The US is built with layer upon layer of racism. The most obvious example is that the US was populated mostly by western Europeans who massacred their way across the frontier, wiping out whole cultures of people along the way.

Racism is a driving force even in our education and health care systems. How can this be?

We Americans just don’t see each other as members of the same family and society. If we did, it would be easy to convince each other of the value of investing in each other. We act very differently when we have that sense of shared commonality with others.

I am convinced that the majority of us are people of hope. If we didn’t have hope we would find it difficult to get up in the morning or put one foot in front of the other as we struggled to get through ordinary and even difficult days. However, I believe it is important to know there is a place for anger to be embedded in hope and to spur us to release compassionate action.

The level of insanity and chaos is so widespread out there, and getting worse I felt I needed to address a pressing issue.

The issue is: the notion that the U.S of A. is a Christian nation, or was a Christian nation, or should be, a Christian nation, is pure propaganda; not to mention unconstitutional. As Christians, we should stop trying to pretend otherwise. Unfortunately, White Christian Nationalism is rearing its ugly head, mostly due to white Christian evangelicals. Some background history.

President Trump has shocked the world with his announcements of imperial power to pardon himself or to command that the judiciary end investigations or dismiss a special counsel. However, he isn’t the first or the last head of state to lean towards tyranny. Though in times of instability and fear, the majority may long for a strong leader, history has shown us how dangerous it is to give away democracy. As I Samuel stated so well, Kings tend to be self-serving and we will always be sorry if we allow an imperial king to arise out of our apathy or indifference.

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As a black lesbian in this Trump administration, I now feel like I am unquestionably moving into a new Jim Crow era reestablishing discriminatory laws targeting LGBTQ Americans. I grew up knowing about racist placards that read “Colored Water Fountain,” “Waiting Room For Colored Only,” ”We Serve Whites Only, and “No N-word Allowed, to name a few.

How do you feel about me asking you some questions that may be hard for you to answer truthfully? Are you willing to tell me what you really think and feel and believe, even if it could get you into trouble with the church? And how can I support you if you do get in trouble for being fearless and telling your truth?

During the Cold War years, the United States and the Soviet Union built nuclear bombs. By 1986, the U.S. arsenal included 23,000 such bombs with the Soviet arsenal reaching 40,000. Each of these bombs was, at minimum, several times more powerful than the nuclear bomb that destroyed Hiroshima in 1946. The yield of some of the larger bombs was 1,000 times more powerful than the ones used at the end of World War 11.

These national security policies of the two states were insane, morally bankrupt. An all out war between the two countries would have ended human life on the planet. And we came so close!

While pride events are still fraught with divisions, at their core, pride events are an invitation for communities to connect their political activism with their celebratory acts of song and dance in its continued fight for justice. They should highlight the multicultural aspect of joy and celebration that symbolizes not only our uniqueness as individuals and communities but also affirms our varied expressions of LGBTQIA life in America.

Last week, a group of Progressive Christian leaders (including “Royal Wedding” homilist, Bishop Michael Curry, and Fr. Richard Rohr) lead a candlelight vigil and protest in front of the White House, expressing their concerns about the moral state of our nation.

Watch as Rev. Salvatore Sapienza, pastor of Douglas Congregational United Church of Christ, talks about how the Christian Left is “Reclaiming Jesus.”

Robert O’Sullivan homily at Brookings, OR Ecumenical Observance of the 50th Anniversary of the Death of MLK

So, I’ve been thoroughly enjoying my new book, ‘Black Prophetic Fire’, by Dr. Cornel West, PhD., as well as an essay by educator, Tim Wise, ‘White Denial is an American Tradition: It’s Time to Bury It’. Both works are deeply informing my social philosophies, ideologies, historical perspective, and worldview, especially the later. It also informs my theology and reading of passages like Colossians 3 (more on that in a minute). Mr. Wise says that white denial (yes, this is a living, yet diseased reality in our American context) must be buried… Well, I slightly disagree. Reason being: how can you properly bury something that is not dead yet? Frankly, it must die first!

To commemorate and honor the life and work of Professor Wangari Maathai, the Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF) opened Forest Day 5, one of the most intensive and influential annual global events on forests, with a short video about the Nobel Laureate.

I am always worried to the point of nail-biting when my spouse leaves in the morning for work if she’ll return home to me, because she’s always stopped by the Cambridge or Boston police. They don’t see the revered physician she is at the hospital where she works. Her gender non-conforming appearance and driving a brand new BMW, that many cops derisively dub as a “Black Man’s Wagon, ” makes her a constant target of suspicion. When gender identity and sexual orientation come into play, the treatment by police can be harsher. And when the police realized my spouse is a woman, and a lesbian one at that, their unbridled homophobia surfaces.

  Dear Progressive Christian Friends and Allies:   Recently, I created a curriculum for churches to use for adult education about faith and health care in America:  Samaritan Care.  I hope you’ll use it freely – adapting it …

Our country is experiencing a cultural outbreak of resistance to basic decency, normal moral standards, and general respect for human rights. “Conservative” forces are celebrating new liberty to disregard “political correctness” as speech typical of talk radio and too many social media platforms moved unapologetically into governmental communications. Recognizing the dignity of every person in our society is being denounced as onerous and a violation of religious freedom. This is a rebellion against updating language and upgrading treatment of previously downgraded human beings.

Mixing politics and religion is far more than tampering with a combustible concoction. Because politics and religion both attempt to address the same needs, dreams and desires, values and principles – they are essentially synonymous terms.

“Allegiance” will soon be coming to your neck of the woods, because it’s a tour de force. And, it’s another shameful time in American history.