Turning Again: Been Down in the South

The Christian response to nonviolent direct action in 1963 sounded similar to many critiques of Baltimore’s uprising today: yes, injustice is wrong. But we must be patient. Don’t stir up trouble. But when you come to a dead end, nonviolence teaches you to look for a resurrection.

The Navy's Great Alaskan 'War'

The pristine waters in the Gulf of Alaska will be irreversibly damaged by the Navy’s Northern Edge war games. National security is the usual justification, but aren’t food, biodiversity, and a sustainable income part of national security as well?

Social Contexts of Youth Bullying

What kinds of messages are we sending our youth? Do we truly understand our own complicity in the bullying we see in our schools? Unless and until we grapple with the ways in which our society promotes and gives justification to such bullying, we will never truly solve these problems.

The Seeds of Intolerance

Hate disguised as free speech is a particularly ugly thing. Google Maps labeling the White House as N****r House is no less disgusting as a French magazine drawing the Prophet Muhammad in a stereotypical or untrue sketch. As I see the intolerance among us grow and ultimately divide us, I fear for the world we will leave our children and grandchildren in. Instead of learning to live in peace and love, we still think of ourselves as Muslims, Jews, Christians, white, black, brown, Israeli, Palestinian.

American Exceptionalism

Blind and exclusive, American exceptionalism is simply nationalism as the rationale that all imperial powers use to justify their military adventures.

"Israel" Is the Name of a People Also

What does it mean, deeply and fully, for the People of Israel, as well as the State of Israel, to be named “Yisrael,” or “Godwrestlers”? Why does the Torah repeat so many times the command, “Treat strangers with justice and love, for you were strangers in the Narrow Land”? What are the relationships among love, admiration, and idolatry directed toward the State?