Joel Edward Goza: Our theological imagination has often impoverished our racial imagination
A pastor working in the marginalized community of Houston’s 5th Ward argues that racial inequalities lie at the heart of our nation’s founding.
Racial & ethnic
Most Recently Published
Latino Protestants are an increasingly visible presence in our nation’s religious life. Who is this vital new religious bloc? iStock / Abalcazar
Gerardo Marti and Mark T. Mulder: More than a fiesta -- variety and diversity among Latino Protestants in the U.S.
Latino Protestants in the U.S. -- like Latinos in general -- are an extraordinarily diverse, complex and multifaceted group, two sociologists say. A failure to understand this rich complexity can lead to troubling stereotyping.
Joined by Urban Doxology staff, interns are all in as they get ready to perform a concert of their own worship songs. Photo by Mike Morones
Songwriting internship empowers young Christians to write 'soundtrack of reconciliation'
At the Urban Doxology Songwriting Internship, young musicians study theology and collaborate on worship songs that speak to the challenges of a diverse community.
Bigstock / AAW
Yulise Reaves Waters: The church can help disrupt the schools-to-prison pipeline
At a time when the criminal justice system is looking for alternatives to prison, the church has an important role to play in helping those who need it most, says a Dallas assistant city attorney.
Teenagers from an Iowa church youth group and Baltimore schoolchildren take a break during a summer learning camp. Photo by J.M. Giordano
Baltimore mission program subverts the notion of church groups "fixing" or "saving" people
At Baltimore’s The Center, church groups from across the U.S. work with outreach ministries of local congregations while learning about the theology of missions and the root causes of poverty and racism. Organizers hope they will apply these lessons in their home communities.
Photo courtesy of Velda Love
Velda Love: People want to be part of the conversation about race and equity
The United Church of Christ’s minister for racial justice helps people get started and stay on the journey of dismantling racism and deconstructing whiteness.
Detail from the book cover of "Breaking White Supremacy: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Black Social Gospel" by Gary Dorrien.
Gary Dorrien: Martin Luther King Jr. and the black social gospel
Though often overlooked by historians, the black social gospel -- a black church variant of the social gospel -- played a major role in the theology and ministry of Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement, says the seminary professor and author.
The Rev. William J. Barber, left, and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove are working together on the Poor People's Campaign, a nationwide effort to "challenge the evils of systemic racism, poverty, the war economy, ecological devastation and the nation’s distorted morality." Photo courtesy of Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove
Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove: Reckoning with the racist history of American Christianity
Understanding the way that America’s history has subverted our reading of the Bible is necessary if we are to be freed from institutional racism and to embrace a Christianity that recognizes the equal worth of every person, says the author of “Reconstructing the Gospel.”
It's important that white people who care about racial reconciliation and healing have difficult conversations in their own communities -- such as church, says Carolyn B. Helsel. Bigstock/Kasia Bialasiewicz
Carolyn B. Helsel: How can white Christians talk faithfully about racism?
White people may feel shame and guilt about racism -- but that should not halt the conversation, says the author of the new book “Anxious to Talk About It.”
Book cover detail
Dominique D. Gilliard: Mass incarceration is antithetical to the gospel
The church is called to stand against the phenomenon of mass incarceration in the United States, says a pastor and author of “Rethinking Incarceration” in an interview.