“I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters.” -Donald Trump
All posts by ericaramirez
Put this Jesus in Your Church?
by Paul Alexander
As you know, Jesus was not European or white. Jesus was Middle Eastern and Jewish, of African and Canaanite descent. Back in 2002 a forensic artist used Semite skulls found in Israel to reconstruct the face and head of what a first-century male from Palestine would most probably have looked like.
Jesus Was No Stranger to Life Under Occupation
by Elli Atchison
Every two years, the Christ at the Checkpoint Conference takes place in Bethlehem, seeking to give a voice to the Palestinian Christian perspective of the conflict by asking, “What would Christ say and do if he were to stand at a checkpoint today?”
Continue reading Jesus Was No Stranger to Life Under Occupation
The Power of Nonviolent Action
by Ronald J. Sider
Too often, power is understood only in terms of lethal coercion. Mao Zedong said that power is what comes from the barrel of a gun. Certainly power includes the ability to control people’s actions by the threat or use of lethal violence; however, the people also possess nonviolent collective power because they can choose to withdraw their support from rulers.
Didn’t God Give Us Animals to Use?
by Sarah Withrow King
In an excellent book called A Faith Embracing All Creatures, edited by Tripp York and Andy Alexis-Baker, CreatureKind’s David Clough takes up the question “What’s the Point of Animals?” I think the question we are wrestling with today: “Didn’t God give us animals to use?” is a similar one. Both questions force us to deal with the “why” of animals and then the “why” of our own actions towards them.
Racism: Why Whites have Trouble “Getting It”
by Greg Boyd.
I’m a member of a special task group on racial reconciliation that consists of a dozen or so pastors from around the Twin Cities. We’ve been meeting periodically for the past year or so in order to strategize how to help the Church of the Twin Cities as a whole move forward in racial reconciliation. The other day we were discussing what we thought was the main obstacle(s) to the Church becoming a reconciled, diverse, community—one that manifests the truth that Jesus died to “tear down the walls of hostility” between people groups (Eph 2:14-15).
Continue reading Racism: Why Whites have Trouble “Getting It”
The American Delusion
Interview by Mickey ScottBey Jones
After reading this powerful poem by friend and brother in the struggle Shawn Casselberry, I got him on the phone for an interview. Here’s a little of what we talked about. Shawn lives with and serves his Chicago neighborhood with his brilliant, creative wife, Jen, and their big, always-excited dog. See his bio after the interview.
Pentecostal and Holiness Statements on War and Peace
by David Swartz
In the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Attorney General John Ashcroft, a prominent advocate of the war in Iraq, wrote a song called “Let the Eagle Soar.” It was a deeply patriotic song, which included the following lyrics: “Like she’s never soared before, from rocky coast to golden shore, let the mighty eagle soar . . . Oh she’s far too young to die; You can see it in her eye; She’s not yet begun to fly.” In typical God-and-country fashion, Ashcroft sometimes sang the paean at morning prayer meetings at the Department of Justice.
Continue reading Pentecostal and Holiness Statements on War and Peace
At the Lynching Tree
by Sarah Withrow King
As the sun set and the wind picked up, we stood under this tree and held a memorial for four men who were lynched here. Beaten and hung. Murdered.
We dug soil from the ground that once absorbed their blood, and we prayed, wept, and sang. We remembered the mothers of the men and boys killed there in 1897 and thought of the mother of Jesus, who stood at the foot of the cross as her son was beaten and hung. Murdered.
Drones Kill Children: Let Us Pray
by Nicole Morgan
Drone warfare has been utilized by the United States for almost 10 years now as part of the ongoing “War on Terror.” Statistics and details of deaths caused by drone warfare are not officially released by the US Government, but media organizations and others have been tracking the drone strikes in an effort to determine who is being killed. Heartbreakingly, many of the victims are children.
PCPJ 