- Advanced search
- Maximize
RDPulpit: Obama Missed the Hope in State of the Union Address
In this adapted excerpt from his forthcoming book, RD contributor Daniel Schultz asks whether the president’s State of the Union address will foster hope, ‘newness,’ and faith or just reinforce the base assumptions about power and the economy.
Welcome to the (New) Gilded Age: Supreme Court Delivers the Goods to Corporations
The Supreme Court struck down a century of regulations limiting corporate money in politics, clearing the way for a new Gilded Age. In the original Gilded Age (which inspired the Social Gospel movement), opposition was galvanized by a strong anti-corporate Christianity. Where's the religious opposition now?
Resisting the “New Normal” of Parasitic Capitalism in the Two Americas: The Religious Imperative
In a time when “food insecurity” is used as a euphemism for hunger, religious leaders cannot be silent—or turn a deaf ear.
Escalating Afghanistan: What Did You Do in the Class War, Daddy?
Don’t the clergy have a duty to challenge the march of folly in Afghanistan and Pakistan?
‘Soul Murder’ in the American Workplace
As the media yawns at the latest unemployment numbers, our columnist seeks religious leadership on the taboo subject of our dysfunctional relationship to work. For even if the economy recovers and “full employment” returns, we will still be encountering a workplace that remains a site of utter terror in some instances and a site of routine abuse and low-grade anxiety in others.
Want to Love Your Neighbor? Pay Fair Wages
On this Labor Day, consider the results of a new report that reveals the pervasiveness of wage theft in the United States: from less-than-minimum wage pay to unpaid overtime to the refusal of meal breaks, many workers are being matter-of-factly robbed.
The Dirty Little Secret of Every Ponzi Scheme, or: Bernie Madoff’s 150 Year Sentence
18th-century visionary financier John Law and 21st-century crook Bernie Madoff both had compatriots with a ravenous desire for free money—the vice that drove the systems in which these kindred spirits operated.
Economy Yields Too Few Prophets
Few mainstream journalists are truly capturing the reality of the economy in terms of the nation’s worst off. As of last month, the actual number of workers in crisis is not the 14 million but more like 29 million, or 18 percent of the total workforce. Where are the religious coalitions willing to challenge the president’s policies?
Purchasing Morality: What Happens When “Buying Local” Itself is Marketed?
Buying locally reminds us that purchasing is a mythical act that cements us to community in some magical way. But what if the very morality of a “local” act is being marketed in its own right? Is it just as moral to help a Palestinian cultural center build community as it is to buy Cisco products whose ads promise the same?
Someone Has Been Giving Away Money
There have always been tensions between religious reasons to give anonymously and social demands for accountability in giving. In this case the money, millions and millions of it, is going to women-led educational institutions.
Gordon Gekko Gets God: The Heritage Foundation of Theology
Even after the “revelation” that letting unregulated moneymen run the country isn't a good idea, the neoliberals at the Heritage Foundation are still churning out the message; like the latest book by “theologian” Jay W. Richards, Money, Greed, and God: Why Capitalism is the Solution And Not the Problem.
RDPulpit: EFCA Needed to Stop Employers from Bearing False Witness
In addition to the direct consequences for workers and their families, one study estimated that for every worker fired, 395 coworkers got the message: attempt to organize and you’ll get fired too.
O(pinn)ion: Cosmic Lessons: When the Ministry Pulls a Madoff
A minister’s son plays Bernie Madoff and swindles his father’s congregation out of millions. Is it helpful to see events like this in terms of God's plan?
The Ponzi Prosperity Gospel
From an anonymous teacher with an inside view of the Prosperity Gospel. What happens when a theology of giving all you've got for a God who will enrich you meets the poorest and least educated?
How Much is a (Progressive) Pastor Worth?
When New York City’s fabled Riverside Church brought in a new, evangelical pastor with a pay package of $600K it made roaring headlines and sparked a lawsuit. Our writer attended the Sunday service and reports back on the "controversy."
Better Gay at Work Than Gay in Church
A new report on the state of the workplace for LGBT Americans shows that the Fortune 500 is way ahead of churches when it comes to equal rights. In some cases it’s easier to be gay at Chevron than in church on Sunday morning.
In a recent speech on the the economy, Obama could have stressed biblical justice; instead he opted for a “post-partisan” emphasis on firm foundations and solidarity in common cause.
I Owe, Therefore I Am: Why Struggling Against the Banks is a Holy Obligation
When we take the approach that “all are sinners,” we confuse big-time criminality with small-time folly. This moral obfuscation allows the far greater misfeasance of corporate creditors to get airbrushed out of the picture.
Lutheran religious leader challenges the President to make good on his campaign pledges to fight for the eradication of extreme poverty.
RDPulpit: No Time for Lukewarm Economic Reform
New dimensions of criminality and injustice in the world of finance are revealed every day. So why are religious progressives—who know a thing or two about revelation—still posing, equivocating, and trimming around the edges while poor people suffer at the hands of a predator elite?