Key Document for a Protestant Public Theology

Article  by Ed Knudson:  A recent interview with Jurgen Habermas provides an excellent framework for thinking about the contours of a public theology today, including the concept of egalitarian universalism.  2/4/2010

Pastors and the Media: Objectivity Kills the Good News and the Bad

Article  by Chris Hedges:  The bible functioned as 'media' in ancient worlds. Are pastors like reporters today, hiding behind claims of objectivity, afraid to take the side of truth, empathy, justice?  2/3/2010

Obama Urged to Oppose Ugandan Anti-Gay Legislation at National Prayer Breakfast

Article  by Sarah Posner:  The religious right group 'The Family' sponsors a Prayer Breakfast at which Obama will speak, and also has helped Uganda leaders propose a kill-the-gays bill.  2/3/2010

Corporatism: Merging the Worst Parts of Big Government and Big Business

Article  by Christopher Hayes:  America is in the midst of a system failure. Only a wave of democratic participation can save this country from the 'iron law of oligarchy' of Robert Michels.  2/3/2010

Empowering the Poor through Community Organization

Article  by Jim Hightower:  Here is a defense of ACORN, which Fox News and Republican right wingers have been attacking so mercilessly. Learn more here about community organizing.  1/25/2010

Human Beings are Commodities in Current Celebrity Culture

Article  by Chris Hedges:  Pastors would do well to read this searing analysis of how the minds and hearts of Americans are manipulated by corporate media, including a critique of Obama as a 'brand'.  1/25/2010

A Public Theology for the 21st Century: Domination or Community

Article  by Arthur Waskow:  In the midst of the earthquake of modernity there is time to dance the Dance of Life, the Dance of God. Can different religious communities create new and more inclusive forms of planetary community?  1/24/2010

Democrats Must Wake Up to the Current Economic Emergency

Article  by Bob Herbert:  Democrats are in power. That they are not spending every waking hour trying to fix the broken economic system and put suffering Americans back to work is beyond pathetic.  1/23/2010

Against His Church: The Sad Career of Robert Benne

Article  by Ed Knudson:  Same-sex pastoral relationships are so terrible that Benne is now leading a campaign to divide the ELCA and create a Lutheran wing of the religious right. Read here why he is wrong.  1/22/2010

The Southern Dominance of Real Politics Can End

Article  by Ed Knudson:  The South has and does dominate the politics of the United States. Ordinary Republicans can help end this now. Or, maybe not.  1/22/2010

Turning King’s Dream Into a Nightmare

Article  by Chris Hedges:  Martin Luther King and Malcolm X at the end of their lives shared a radical analysis of the social and economic conditions of black folks in this country.  1/18/2010

Conservative Republican Attorney Advocates Gay Marriage

Article  by Theodore B. Olson:  Very strong and conservative arguments are presented here for the Supreme Court to finally affirm gay marriage. Same-sex unions promote the values conservatives prize.  1/12/2010

Progressives Should Use Protestant Churches as an Organizational Infrastructure

Article  by Ed Knudson:  With a history of protest, the primary Protestant churches and pastors can be partners for social and political change today all over the country.  1/7/2010

Going Green in the Local Church Brings New Members

Article  by Linda Bloom:  Some local churches are finding that concrete steps to care for creation provide an attractive witness to others. Read about what some United Methodists are doing.  1/6/2010

Protestant Council Declares Prosperity Gospel is Heresy

Article  by Ed Knudson:  Joel Osteen is a heretic, as was Oral Roberts, and even such evangelicals as Rick Warren may qualify as heretics, according to a new report by the highest authority within Protestantism.  1/6/2010

A Regional Plan for Disengagement from Afghanistan

Article  by Selig S. Harrison:  The US should give up its military bases in Afghanistan. With detailed analysis of ethnic and religious differences in the area, this article shows how to exit the Afghan war.  1/5/2010

Creation on the Cross: A Lutheran Earth Spirituality

Article  by Ed Knudson:  Adult Forum presentation, Agnus Dei Lutheran Church in Gig Harbor, Washington.  1/4/2010

Iran & the Sacred Day, Ashura: The Profound Past Becomes Volcanic Present

Article  by Arthur Waskow:  Both religion and politics are intensifying in the current demonstrations in Iran. Expect vocalcanoes, says a Jewish rabbi.  12/29/2009

Business under Republicans Delivers a Big Zero for the Decade

Article  by Paul Krugman:  Lower retirement incomes, no increase in employment, flat wages, bad accounting practices, wholesale failure of financial markets, it's been a very bad economic decade. Anyway, Happy New Year!  12/28/2009

The Christmas Tree as an Anti-Slavery Liberation Symbol

Article  Here is a story about how the Christmas tree became associated with the holiday celebration in the United States.  12/24/2009

Obama: You Have to Believe Something

Article  by Drew Westen:  The president can compromise on policy but not principle. His problems are not from the left, but the center. Independents don't think he stands for anything.  12/23/2009

The Place for Protestant Pastors and Scholars

Article  by Ed Knudson:  A statement about the primary audiences for this website. Opening discussion of a 'new Protestantism.'  12/20/2009

Church Bells Ring for Climate Change

Article  by Bill McKibben:  One of the foremost leaders against global warming talks about how it feels to be in a Lutheran cathedral in Copenhagen right now.  12/15/2009

The Battle in Seattle Changed Attitudes and Policies on Globalization

Article  by Mark Engler:  Ten years ago today protests in Seattle began to change hearts and minds around the world on free trade policies which allow corporations to do whatever they want wherever they are.  11/30/2009

Cantwell is Key Figure in Reform of Finance Regulation

Article  by Robert Kuttner:  Read the inside story of how Summers and Geithner are resisting finanancial regulatory reform being pushed by Washington State Senator Maria Cantwell.  11/30/2009

Liberation Theology is Alive and Well

Article  by Walter Altmann:  Lutheran church president in Brazil talks about the continuing importance of liberation theology and its role in South America and influence in global work of the church.  11/19/2009

Health Care Reform at Risk: Anti-Abortion Forces Refuse Compromise

Article  by Sarah Posner:  In the health care debate abortion has become a major factor. Here are details about the influence of Catholic Bishops and religious right groups on national health care policy.  11/18/2009

Secret Fundamentalist Lobby includes Democrats Using Abortion against Health Care Reform

Article  by Jeff Sharlet:  It is not just Catholic Bishops who are influencing health care debate, but Democrats living at 'C Street' in 'The Family'.  11/13/2009

The Decisive Day was in Leipzig

Article  by Andrew Curry:  Patient Protestant organizing and protest led to big changes in East Germany twenty years ago. Here is a model for Protestant ministry in the United States right now.  11/12/2009

Catholic Bishops Threaten to Kill Health Care Reform Over Abortion

Article  by Rachel Morris:  Protestants should be outraged by the way Catholic Bishops have inserted themselves into the health care debate in a way that threatens healing for all.  11/11/2009

Fall of Berlin Wall Felt around the World

Article  by Stephen Brown:  South Africa changed its government after the Cold War ended. It wasn't a 'victory' for capitalism but a transformation toward a globalized world.  11/11/2009