Civil Liberties
Essay
Uganda’s President Will Sign Anti-Gay Bill. How Did the Nation Get to this Point?
On February 14, news reports began to surface that Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni planned to sign into law the nation’s draconian Anti-Homosexuality Bill, often referred …
By Jason BrunerReview
Pulled into the Maze: 12 Years a Slave
One of the most haunting scenes in the film 12 Years a Slave comes shortly after the main character Solomon Northup—now known by his enslavers …
By Rachel McBride LindseyEssay
On Compromise and Congressional Brinkmanship
When President Obama gives his State of the Union address tonight, the problem of congressional gridlock will likely be a major theme. Partisanship in Washington …
By David BrockmanEssay
Letters from a Georgia Jail: Anti-Nuclear Activists Await Sentencing
We are truly human when we act responsibly to restore harmony and act with love and compassion to restore truth, transparency and the equitable distribution …
By David CookEssay
A Judge Weakened Utah’s Anti-Polygamy Law. What Does This Say About Sex, Race, and Religion?
Americans have always found polygamy fascinating, even entertaining. In the nineteenth century, Mormons were stock villains in a plethora of now mercifully forgotten Victorian novels. …
By Nathan B. OmanEssay
An Evolving Mormon Church Finally Addresses a Racist Past
Last Friday, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) made history by confronting its own history. For the first time, the LDS Church …
By Max Perry MuellerEssay
Concerning “Goodbye Christ”: Langston Hughes, Political Poetry, and African American Religion
“Politics can be the graveyard of the poet. And only poetry can be his resurrection.” Langston Hughes (1964) On the afternoon of November 15, 1940, Langston …
By Wallace BestExcerpt
Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, 150 Years Later
On November 19, 1863, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, at the dedication of America’s first national cemetery, on the site of the battle that had turned the …
By Stephen ProtheroReport
Why Faith Groups Are Rallying Behind Immigration Reform
As Rabbi Jason Kimelman-Block marched toward the U.S. Capitol Building on a cloudy afternoon this October, he said he felt “a little nervousness.” Walking arm-in-arm with …
By Jack JenkinsEssay
Spike Lee’s “4 Little Girls” and the Aftershocks of the Birmingham Church Bombing
I was watching Spike Lee’s documentary 4 Little Girls when the verdict in the Trayvon Martin case was handed down. An alert flashed on my …
By Briallen Hopper