of their strength, our own can be renewed.

Join Mark and Caleb as they enjoy a themed drink (or two) and bring their high-octane progressive Christian perspectives in consideration of the time inverting movie "Tenet."

If Jesus were here, he would say it is all about economic justice. That is what so many of his teachings in the New Testament are all about. The prophets echo his plea.

    In the wilderness of these days, I find myself tempted to retreat from the world around me. The pandemic has trained me

If people can be helped to understand that the god they profess is not the God of Jesus, that no man is the messiah, and that God blesses all people, not just America, then perhaps WCN can be overcome. The church has a job to do, and that quite simply is to speak truth to perversion.

This week is Canada Day and July 4, two celebrations of national life in North America. Both holidays are particularly complicated - even painful - this year as citizens in both Canada and the United States struggle with legacies of colonialism and racism in history and our political lives.

Inspired by Mark Gerzon’s book of the same name, director Ben Rekhi’s of-the-moment documentary shares stories of everyday Americans on the courageous journey of bridging our political and racial divides.

Very little of the 19th century theology and practice, designed precisely for coexisting comfortably with slavery and segregation, has been reformed. From colonial America on, white Christians have literally built - architecturally, culturally and theologically - white supremacy into an American Christianity that held an a priori commitment to slavery and segregation.

In appreciation of the Capitol Police who defended Democracy on January 6.

The American church has enjoyed many successes. Unfortunately, it’s also been guilty of numerous failures.

The 2020 US presidential election put on full display a country divided. 74 million voters hoped for a repudiation of Trumpism that they did not get. 70 million others voted to stay the course, and made it painfully clear that we live in a fragile democracy. The current moment in American history is fraught with the danger of disintegration.

Now is not only a moment to celebrate, but a moment to rededicate ourselves to creating a future where kindness and compassion, justice and wisdom, are not only possible, but real.

The struggle to get president-elect Joe Biden to the finish line first with 270 electoral college votes was unquestionably an epic battle. However, Joe's battle wasn't a century-long one like women finally winning the right to vote in 1920 with the 19th Amendment, hoping a female would one day be elected to one the highest offices in government.

Fraternity and social friendship are the ways the Pontiff indicates to build a better, more just and peaceful world, with the contribution of all: people and institutions. With an emphatic confirmation of a ‘no’ to war and to globalized indifference.

Many believe this upcoming election is the most important one in our lifetimes, one of the key crossroads in American history. And we believe that racism is and must be named as a core religious issue in this electoral season—which for us is a confessional season about affirming the image of God in each and every one of us; which is at stake in our election choices.

Be part of the change our country needs by voting to protect the rights of all.

Ginsburg leaves a titanic influence on the law, a legacy unmatched by any other jurists. As a feisty octogenarian on the Supreme Court bench, Ginsburg earned the moniker Notorious R.B.G.- a play off the deceased rapper Notorious B.I.G.

When America lost John Lewis, who died last weekend at age 80, part of our nation's moral compass was silenced. Many have learned of his remarkable life story: the child of poor Alabama sharecroppers who -- through deep moral convictions -- came to be known as the "conscience of Congress."

What should Christians think about Donald Trump? His policies, his style, his personal life? Thirty evangelical Christians wrestle with these tough questions. They are Republicans, Democrats, and Independents. They don't all agree, but they seek to let Christ be the Lord of their political views.

As reactions to racial inequities have boiled over once again in recent days, the question is now repeatedly asked whether or not our country has at long last reached a tipping point? For those of us who are persons of white privilege, we are not guilty for the sins of our forebears, but we are responsible. We can’t change the past, but we can take hold of the present, and – for the sake of our national fabric that is so tattered and torn -- amend our lives and our social order, going forward. How?

I’ve been waiting for over thirty years for this to happen, and I often wondered why it didn’t before now. I’m referring to the death of George Floyd and the resulting demonstrations and riots.

In response to the killing of George Floyd, the latest victim of racist violence against persons of color in the United States, Melanie DeMore, vocal activist and friend of URI, wrote on Facebook, “I feel the pain of loss deep in my bones. Another innocent lost…blatant brutality.” And then she sang the words of an African-American Gullah lullaby, “Somebody’s baby just killed someone else’s baby, leaving somebody’s baby, cryin’. When will it all end?”

I have been on a decades long process of dismantling white supremacy within myself. It has taken outward forms of protest and activism and inward forms of study and self-examination. It has been self-righteous at times and too docile at others; painful at times and thrilling at others; quiet at times and incredibly loud at others. But through it all, I have found love, grace, and hard truths.

Two United Church of Christ pastors are part of a group of black faith leaders calling on the Trump administration to provide better testing, treatment and health care for people of color during the coronavirus pandemic.

One of the lessons I remember from my study of U.S. history in high school is that the United States is protected by two oceans on our east and west coasts. Europe’s problems could not negatively impact our nation because we were separated by 3,000 miles of ocean. Our northern and southern borders are secure because we have friendly neighbors.

Pity the nation whose people are sheep And whose shepherds mislead them

Beginning in the 1970s evangelical Christians decided to become involved in our nation's political life by becoming Republican partisans. Today they are widely considered the Republican Party's most reliable constituency. In the process American politics has become more bitter, chaotic, divisive, and now dysfunctional.

Politically Speaking host Dave Szollosy interviewed me and our conversation revolved around the issues relating to how our religion informs our politics.

Sermon by Rev. Elizabeth Durant delivered on June 18, 2018 at First Congregational UCC Portland.