Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Sojourners @sojo.net · 1h

Hamas freed the last living Israeli hostages on Monday under a ceasefire deal, a key step towards ending two years of war in Gaza as President Donald Trump addressed Israel's parliament.
sojo.net/articles/new...

‘Long Nightmare’ Over for Israelis and Palestinians, Trump Tells Parliament

Hamas freed the last living Israeli hostages on Monday under a ceasefire deal, a key step towards ending two years of war in Gaza as President Donald Trump addressed Israel’s parliament.

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Sojourners @sojo.net · 2h

Here are nine Bible passages that remind us that all creation is sacred and God has always cared about the stories and lived experiences of Indigenous people.
sojo.net/articles/nin...

Nine Bible Verses About Indigenous People and Land Rights

God has always cared about the stories and lived experiences of Indigenous people.

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Sojourners @sojo.net · 3h

"As Christians, we can look away and abdicate our responsibility, but we cannot escape the massive human presence that lines out our lives — and all life."
sojo.net/magazine/apr...

There's No Place to Hide in the Anthropocene

“The Earth can't afford more black belts in shopping and using things up.”

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Sojourners @sojo.net · 5h

In this magazine article from 2015, Margaret Atwood muses about the most difficult beatitude and the useful paradoxes that unfold when one considers how to be authentically meek.
sojo.net/magazine/jan...

Margaret Atwood on the Most Difficult Beatitude

Matthew 5:5 is a paradoxical beatitude, and fraught with pitfalls and perils, once you start considering it.

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Sojourners @sojo.net · 14h

"What I had started to see as fatal flaws and defects became the most compelling, intriguing, and beautiful parts."
sojo.net/articles/3-r...

3 Reasons I Didn't Give Up on the Bible

The more I studied the “perfect” word of God, the more I expected that doctrine would become clear and consistent, the authors exemplary, and the stories contain distinct and readily discernible…

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Sojourners @sojo.net · 17h

In 'Killers of the Flower Moon,' we see how evil can thrive in plain sight because of indifference, prejudice, and what Zachary Lee has come to understand as “false love”, he writes.
sojo.net/articles/cul...

‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ Shows the Violence of Indifference

The newest Martin Scorsese film is an opportunity for Christians to interrogate how we harm the communities around us in the name of false love.

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Sojourners @sojo.net · 20h

"For us to get through Trump 2.0 together, we need to figure out new ways to organize."
sojo.net/articles/opi...

The Phone Call Getting My Church Through Trump 2.0

I was afraid we’d be dismissed as unserious allies, but local organizers were thrilled to brainstorm with us.

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Sojourners @sojo.net · 23h

"it is sky I'm breathing, as if that /
implied heaven as well and perhaps /
required something of us, like the effort /
my daughter makes with her blue crayon (1986)"
sojo.net/magazine/jun...

Learning to Love the Sky

(For Margaret)

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Sojourners @sojo.net · 1d

"The Trump administration’s budget cuts to programs and services for domestic violence survivors are an example of how domestic abuse is enabled at the highest level of our government."
sojo.net/articles/cul...

‘Dawn Dusk’ Explores Hope and Faith After Domestic Violence

The documentary follows an artist and designer as she uses art to process the loss of her sister.

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Sojourners @sojo.net · 1d

Historically, there have been many Catholics who have pushed back against gender norms.
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What ‘Drag Nuns’ Get Right About Catholic Faith

The Catholic hierarchy has often tried to mute gender nonconformity, but the truth is more complicated.

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Sojourners @sojo.net · 1d

Across the U.S., a growing number of women raised in conservative Christian environments are coming out as lesbians later in life—often after decades of heterosexual marriage, child-rearing, and religious devotion. The 19th reports:
sojo.net/articles/new...

The Lesbians Coming Out After Years as Conservative Christians

Across the U.S., a growing number of women raised in conservative Christian environments are coming out as lesbians later in life—often after decades of heterosexual marriage, child-rearing, and…

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Sojourners @sojo.net · 1d

Born today 141 years ago, Eleanor Roosevelt used her position of privilege, as the wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, to give voice to the oppressed and silenced.
sojo.net/articles/opi...

10 Quotes by Eleanor Roosevelt, the ‘First Lady of the World’

Eleanor Roosevelt was a humanitarian, diplomat, and activist who used her position of privilege, as the wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, to give voice to the oppressed and silenced.

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Sojourners @sojo.net · 1d

"Carter demonstrated throughout his life and career how our faith should be an active one that impacts and even transforms our community and world."
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Jimmy Carter Applied His Faith to the Messiness of Politics. We Should Too

Both political parties could learn from the radical evangelical faith that shaped Carter's life of service.

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Sojourners @sojo.net · 2d

The camera pans around the chapel. His mom stands up, thank God: “I love you as you are, my son,” she says.
sojo.net/magazine/apr...

Coming Out Doesn’t Have To Be a Horror Story

On the rare media depictions of religious parents embracing their children's queerness.

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Sojourners @sojo.net · 2d

"When cracks in stones let winter in, /
hot pretzels, fat, salt scorched /
in ovens black will warm the chaps /
til heaven breaks a second loaf (October 1990)"
sojo.net/magazine/oct...

The Invention of Pretzels

A poem

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Sojourners @sojo.net · 2d

"In the 37 times that Jesus describes the reign of God in the Gospels, not once is the kingdom of God like a kingdom of earth." (2018)
sojo.net/articles/kin...

The Kin-dom of Christ

For Jesus, the kingdom of God was not like a kingdom of earth.

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Sojourners @sojo.net · 2d

"Where many have seen the devil as the most evil, most unredeemable, most unlovable, Lamar on GNX declares that, yes, God’s love extends as far as all existence."
sojo.net/articles/cul...

Kendrick Lamar Claims Salvation for Satan on ‘GNX’

The greatest rapper of all time stands in the tradition of Christian universalists who claim “apocatastasis” extends even to the prince of darkness.

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Sojourners @sojo.net · 2d

"Being a faithful follower of Christ is, in fact, less about giving a virtuoso solo performance and more often playing a small part in a great work we cannot fully comprehend."
sojo.net/articles/opi...

‘Love Thy Neighbor,’ Really? Is That All You Got?

The Trump administration has made me feel powerless and overwhelmed. What if small neighborly love is the beginning of moving out of despair and toward justice?

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Sojourners @sojo.net · 2d

"There are certain times, and in solidarity with certain people, that the reign of God overrules the law of the land, especially when the law targets the most vulnerable. Right now is one of those times."
sojo.net/articles/opi...

Criminalizing Homelessness Isn't Just Ineffective, It's Unchristlike

The church has a better solution to homelessness than what the government is offering.

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Sojourners @sojo.net · 2d

"If I spoke out against the injustice of execution I would be forcefully removed, leaving Ramiro to die alone. If I stayed silent, would I be complicit with the state taking his life?"
sojo.net/magazine/mar...

I Provided Spiritual Care During a Texas Execution

Officially, I was a volunteer of the state — but I was intensely opposed to what Texas was preparing to do.

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Sojourners @sojo.net · 2d

During depressive episodes, Rachel Lam writes that she felt ashamed for not being stronger or having more faith: "Christian friends and mentors, as well as my Chinese family, reinforced that shame."
sojo.net/articles/dan...

The Dangerous Things Christians Say to Depressed People

As a Christian and a biracial Chinese woman, I often felt ashamed for not being stronger or having more faith.

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Sojourners @sojo.net · 2d

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Sojourners @sojo.net · 3d

I think about all the things we could be if we were never told our bodies were not built for them. -Xiomara Batista, in Elizabeth Acevedo’s “The Poet X” (2018)
sojo.net/daily-wisdom...

The Latest Issue of Verse & Voice

Today's verse, voice, and prayer to inspire your day.

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Sojourners @sojo.net · 3d

"This, too, is a kind of neighbor love: refusing to accept a political system that only moves when people suffer."
sojo.net/articles/opi...

A Simple Guide To Doing Theology During a Shutdown

Ignore the punditry. Washington gridlock is largely about these two biblical themes.

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Sojourners @sojo.net · 3d

"As people of Jesus, we simply can’t embrace a practice and system that is literally killing innocent people and disproportionately affecting the weak and voiceless." (2014)
sojo.net/articles/5-r...

5 Reasons Why Jesus People Ought Oppose The Death Penalty

When I decided to follow Jesus instead of simply being a Christian who paid him hollow worship while conveniently ignoring the red words, I was forced to abandon my support of the death penalty (and…

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