Sojourners Magazine back issues from September 2008:
Inside story.
Sep 01, 2008 ... You may recall that the cover of our August issue featured Elizabeth Edwards, spouse of John Edwards, one of the subjects of this month's cover. We've never done back-to-back wife-and husband covers before, but we wanted to highlight the important work each of them is doing--both ...
Don't speak for me.(Letter to the editor)
Sep 01, 2008; ... Slavery is a lingering scar on North America. Lives were destroyed. People were mistreated. Some died at the hands of cruel masters. But should state governments, standing as the representatives of their citizens, be the ones to apologize for slavery? Donald Shriver Jr. thinks ...
Misfire?(Letter to the editor)
Sep 01, 2008; ... More disappointing than the cheap sarcasm in Ed Spivey Jr.'s column, "One Man, One Clip" ("H'rumphs," June 2008), was his ignorance of gun owners, evidenced by his statement referring to "any bunch of fun-loving guys with a few beers and a machine gun." Spivey has obviously never been to a ...
A new moment dawning.(HEARTS & MINDS)
Sep 01, 2008; ... Forty years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. was shot down in Memphis, just as he was about to lead a new Poor People's Campaign. King's agenda had moved beyond civil rights to overcoming poverty in America, and he had just begun the new effort to challenge economic injustice. At ...
Vote out poverty.(MOVEMENT)(Vote Out Poverty campaign)
Sep 01, 2008; ... With Election Day looming, political rhetoric is picking up its pace across the country, with candidates praising the "American Dream" and the "land of opportunity"--but many more Americans live in poverty today than in 1968. Even more distressing, 30,000 children die each day of ...
Overheard.(COMMENTARY)
Sep 01, 2008; ... "I believe more fervently than ever that ...
Not so hot.(SNAPSHOT)(survey on percentage of people who believe that human activity is causing global warming)(Brief article)
Sep 01, 2008 ... Percentage of people within different U.S. groups who believe that human activity is causing global warming: Republicans: 27% Independence: 50% Democrats: ...
Growing pains: keeping fair trade fair.(COFFEE)(Communities of the Simojovel de Allende Region )
Sep 01, 2008; ... Ask the nearly 600 members of the CIRSA coffee cooperative in the mountains of Chiapas, Mexico, how things are going and they'll tell you, "Little by little, we're moving forward." Considering that a couple of decades ago the parents of these indigenous farmers worked in slavery-like ...
Life-changing experience: what gets young evangelicals mobilized for advocacy?(TRANSFORMATION)
Sep 01, 2008; ... Awareness of poverty and God's heart for the poor have risen among young evangelical Christians over the last few years. In response, many have supported direct service projects by giving money, raising awareness, and volunteering in short- or long-term ways. But young evangelicals are ...
Sustained by faith.(Between the Lines)(Ingrid Betancourt)(Brief article)
Sep 01, 2008 ... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] Roman Catholic Ingrid Betancourt made herself a wooden rosary while held captive in the Colombian jungle (above). The anti-corruption activist, held captive for more than six years by anti-government forces, was rescued on July 2, 2008. In statements ...
Quaker program reduces recidivism.(JUSTICE)(U.K. Quakers and Lucy Faithfull Foundation launched justice program, Circles of Support and Accountability)(Brief article)
Sep 01, 2008 ... The U.K.-based child protection agency Lucy Faithfull Foundation and the social action wing of the U.K. Quakers officially launched the restorative justice program Circles of Support and Accountability (Circles) for people who have committed sex offenses and do not have a support system ...
A separate and unequal system.(STATS)(access to quality health care has been hindered by discrimination)(Brief article)
Sep 01, 2008 ... Access to quality health care has been hindered more often for America's racial and ethnic minorities than for whites, according to a 2008 report "Lifeline to Health Equity," People of color make up about 30 percent of the U.S. population, but more than 50 percent of the nation's 47 ...
Christ preaches a high-sacrifice gospel.(Between the Lines)(quotations from Susan Pace Hamill of University of Alabama School of Law)(Quotation)
Sep 01, 2008; ... Christ preaches a high-sacrifice gospel ... But if you limit your issues to the ones that cost you little and ignore the ...
Teaching pluralism.(EDUCATION)(bill as amended would remove state funding from public schools)(Brief article)
Sep 01, 2008 ... Successful democracies, according to Thomas Jefferson, require an educated citizenry. But when Los Angeles Unified School District high school teacher Karen Salazar taught the school district-approved course material on Malcolm X and Langston Hughes, she was fired. Salazar, a ...
Police raid Christian organizations.(ZIMBABWE)(Brief article)
Sep 01, 2008 ... On June 9, armed groups of Zimbabwe's police, military, and central intelligence raided the Ecumenical Centre in the city of Harare, which houses several Christian organizations. The raid was part of the Mugabe regime's violent battle against religious and civic organizations and ...
The time is near.(REAL PRODUCT)(Jesus alarm clock)(Brief article)
Sep 01, 2008 ... "Awake, ye drunkards, and weep" (Joel 1:5) for the hour of the Lord is at hand! While some may wake to a cock crow or gnashing of teeth, others--with the new Jesus alarm clock--will wake gently to a sweet melody of the Lord's Prayer. The folks at Archie McPhee's ...
Heroes welcome.(Between the Lines)(name of Nelson Mandela in terrorist watch lists has been removed)(Brief article)
Sep 01, 2008 ... Congress passed legislation in June removing Nobel Peace Prize winner Nelson Mandela and other members of the African National Congress from the Department of Homeland Security's "terrorist watch ...
A responsibility to care: Mike Huckabee talks about children, poverty, and the hardcore "infiltration" of the Republican party.(OVERCOMING POVERTY)(Interview)
Sep 01, 2008; ... When thousands of people displaced by Hurricane Katrina were headed to Arkansas, then-Gov. Mike Huckabee instructed state officials and volunteers to welcome the visitors the way they would want to be welcomed if they were in similar circumstances. This Golden Rule approach--and his ...
The right thing to do: John Edwards explains why poverty is "a great moral issue that we can do something about.".(OVERCOMING POVERTY)(Interview)
Sep 01, 2008; ... Sen. John Edwards came to New Orleans" Ninth Ward to suspend his campaign for the presidency in January, returning to the city where he launched his campaign a year earlier. On the way to the event, Sen. Edwards stopped to talk to a homeless person, who asked him to remember her and her ...
A problem of riches: how the growing gap between the very wealthy and everyone else is destroying our society from within.(OVERCOMING POVERTY)
Sep 01, 2008; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] SIXTY OF US GATHERED RECENTLY in a Chicago church basement for a program about the precarious U.S. economy. For almost two hours, we sat on clanky metal chairs discussing rising gas and food prices, home foreclosures, declining wages, increasing personal ...
Changing our minds: ending poverty begins with fresh thinking.(Essay)
Sep 01, 2008; ... DURING EACH of this century's first six years, nearly a million more Americans, on average, sunk into poverty. Almost one in 10 of us is expected to rely on food stamps this year; in New York City, make that one in seven. Today, there are more poor people in American than Canada's entire ...
Praise.(POETRY)(Poem)
Sep 01, 2008; ... <Pre> Praise Praise God for all things greenLime jello, blades of grass, emeraldsChameleons, the neon river frogHeavy papayas begging to be pickedLilies thrusting their tender shoots through dirtLove when it knows nothing more than hope Praise God for ...
Many mansions: engaging with people of other faiths is increasingly important in our multireligious world, and theological schools and seminaries are taking note--inside and outside the classroom.
Sep 01, 2008; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] THE STRAW POLL TAKEN OF A SEMINARY faculty group spoke volumes about the religiously diverse world in which we live and work. The show of hands revealed that every one of the dozen or so clergy and scholars in the room--who gathered for an annual training ...
Talking for change: student activists are finding that sometimes conversation, not confrontation, is the way to make a difference.(student activists of the Millennial Generation)
Sep 01, 2008; ... LINE UP THE FEW HUNDRED THOUSAND students currently attending North American Christian colleges. Look for the few sets of eyes that--in an unnerving, hopeful, mischievous way--carry a certain gleam. A glint that says: Jesus is real, radical, and in his name I'm here to rouse a little ...
Why bother? Kathleen Norris explores how an ancient concept of spiritual malaise speaks to us today.(Interview)
Sep 01, 2008; ... Writer Kathleen Norris admits that the spiritual concept of acedia is difficult for the modern mind to grasp. "It's sort of untranslatable," she says, with a clutch of English words--including torpor, apathy, indifference, sloth, despair, depression--approximating, but not capturing the ...
Hard to swallow.(NEW AND NOTEWORTHY)(The Price of Sugar)(Movie review)(Brief article)
Sep 01, 2008 ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] After watching The Price of Sugar, a film by Bill Haney, you'll think twice about that sweet stuff you put in your coffee. The 90-minute documentary follows the work of Father Christopher Hartley, a Spanish priest who lives among ...
Mission: Darfur.(NEW AND NOTEWORTHY)(Not on Our Watch Christian Companion: Biblical Reflections on the Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond)(Brief article)(Book review)
Sep 01, 2008 ... The 2007 book Not on Our Watch, by John Prendergast and Don Cheadle, aims to raise awareness of the genocide in Darfur. Biblical Reflections on the Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond, by Bill Mefford and Greg Leffel, is the ...
African Saints.(NEW AND NOTEWORTHY)(African Saints, African Stories: 40 Holy Men and Women)(Brief article)(Book review)
Sep 01, 2008 ... Isidore Bakanja was a public witness at an unpopular time for Christians in the Democratic Republic of Congo; for that he was savagely beaten to death. Victoria Rasomanarivo was a leader of the church in Madagascar and petitioned the government to ...
Just say yes.(NEW AND NOTEWORTHY)(The Promise of Paradox)(Brief article)(Book review)
Sep 01, 2008 ... Embracing the contradictions in our Christian lives is hard enough, let alone celebrating them. But in The Promise of Paradox, teacher and activist Parker Palmer helps us take that approach by examining contradictions at the ...
Cult, culture, and cultivation.(CULTURE)(Essay)
Sep 01, 2008; ... "It isn't natural for people to keep having sex "all the time and never have babies." I can't find that quote on the Internet, but I know that back in the 1980s, when she was having her babies, rock goddess Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders (at least I think it was her) was ...
Pledging allegiance.(Electing Not to Vote: Christian Reflections on Reasons for Not Voting)(Book review)
Sep 01, 2008; ... Electing Not to Vote: Christian Reflections on Reasons for Not Voting, edited by Ted Lewis. Cascade Books. A round this time four years ago, I found myself having conversations with Christians of many different political and theological stripes about why they were planning to ...
Houses of hospitality.(The Catholic Worker After Dorothy: Practicing tile Works of Mercy in a New Generation)(Book review)
Sep 01, 2008; ... The Catholic Worker After Dorothy: Practicing tile Works of Mercy in a New Generation, by Dan McKanan. Liturgical Press. 'It all happened while we sat there talking, and it is still going on." These words, which close Dorothy Day's autobiography The Long Loneliness, open Dan ...
Practicing peace.(Excerpt)
Sep 01, 2008 ... Christian Peacemaker Teams members Norman Kember, Harmeet Sooden, Jim Loney, and Tom Fox were kidnapped in Iraq on Nov. 26, 2005. The first three men were released after 118 days in captivity, but Fox was killed. Following is a reflection from Elizabeth Pyles, a Presbyterian minister and ...
A harsh and dreadful love.(BIBLE STUDY)
Sep 01, 2008; ... Dorothy Day, co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement, developed her ideas about Christianity in conversation with literature and the work of radical hospitality. She often quoted the chapter from Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov titled "A Lady of Little Faith," in which the elder ...
Let the games begin [wheeze].(HUMOR)(Essay)
Sep 01, 2008; ... Are you an Olympian? No, seriously, as you sit there in your comfortable chair--or, as our reader surveys have indicated, on that special seat in the bathroom--are you ready to represent your country competing against the world's greatest athletes? I can see the doubt in your face, not to ...