MLK’s vision of social justice included religious pluralism – a house of many faiths

  The life and legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. have been the subject of ongoing debate ever since his assassination on April 4, 1968.

  Today, those invoking King’s memory range from Black Lives Matters organizers and President Joe Biden to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Educators trying to teach Black history call on his principles, even as their opponents claim that lessons about systemic racism go against King’s desire not to judge people “by the color of their skin.”

4 New Year’s resolutions for a healthier environment in 2023

  When many people think of New Year’s resolutions, they brainstorm ways to improve themselves for the year ahead. What if we expanded those aspirations to include resolutions that benefit our communities, society, and the planet, too?

  It might not be a typical approach, but it can broaden your horizons to show ways you can also be of service to others.

Black Lives Matter protests are shaping how people understand racial inequality

  Considered to be the largest social justice movement since the civil rights era of the 1960s, Black Lives Matter is more than the scores of street protests organized by the social justice group that attracted hundreds of thousands of demonstrators across the world.

  From its early days in 2014 after Officer Darren Wilson killed Michael Brown, Jr. to the protests following the murder of George Floyd in 2020, Black Lives Matter has opened the door for social change by expanding the way we think about the complicated issues that involve race.

What Americans hear about social justice at church – and what they do about it

  On June 5, 2020, it had been just over a week since a white Minnesota police officer, Derek Chauvin, killed George Floyd, an unarmed, African American man. Protests were underway outside Central United Methodist Church, an interracial church in downtown Detroit with a long history of activism on civil rights, peace, immigrant rights, and poverty issues.

MLK’s vision of love as a moral imperative still matters

  Fifty-two years after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., the United States remains divided by issues of race and racism, economic inequality as well as unequal access to justice. These issues are stopping the country from developing into the kind of society that Martin Luther King, Jr. fought for during his years as a civil rights activist.

Joseph O. Patton: The Great Pretenders

  Every self-described progressive or person of conscience is quick to tell you how they support social justice and equality. I sure as hell do… and I’m not shy when it comes to expressing it. But what does it say about someone who only brandishes some type of righteous anger when a victim of discrimination or racial profiling looks like them or shares their sexuality, religious preference, gender or some other key characteristic?

Sally Steenland: Conquering the religious-secular divide

  A few weeks ago, I participated in a private convening with multifaith leaders who are working for justice. We were Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, and Sikh; sprinkled among the participants and facilitators were a few secular humanists, agnostics, and atheists. The passion for justice among all of us was fierce. Leaders in the group are fighting anti-Muslim bigotry; striving for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, or LGBT, equality; working to reduce poverty; and more. We are allies in the struggle for justice.

  And yet, during one of the small discussion groups, a man who isn’t religious confessed that he often feels judged by his religious colleagues. It is never overt, he said, but rather a subtle hinting that his moral code—coming as it does from nonreligious sources—is somehow inferior to theirs.

Sally Steenland: There’s more than one way to start a revolution

  At a time when religion is a damaged brand to many people—especially the young—and when it seems synonymous with intolerance and bigotry rather than justice and mercy, the recent words of Pope Francis are occasion for joy. Or as Equally Blessed, a Catholic support group for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender, or LGBT, people put it, his words are "rain on a parched land."

Joseph O. Patton: The Great Pretenders

  Every self-described progressive or person of conscience is quick to tell you how they support social justice and equality. I sure as hell do… and I’m not shy when it comes to expressing it. But what does it say about someone who only brandishes some type of righteous anger when a victim of discrimination or racial profiling looks like them or shares their sexuality, religious preference, gender or some other key characteristic?