Using Race to Smear Obama

Article  by Eugene Robinson:  Conservative media intentionally use race to stimulate fear and terror in white people of black people as the Shirley Sherrod episode demonstrates.  7/23/2010

Guns and God: The Tea Party-Christian Reconstructionism-Militia Connection

Article  by Sarah Posner:  There are direct links among Tea Party Republican political candidates and extremist Christian movements in this country.  7/13/2010

The Power and the Glory: Giorgio Agamben on Economic Theology

Article  by Giorgio Agamben:  This is a transcript of a talk given by Agamben in Turino on January 11, 2007, continuing the studies of Michel Foucault on the genealogy of governance.  6/28/2010

Capitalism as Monstrous Religion

Article  by Michael Löwy:  Capitalism produces guilt, despair, and an iron cage, according to an unusual group of thinkers reading Weber during the Weimar period in Germany. Bloch, Benjamin, Lukacs, and Fromm are discussed.  6/26/2010

A Bloated Military Threatens the Future of the United States

Article  by Tom Engelhardt:  The expansion of the military is documented here and its dangers for this country. We are on the way to becoming just like the Soviet Union, a failed empire.  6/26/2010

Another U.S. is Necessary Now

Article  by Mark Engler:  Activists from across the United States have gathered in Detroit to craft a new policy agenda.  6/26/2010

An Economic Prophet Criticizes Wild Wall Street Profiteering

Review  by Paul M. Barrett:  Crisis Economics: A Crash Course on the Future of Finance. By Nouriel Roubini and Stephen Mihm. 353 pp. The Penguin Press. $27.95  6/25/2010

A Militant Public Theology for the Agonistic City

Article  by James W. Perkinson:  The meanings of living in suburb and city are discussed in the context of the life of Jesus, the prophetic heritage of Israel, and global capitalism.  6/25/2010

Understanding the Glenn Beck Influence in Politics Today

Article  by Ed Knudson:  Fox News has become a platform for the promotion of a political movement against the first black president. Beck is trying to influence what churches can teach, promoting an 'official' civil religion.  6/25/2010

From Oregon, A Different Father

Article  by Nicholas D. Kristof:  A son comes to appreciate the differentness of his father, a source of hope that human beings might use their power to create justice, fraternity and peace.  6/20/2010

Chinese Workers Strike: An Event of Historic Proportions

Article  by Ed Knudson:  Charlie Kernaghan of the National Labor Committee urges everyone to send a message to Honda management to negotiate in good faith with striking workers.  6/17/2010

New Global Church Forms

Article  The World Communion of Reformed Churches will come into being in Grand Rapids this month.  6/17/2010

An Ethics of Resistance to the Blasphemy of American Exceptionalism

Article  by Bill Wylie-Kellermann:  Republished books by William Stringfellow provide the church of today with important resources for the public witness of the church in very troubled times.  6/14/2010

The Homosexuality of William Stringfellow

Article  by Jason Goroncy:  Here is a discussion about the homosexuality of one of the most important lay theologians in recent history.  6/14/2010

More Time for Society, Less for Economy

Article  by Mark Engler:  New attitudes and structures for work are needed in this country, new ideas about unemployment and what's most important in life. Rather than longer work hours, how about 'Take Back Your Time Day'.  6/8/2010

The Purpose Motive is More Important than Profit Motive for Human Being

Article  An animated presentation on the results of scientific studies of human motivation reveals some surprises for those who believe traditional economic assumptions.  5/30/2010

Crucial Economic History on Equality

Article  Everyone should study the year 1910 to understand the times of our own lives 100 years later. Do we want 'the utter despoilment of the many for the benefit of a few?'  5/24/2010

Newt Gingrich: The Explicit Use of Religious Language for Political Purposes

Article  by Ed Knudson:  In his new book, the former House Speaker suggests he is the messiah who will 'save America' from socialist secularism. This is a real form of fascist talk and should be rejected by people of faith.  5/20/2010

Sovereign Power, Bare Life and Oikonomia

Article  by Giorgio Agamben:  'I would suggest to anyone who really wants to understand what is happening today not to neglect theology.' This deals with Foucault, religion, economy, and the glorification of market mystery.  5/19/2010

The Foolish Death March of Cultural Capitalism

Article  by Chris Hedges:  The Gulf oil spill of B.P. is the result of business schools and universities churning out deaf, dumb and blind systems mangers without morality, common sense, compassion or remorse, little Eichmanns.  5/19/2010

Protestant Churches Promote Concept of Just Peace

Article  A German Kirchentag in Munich prepares for a Peace Convocation in May, 2011, in Kingston, Jamaica. 'Security without peace becomes opression.'  5/19/2010

Tea Party Organizers Adopt Methods of Saul Alinksy

Article  by Sanford D. Horwitt:  Tea Party leaders like Michael Patrick Leahy call Alinsky a Marxist, Communist, Socialist, which he was not, but they are using his tactics against his beliefs.  5/16/2010

The Progressive Ethics of Jesus

Article  by Mike Lux:  Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin have Jesus all wrong if you actually do a little reading of the bible. God is, indeed, on the side of the poor, not business, according to scripture.  5/13/2010

Banks are Criminals: A Lost Decade Ahead for Home Owners

Article  by Mike Whitney:  Mortgage companies are trying to hold on long enough for home prices to rise, but in the process are wrecking the market. Time for a National Bank.  5/12/2010

Greece: Predatory Finance Rules Over Labor, Industry, and Now Even Government

Article  by Michael Hudson:  Power is shifting from democratic governance to rule by wealth. People with money, the investor class, banks and Wall Street, refuse to pay taxes and force workers to pay for the misdeeds of finance.  5/11/2010

Fragments of Empire: Lessons for Americans in Orhan Pamuk's 'The Museum of Innocence'

Article  by Jon Pahl:  The novel by a Turkish Nobel laureate should be required reading for Americans who face imperial temptations, who so often cling to fetishes of innocence to compensate for failing privileges.  5/10/2010

The Paradoxical Vision in Canadian Context

Article  by Sherrie Steiner:  Here is a perspective on 'public theology' from Canada which discusses a book by Robert Benne and is concerned with his polemical advocacy, individualism and civil religion.  5/10/2010

The Possible Future of Orthodox Unity in America

Article  by Peter Marudas:  In late May a meeting of potentially enormous significance for the Orthodox Church in America will occur in New York City.  5/10/2010

Conservative Lutherans Forsake Heritage for Politics

Article  by Ed Knudson:  Prepared for those Lutherans thinking about leaving the ELCA over the Minneapolis decision to affirm same-sex pastoral relationships, discussed here are James Nestingen, Robert Benne, others.  5/3/2010

Agitation and Rebellion: The Populist Battle with Corporate Power

Article  by Bill Moyers:  Church basements across the country should be full of people meeting to organize against plutocracy, the rule of the rich. This article provides some inspiration.  5/3/2010

Arizona Immigrant Hysteria is But Another Symptom of a Racist Political Virus

Article  by Frank Rich:  Arizona Republicans are an expression of the birther movement and Tea Party nativism as they attack undocumented workers, or 'illegal immigrants'. Race is central to right wing rhetoric.  5/2/2010