My latest literary companion, Umair Muhammad’s Confronting Injustice, features a sentence that was so arresting that I had to look up both the source and its author. (Get Confronting Injustice the way I did, via Haymarket Books.) Eduardo Galeano wrote through the second half of the 20th Century about the political struggles of his native Uruguay. […]
A little money, a little power
I’ve been reflecting on the story of the money behind the Dakota Access Pipeline. More than 17 major national banks are funding construction and credit lines for the companies building it across the Dakotas and the Midwest: $2.5 billion to Sunoco Partners $3.75 billion to Energy Trading Partners $1.5 billion to Energy Trading Equity; and […]
Advent: The other walking dead
An individual dies when he ceases to be surprised. I am surprised every morning that I see the sunshine again. When I see an act of evil, I am not accommodated to it. I don’t accommodate myself to the violence that goes on everywhere; I’m still surprised. That’s why I’m against it, why I can […]
The foundation of social good
I’m back from a short series of meetings in Orlando with a mixed multitude: LGBTQ people from various faith traditions, religious scholars, nonprofit leaders, and people committed to reducing, preventing, and intervening in social oppression. This is my tribe, one of them. These are people who give time, resources, attention, and talents to projects and actions […]
When a sanctuary becomes a memorial
Nearly six months ago, the Latinx and LGBTQ communities in Orlando, FL, reeled. A gunman had killed 49 people and wounded more at Pulse, a local club and sanctuary. A fiftieth casualty died from his injuries on September 11, and the grief is still both raw and dense for many. The city of Orlando installed a […]
What we do while we wait
Today I’m writing from Orlando, FL, where the National Religious Leadership Roundtable is connecting with local clergy post-election and post-Pulse. Naomi Leapheart, the Task Force’s Faith Work organizer, opened tonight’s meeting with a challenging reflection on the Christian liturgical season of Advent. I hope she publishes her remarks! At the heart of her challenge to us was the idea that […]