By Debra Dean Murphy
August 31, 2010
At his massive rally in Washington, the conservative activist called his audience to restore America's honor and "turn back to God." But it wasn't completely clear which god he was talking about.
As unemployment grows, partisanship deepens, and war lingers on, things certainly don't look as hopeful as they did 20 months ago when Barack Obama took office. But there's still hope. We just need to remember where to look for it.
It wasn't very presidential for President Obama to appear on a daytime talk show like The View, cried his critics. But when Barbara Walters and the other hosts asked him about race in America, his honest response pointed a divided nation in the direction it needs to go.
The Shirley Sherrod story has been characterized as another example of America's complex struggle with racism. But despite its explosive nature, it's actually a more basic tale of human selfishness.
Our inability to honestly discuss race in America led to the political takedown of an innocent woman. But Shirley Sherrod's story offers profound lessons on how to bridge the divide and finally get this thing right.
Is the Tea Party movement racist? Your answer probably depends on where you land politically. But the truth is never as clear cut as our personal ideologies and allegiances might suggest.
In the immigration debate, some think children are being used as instruments to gain access to this nation's benefits, while others see them as a reminder that, in God's kingdom, the first shall be last.
Arizona's strict anti-immigration law has made it a battleground for debate. But the real source of the problem is located far beyond the borders of the Grand Canyon State.
The BP oil disaster offers us a chance to rethink our bloated notion of ourselves as superior to the rest of the world, and to finally grow up.
Beware of Christians preaching "social justice," says Fox News talk-show host Glenn Beck. But the stridently individualistic gospel that he's touting hardly resembles anything found in Scripture.
As Christians, we are exiles who follow an alien, undocumented, migrant Messiah. Shouldn't we, then, have a more compassionate and unified voice in the immigration debate?
