Christian nationalism that had led to the first world war, was now leading to the second. Almost all of the 60 million Germans in 1933 were Christians. The country was suffering in the aftermath of WWI, and it was ready for a new “Leader” who would restore the economy and national pride.

When he preached, he spontaneously broke into rhyme.  Not just with his own words, but with the souls of his congregation, with the hearts of the people in the community he served.

The fact is that civil-minded folk outnumber the forces on the other side. There are just more of us than there are of them. The problem is that we have not recognized the current existential threat. We slide along the path we are on, pretending as though next year will be the same as this year. It will not.

Will American politicians stand up to Putin? Will they learn anything from the sacrifice of Navalny?

Lent is not about giving up chocolate. It’s about uncovering the blindness in our perception and being open to what others have to share with us.

The cross, the symbol of the Christian faith, has been the subject of much theological discussion through the ages.

Let's assume that a chance for peace still exists on the other side of the current Israeli/ Hamas war.  By no means a sure thing, but we have to hope. 

The four searchers now realized that there were two Jesus stories, one pervasive across the Christian churches, the other hidden in the background.

Global warming is the latest proof that we have crossed a boundary into a truly apocalyptic age, for we now live in a period when anthropogenic change is overpowering nature and life itself.

We are considering how Courage, like Joy, is one of the signs of holiness in our time.  In yesterday’s meditation, Martin Luther King Jr. reminded us that we “must love something more than the fear of death” if we are to live. 

  The Easter experience is about the birth of a new consciousness.  It is a consciousness that burst upon the followers of Jesus

I am writing this because I have an uncommon employment history that has provided me with a very unique skill-set and perspective when it comes to making difficult and challenging hospital, hospice or nursing facility visits.

As our world faces the spectacle of Russia still harming civilians while it rampages through Ukraine, we re-visit our award-winning series, “The Power of Nonviolence”. The focus is to tell poignant stories about alternatives to military destruction and other violence, and to illustrate that there are more humane and saner ways to resolve conflict — a theme urgently needed now.

I cannot tell you how furious I am with the politicians in our country, in both chambers (mostly Republicans), who stubbornly (thinking only of themselves) refuse to enact significant gun reform legislation. 

Revisioning ancient faith for the modern world is not an easy task. No simple answers exist. The process will be long, complicated, conflicted, and uncertain.

So, if thoughts and prayers (of petition or intercession) cannot produce any salvific change when uttered to an imagined divine – who for anyone with eyes to see, or ears to hear is too deaf, indifferent or impotent to intercede — then with whom can we bargain, or utter any plea for help?

America is not a gun. We're a lot better than that. We prove it every day by loving our neighbors (even ones we don't particularly like), campaigning for sensible gun laws, taking care of people in need in our communities.

The other day I was talking with a friend and jokingly he said, “Well you know, sometimes love lives in the hallway cupboard, in the dark.” We both chuckled for a moment, as we thought about the people who are hard to love and the times you just can’t summon the requisite “love” needed for the moment.

The practice of contemplating the Stations of the Cross, depicting the final hours of Jesus’ life, is a very old one. Many Catholic churches have gardens or sanctuaries in which the stations are situated.  Each of the 14 stations marks a point along the way to Jesus’ death.

Almost two decades ago, during a combined Holy Thursday/Good Friday worship service, I told a true story from the Holocaust. The story involved a Polish army sergeant named Franciszek Gajowniczek and a Franciscan priest named Maximilian Kolbe.

A friend of mine, who grew up on the Pine Ridge Reservation, told me that his people’s practice is to not speak the name of the dead for a year. Only after twelve months of their name remaining unsaid are the rituals for gathering loved ones and telling stories undertaken.

From the 19th century until the 1970s, more than 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend state-funded Christian boarding schools in an effort to assimilate them into Canadian society. Thousands of children died there of disease and other causes, with many never returned to their families.

Some orthodox believers argue that the flames of hell should not be taken literally since hell is also described as a place of utter darkness. The point is, they argue, hell is a bad place, a place where God is not to be found, and a place where there is no hope. Literal flames or not, the traditional doctrine of eternal punishment should be an unacceptable belief for followers of the one who ate with sinners, blessed little children, and forgave his executioners.

When I got the vaccine, I thought I’d want to run into the streets singing with joy like a giddy giant cicada. But in recent days, I’m struck by how anxious I feel - far more anxious than any time in the pandemic except at the very beginning.

To those affected by the discovery of mass graves of First Nations' children In Canada.

For all of you grieving the loss of someone you love — whether this loss occurred last week, last year, or decades ago — I hope you find some comfort in these words, too. I hope you have the courage to tell the truth about your loved one: the good, the bad, and the complex. And that you don’t break faith with the full spectrum of your feeling, from mourning to dancing.

Is Mr. Long, the monster who brought suffering and sorrow to Atlanta, simply the product of a racist, misogynistic socio-political environment; the victim of mental illness, the prisoner of a defective personal genome he has no control over?

Even as we consider all the facts, the basic story that emerges is quite simple. The disciples were re-born while they lived with Jesus, and his death neither deterred nor discouraged them.  Instead, they turned to one another and embraced, fully aware in their hearts that he was not only still with them, but also that the newness he embodied embraced the universe. This was the bedrock of their faith and forms the foundation for the day we call Easter.

February 23, 1758 is an infamous date in American history. On that day, 263 years ago, Jonathan Edwards, Puritan minister and new president of Princeton, had his family inoculated against smallpox.

What Jesus Means to Muslims, Faith Leaders Promote Vaccine Use and other articles from RNS in December 2020.