Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite

Does nuclear power usurp the power of God?

It is true that God's power is the power to create and to destroy, but this is also a power that God, in the Christian tradition, grants to the human being, the one created "in the image of God." This much we know: it is within the capacity of human beings as created in the image of God to reduce the risks of the nuclear age. We have done this. But it has not been easy so far, and it will never be easy

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | March 13, 2011; 08:28 PM ET | Comments (0)

Rep. King using Nixon's playbook: create the enemies you need

Rep. Peter King and his hearings are part of an emerging pattern where Republicans are exchanging the "Islamic threat" for the "communist threat" and running the same plays as before. This is certainly going to be the new "wedge" issue in the 2012 presidential campaign.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | March 7, 2011; 10:09 AM ET | Comments (2)

The right's war on poor women

Over the years I have come to believe that the real end game of the political and religious right is not to prevent abortion, but to control women's capacity to reproduce.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | March 1, 2011; 10:20 AM ET | Comments (22)

We need a new Social Gospel: the moral imperative of collective bargaining

There is a deep connection between work and human dignity that is at the core of a moral vision to guide and shape a new Social Gospel, and a new populism. We need a new American populism that will fight for the rights of workers in this country as they are threatened yet again.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | February 23, 2011; 08:30 AM ET | Comments (7)

Playing the fear card is very tempting to politicians

Through ten years of post 9/11 work at the grassroots, fear of Muslims is becoming a staple of conservative politics. This is dangerous for America, and profoundly wrong, but very, very tempting to politicians.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | February 22, 2011; 04:56 PM ET | Comments (0)

Secular or religious? Why make enemies when we don't have to?

It would be a huge mistake for American foreign policy to equate a "freedom agenda" with secularism and rule out the possibility that there is just as much, if not more, dynamism in the Islam of young Muslims around the world as there is among those who self-identify as secular.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | February 16, 2011; 01:40 PM ET | Comments (5)

"Love one another"

The Christian idea of love is not sentimental or romantic and it has very little to do with the hearts and flowers of Valentine's Day.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | February 14, 2011; 01:26 PM ET | Comments (0)

The arc of the moral universe catches up with Mubarak

Some interpret the "arc of the moral universe" to mean that justice and peace are inevitable; we can sit still and wait around until divine providence takes a hand and topples dictators. Not so. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. knew better and so do these brave Egyptians. Providence needs partners.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | February 11, 2011; 12:20 PM ET | Comments (1)

The Mormon branding problem

As Mormon political figures rise in prominence, it is inevitable that Americans will come to know more about the faith than just the Glenn Beck variety or the stereotype of polygamy.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | February 9, 2011; 10:09 AM ET | Comments (29)

Internet access as human right?

Internet access is a new human rights issue and a new dynamic Christian ethical issue because these overlap in the affirmation of humanity and the universal human quest for dignity and freedom.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | February 1, 2011; 11:50 AM ET | Comments (5)

Egypt's Facebook revolution: is it spiritual?

The old regimes of power in the Middle East are being shaken by a revolution that is deeply spiritual, but that is not captive to the dominant religious impulses of the region.Young people have found a way around the control of information of repressive regimes by effectively using the Internet and especially social media. And if that's not spiritual, I don't know what is.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | January 31, 2011; 05:17 PM ET | Comments (15)

Unexpected peace: an Arab art gallery promotes dialogue in Israel

The Umm el-Fahem Gallery and future museum are an "Unexpected Initiative" as a practice of Just Peace. In the midst of cultural, religious and political tension that sometimes breaks out into violence, this art gallery is unexpectedly helping build a consciousness of the self and other and changing how these Israelis, Arab and Jew, see each other.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | January 27, 2011; 02:47 PM ET | Comments (0)

The elusive peace between Israelis and Palestinians

Labor, the historic party that dominated Israel's first three decades and set up its democratic institutions and socialist vision, has been dealt a serious blow by the resignation of Ehud Barak. What does this mean for the "peace process"?

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | January 20, 2011; 01:04 PM ET | Comments (2)

Collective guilt? It's not just for Muslims, Sarah

Look, Sarah. You can't have it both ways. There are some reasons for soul searching on your part about what role your "map" and your stance on guns played in the tragedy in Arizona. Christians don't get a pass when it comes to collective responsibility.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | January 12, 2011; 08:45 PM ET | Comments (24)

God, guns, and politics: an unholy Trinity

"Incendiary political language" needs a match to turn from rhetoric to lethal violence; the proliferation of guns in this country is that match.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | January 11, 2011; 09:24 AM ET | Comments (2)

Engagement or provocation? Going too far in faith critiques

No lying or distortion, no gratuitous insults, do your homework, and be explicit about how your faith commitments influence your critiques. That's how to tell the difference between engagement of other faiths and provocation.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | January 5, 2011; 03:03 PM ET | Comments (6)

Don't be fooled: this is political power disguised as religious violence

The faith challenge here is to recognize that this is an emerging pattern of brutal, violent political manipulation of religion, and reject it.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | January 3, 2011; 07:48 PM ET | Comments (17)

Inspiration: flipping the religion news stories of 2010

Perhaps in 2011 we can be the leaders in finding true religious inspiration behind the negative headlines. Despite all the hype, people do make justice, love mercy and walk humbly with God and each other. Now that's a religion story.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | December 28, 2010; 11:50 AM ET | Comments (6)

Christmas for sale

Here's a radical idea. Let's move the Christian celebration of the birth of the savior, Christ our Lord, to late January, and let the marketers have the shopping part of Christmas in December. Let's realize there is no "war on Christmas." The war is over and the consumers won.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | December 20, 2010; 02:41 PM ET | Comments (20)

The difference between Jesus and Santa Claus

The "war on Christmas" idea is 'Santa theology' not Christian theology. Those talking heads on television and radio bleating about a "war on Christmas" have missed the whole point of "God with us." With Santa, it's all "you better watch out," but Jesus will forgive you. Peace on earth. Try it.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | December 15, 2010; 03:48 PM ET | Comments (29)

Jesus to the rich young ruler: "distribute the money"

Our tax policies in this country are a way to help our neighbors who are the "least of these," as Jesus also notes. We "distribute the money" so that we can help those who are the most vulnerable like children, the sick, those with handicapping conditions, and the elderly.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | December 14, 2010; 10:43 AM ET | Comments (13)

Marriage: is it going the way of the horse and carriage?

The hypocrisy in religion is also another reason many young people of my acquaintance are staying away from marriage in its traditional, legal and religious forms.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | December 7, 2010; 10:24 AM ET | Comments (8)

American exceptionalism: power disguised as virtue

A "God-given" exceptionalism is really kind of lazy. It doesn't really require any work on our part, does it? In that view, God does all the work of guaranteeing our exceptionalism--it's the idea that divine providence equals an outside force controlling human affairs. It's self-deceptive and sentimental feel-good religion (and politics) that has nothing to do with the Bible.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | November 29, 2010; 04:55 PM ET | Comments (6)

Going where no pope has gone before

There are frankly some things I feel are theologically promising. The key concept is that the use of a condom can be a moral act, given the intention to reduce the risk of infection from HIV/AIDS. A further question is whether this thinking be able to move the Catholic church forward in terms of regarding contraception in general as an "assumption of moral responsibility," that being the most common basis religious traditions use to argue that contraception is a moral good.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | November 22, 2010; 02:15 PM ET | Comments (16)

The theology of Harry Potter

Harry Potter and his friends show viewers how goodness happens. It's not magic.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | November 18, 2010; 01:54 PM ET | Comments (25)

Congress: Don't be a bully, repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

We can hardly expect young people to stop bullying their LGBT peers when many of the adults in Congress won't stop a systematic practice that shames and alienates LGBT service members. This is what is wrong with bullying and with "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" from a theological perspective. No one should be made to feel ashamed of who God created them to be.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | November 15, 2010; 05:56 PM ET | Comments (14)

Got anxiety? Religion and political polarization today

The worst division we face as Americans is not over any issue or group of issues. These are in the foreground. The important "backstory" here is that we are being led to be afraid of each other. And religion is being used to fuel that fear narrative.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | November 10, 2010; 10:24 AM ET | Comments (24)

"Blessed are the peacemakers," and that includes you, Mr. President

Time to start earning that Nobel Peace Prize, Mr. President.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | November 8, 2010; 03:52 PM ET | Comments (5)

Vote your conscience on ALL the issues

There is a lot at stake for us as voters and as citizens in terms of our moral obligations. To attempt to reduce morality to one issue, and one issue where people of good conscience often do disagree, is insulting to democracy and to the American voter.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | November 2, 2010; 08:36 PM ET | Comments (0)

God bless sanity in religion and in politics

A faith that is zealous enough to ignore hard realities in favor of dogma is inarguably a form of insanity.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | October 25, 2010; 05:22 PM ET | Comments (10)

Why Anita Hill deserves an apology

Anita Hill deserves an apology for having her life once again disrupted and being used by a right-wing activist in what seems yet another attempt by the Tea Party to drive their extremist agenda and move American history backwards. I think, therefore, this is not just about "publicity" but perhaps an early sign of another front opening on Supreme Court decisions, and other legal precedents, this time about laws that have secured equal rights for women in the workplace.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | October 20, 2010; 03:15 PM ET | Comments (12)

Political candidates love to play "the religion card"

I think that fervent expressions of religious belief by candidates do not belong in the public square. There is such a temptation to pandering that such expressions are truly unwise--the public actually doesn't learn very much, and the candidate's faith becomes politicized. Bad on both counts.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | October 18, 2010; 04:47 PM ET | Comments (5)

God didn't create corporations

The Declaration of Independence rests its claims for equal political rights on the fact that the "Creator" endowed human beings with "certain inalienable rights." The corporation is not mentioned.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | October 17, 2010; 01:06 PM ET | Comments (2)

Religion's dis-ease with the body and sexuality

The minority status of homosexuals and their political oppression is fueled by religious anxiety about human sexuality in general. This is what needs to change. The range of human sexual responses, one to another, isn't an "option," it's a wonderful example of the gifts of the creation, expressed in multiple ways. In my religious view, that's why Carl Paladino's remarks are not only wrong, they are immoral.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | October 11, 2010; 04:29 PM ET | Comments (9)

"Through a glass, darkly," and that goes double for politicians

I hear Christine O'Donnell 's claim that she believes it is God's plan for her to 'campaign and ultimately, to win' with a great deal of dread. To me this demonstrates a lack of humility in the face of the great challenges of not only running for political office, but also ultimately of governing. I believe it is the same combination of childishness and blind arrogance that has been so harmful to our country the past. When I hear any politician talk like this these days, I run the other way.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | October 5, 2010; 09:00 AM ET | Comments (29)

Ignorance is not bliss

Over the years, I have come to believe that the study of religion is a way to seek God, though not always to find God. Of course, I include agnosticism and atheism as part of the uniquely human search for God that sometimes, even for a life-time, entails silence and not communion. It is all one journey.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | September 28, 2010; 04:57 PM ET | Comments (8)

Would you like some values with that tea?

The Tea Party winners are the new darlings of conservative political strategists. The "Christian values" group wants to regain their role in political power brokering, as was clear from the jockeying for position at the recent "Values Summit." It's tempting to try to put together folks who have very different motives for their conservatism, but, as often happens with temptation, the reality doesn't work out so well.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | September 21, 2010; 02:24 PM ET | Comments (97)

Comedy saves America: the Stewart and Colbert rallies

For many years, a wonderful seminary colleague of mine taught a class called "Humor as Healing and Grace." Humor is a theological subject because it can be a way of healing divisions and cultivating the grace of self-awareness. This theology...

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | September 19, 2010; 10:24 AM ET | Comments (32)

Just War, just peace in the Middle East

Is religion helping or hurting the current attempt to forge peace between the Jewish state and the Palestinians? Yes, is the answer. Religion can hurt. It can also help. What is needed now is a breakthrough concept, one that does not talk about either war or peace in the abstract, but proposes "practice norms," that is, practical steps that have a proven historical track record of reducing conflict, and increasing the presence of justice and peace. Some of us, Christian, Jewish and Muslim, call this new concept Just Peace.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | September 13, 2010; 03:17 PM ET | Comments (8)

"Shame on you": religious leaders denounce biogotry against Muslims

"In recent weeks, we have become alarmed by the anti-Muslim frenzy that has been generated over the plans to build an Islamic community center and mosque at the Park 51 site near Ground Zero in New York City. We recognize that the vicinity around the former World Trade Center, where 2,752 innocent lives were cruelly murdered on 9/11, remains an open wound in our country, especially for those who lost loved ones. Persons of conscience have taken different positions on the wisdom of the location of this project, even if the legal right to build on the site appears to be unassailable. Our concern here is not to debate the Park 51 project anew, but rather to respond to the atmosphere of fear and contempt for fellow Americans of the Muslim faith that the controversy has generated."

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | September 7, 2010; 04:44 PM ET | Comments (4)

Can I get an amen? What to preach about 9/11 this year

This year, some may use the 9/11 anniversary as an occasion to promote fear and hate. But they will not have the last word. Christians, Muslims and Jews are coming together, and working with their own faith communities to stand against fear and hate, and stand for the universal religious value of love of God and neighbor. Is there any better way to honor the victims of the attacks of 9/11 and comfort and support their families? Can I get an amen?

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | September 5, 2010; 09:57 PM ET | Comments (7)

Why the president's faith matters

Obama is just more of a realist than the liberation theologians. He has a more critical view of human nature and its possibilities, both for good and for ill. He is, in a startling way, very much a Niebuhrian Christian realist. It matters that we know that about Barack Obama.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | August 30, 2010; 03:49 PM ET | Comments (17)

Liberation Theology for beginners

The point is not just to say "Lord, Lord," but to know that people are hungry and feed them, know that they lack shelter and house them, know that they are mistreated and stop the violence. That's liberation theology. The rest is a house built with no foundation.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | August 30, 2010; 11:03 AM ET | Comments (52)

Freedom of religion: having the courage of our convictions

The true of test of whether this country is really the "land of the free" is when we do or do not act like we are the "home of the brave." The U.S. Constitution lives or dies in the practice of its freedoms for all Americans. That means, all Americans, not just the ones with whom you agree, or with whom you may share a religious belief. We must protect these fundamental liberties especially when it is challenging to do so, or even appears threatening to some.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | August 15, 2010; 12:43 PM ET | Comments (3)

Pilgrimages are needed now more than ever

Having a spiritual life doesn't just happen. You need to be intentional about it, and find time to listen, to learn, to be still and to serve. You can do that in a lot of ways, but from time to time, getting away from the routines of everyday life can really help you hear the still small voice and see God in the other.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | August 10, 2010; 07:12 PM ET | Comments (1)

Spiritual but not religious? Okay, but you'll be hungry in an hour

Spirituality is the sweetness of religion, the effervescent taste of the divine. Religion, on the other hand, is the fiber. You've got to have some fiber, some strength of tradition, ritual and sacred texts, to get you through the day. The problem is, however, that today's institutionalized religion does not contain much just good, wholesome fiber--a lot of it is like junk cereal.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | August 2, 2010; 07:34 PM ET | Comments (13)

Pre-marital counseling is a must for interfaith marriages

The fact is that religious people are intermarrying, and I believe this trend will continue and even accelerate. The question is not whether this is a good or bad idea, but how we help families incorporate religious understanding and tolerance into their lives. That is the route to happier families, a more open society, and increased religious vibrancy.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | July 27, 2010; 10:26 AM ET | Comments (2)

A peace-making mosque is NECESSARY near Ground Zero

There are many reasons why this mosque near Ground Zero is a good idea--it is a way to actually make a change for the better in this country, deal directly with the fear and suspicion directed at Muslims for no reason other than the fact that they are Muslims, and also address as yet often unacknowledged public sorrow for Muslims who lost loved ones on 9/11. It is, in fact, NECESSARY to act your way into the change you want to see.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | July 19, 2010; 05:46 PM ET | Comments (29)

The redemption of Levi Johnston

Parenting by press release is not going to get this family back on track. The hard work of redemption and forgiveness requires a lot of face time, and it is essential that Bristol, Levi and Sarah all talk honestly with each another about what actually went on, what needs to change and how that change will come about. You can't do that through press releases.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | July 15, 2010; 02:09 PM ET | Comments (56)

Why telling Muslims what they believe is a bad idea

If Western policy analysts start down the road of defining this or that aspect of Islam for Muslims, this will serve to create divides, not overcome them. The Obama Administration's policy, by contrast, is both practical and wise. In regard to Islam, it can be summarized as 'Don't define people's religion for them; it never works out well.'

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | July 13, 2010; 04:24 PM ET | Comments (9)

God is One, but humanity is not

So many religiously fueled conflicts are about controlling the power of God, owning it and manipulating it in favor of one group over another. The idea that there is "One" God beyond the many beliefs and practices of the world's religions, in my view, challenges the manipulation of God to gain poltical and even military power.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | July 7, 2010; 02:16 PM ET | Comments (3)

The ethics of a prudent exit from Afghanistan

Americans from the highest level of government to the ordinary citizen need to keep asking and striving to answer the question of what "good outcome" means for today's conflicts. It may very well not include the primary use of military force, but instead include involving regional stakeholders through diplomacy, involving national stakeholders in a conflict resolution processes, and the economic empowerment of ordinary citizens even in on-going conflict situations

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | June 29, 2010; 12:35 PM ET | Comments (6)

Does tweet mean cheap?

Tweeting doesn't necessarily cheapen the message of the tweeter, but it sure does shorten it. Technology's capacity for immediacy is affecting us all, and producing an anxious, brittle and volatile culture.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | June 21, 2010; 05:43 PM ET | Comments (4)

Slime and punishment

We must pursue BP and Halliburton and all the other parties to the Gulf oil slime and make the payment for the clean up so punishingly expensive that it will set a new standard for corporate payouts. This is actually a morally sound approach, as it takes the biblical understanding of human nature into account.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | June 15, 2010; 02:41 PM ET | Comments (1)

A Just Peace approach to Gaza

Force can look like the only option; the function of Just Peace is to provide real and practical alternatives to force that meet the legitimate needs of parties to a conflict. Just Peace is based in religious and moral imperatives to treat others as we ourselves would wish to be treated. It breaks through the stalemate between idealism and realism, between Pacifism and Just War.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | June 8, 2010; 07:29 AM ET | Comments (2)

Without conscience: Medical experimentation and torture

Report claims medical professionals involved in CIA's "enhanced interrogations" of terrorism suspects engaged in forms of human research and experimentation in violation of medical ethics and domestic and international law.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | June 6, 2010; 11:11 PM ET | Comments (22)

One year after Cairo: Young Muslim Americans the new beginning

In giving voice to their generation, especially online, these young Muslim Americans and many like them counter a pessimistic and alienated narrative, not with naiveté, but with concrete efforts to help improve their society.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | June 4, 2010; 08:57 AM ET | Comments (5)

Profaning creation

There is no question, from a biblical point of view, that these human actions in deep-sea drilling without adequate safety measures are profoundly sinful and wrong, and the consequences are there for all to see--more alienation between human beings and the planet.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | June 1, 2010; 05:21 PM ET | Comments (10)

What's really immoral: slave wages paid to illegal immigrants

In the 19th century, Americans came to understand slavery as morally abhorrent, but now slavery has returned in a new form and it is undermining our sense of moral decency. It is also undermining our whole economy, and destroying the American middle and working classes.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | May 25, 2010; 11:06 AM ET | Comments (4)

A woman's life is a human life

Those who would deny women the right to moral autonomy, the ability to engage in moral reasoning about whether to continue a pregnancy to term or to have an abortion, develop their arguments based on assumptions of women's moral ineptitude.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | May 17, 2010; 04:29 PM ET | Comments (12)

The need for a liberal Protestant ethos on the Supreme Court

There cannot be a religious test for office under our Constitution. But the kind of Protestant spirit that drove the "Founding Fathers" to disestablish religion (i.e. make it unconstitutional for states to financially support their favorite Protestant denomination) has a place in the mix, especially these days.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | May 10, 2010; 05:59 PM ET | Comments (1)

Creating the enemies you need

Violent interpretations of Islam can't gain any traction unless they provoke extreme responses that in turn are used to justify violence. Enemies create enemies, and soon the "descending spiral" of which Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke so eloquently, is well on its way down into the darkness.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | May 3, 2010; 07:18 PM ET | Comments (7)

Suspect thy neighbor

This new Arizona immigration law is morally corrupting of who we should want to be as an Americans who live in an open society and cherish freedom and democracy. It's more like the closed and suspicious societies behind the "Iron Curtain" that we decried so much during the Cold War.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | April 30, 2010; 03:16 PM ET | Comments (68)

Why is the Army hosting a prayer event?

The only way that these events honoring a National Day of Prayer are remotely constitutional is if private individuals or groups host them. I do believe that privately sponsored National Prayer Events, and civic prayer events, can play a vital role in our country these days where there is such increasing religious diversity. Thus, those who dismiss other religions and demean them are not good choices as speakers for public prayer events when the idea is to increase tolerance.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | April 26, 2010; 05:24 PM ET | Comments (8)

Love the body, heal the spirit

The "sex is shameful" views of many Christian churches paradoxically reinforce the culturally negative views of sex. Both the religious message that sex is shameful, and the media presentations of sex as degraded and violent, foster negative associations with human sexuality that make healthy, spiritual sexual relations nigh on to impossible to teach to our children.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | April 21, 2010; 08:58 AM ET | Comments (6)

God goes viral in new UCC online marketing campaign

Viral images of the kind of community that does not depend on despising other people, but on bringing them closer, is a real way we can address the politics and the religion of anger so much abroad in our land. The UCC's digital message is 'you are not alone in this scary world, we're here for you.'

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | April 16, 2010; 10:21 AM ET | Comments (2)

"Frightened" tea party comes to Chicago

The diffuse and yet very real fear that seems to underlie at least this one couple's motivation to attend tea party rallies shouldn't just be put down to political differences in a democracy. I'm frightened too. I'm frightened of the undercurrent of fear that was right below the surface of Daley Plaza in Chicago today.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | April 15, 2010; 03:22 PM ET | Comments (14)

Beck's worst nightmare: Early church was socialist

A literal reading of the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament does not admit of any other interpretation than that the early church was working out of a proto-socialist model.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | April 14, 2010; 04:00 PM ET | Comments (42)

Don't blame the media, blame the abusers

The more the Vatican fails to place the well-being of children at the center of its concern, and the more it tries to deflect criticism of its mishandling of child sexual abuse cases, the more the moral authority of the church erodes.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | April 5, 2010; 04:57 PM ET | Comments (9)

The sins of the Fathers are crimes

A fundamental question that often gets overlooked in the horrible pattern of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, is who is the church? Are children part of the church, and the beloved of God, and their safety the condition for being able to say the church is holy? Or is it only the church hierarchy that is the church, and the protection of the hierarchy the most important issue? Are children part of the church or not?

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | March 29, 2010; 10:36 AM ET | Comments (15)

Wallis is right on the money

The secular tea-bagging crowd is a motley collection of nihilists who are not even close to the American mainstream. The far-right needs to take Christian Evangelicals with them in their effort to bring the American government to a stand-still; otherwise, they don't have the numbers, or the cultural clout. Rev. Jim Wallis, because he is an Evangelical Christian who writes about reforming the economy according to biblical principles, is a clear and present danger to the secular far-right.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | March 25, 2010; 03:18 PM ET | Comments (0)

The dying and rising of health care reform: a Holy Week lesson

The Holy Week lesson starts with thinking about sin and suffering, and how sometimes, when sin drastically overreaches, it tips its hand and becomes visible for what it is, the rejection of justice and mercy.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | March 23, 2010; 06:27 PM ET | Comments (0)

Heaven is the closest you can get to God

Peace, and the wisdom that makes for peace, is the presence of God in this world. The Epistle of James describes this very practically and concretely. Peace is the wisdom that comes from heaven. "But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness." (James 3:17-18)

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | March 22, 2010; 06:45 PM ET | Comments (4)

Don't fake faith

First of all, don't fake faith. The great Medieval mystics teach us that the journey of doubt, what they sometimes called "the dark night of the soul," is part of the mystery of faith. When you stand in the pulpit and look out at the congregation, you need to know that many of those sitting in the pews are struggling with doubt.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | March 15, 2010; 05:32 PM ET | Comments (9)

Caesar's money, Caesar's rules

It would be a big mistake to "exempt" religious organizations that receive government funding and allow them to discriminate against some Americans because of their religious beliefs.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | March 8, 2010; 08:22 PM ET | Comments (14)

The Young Muslim Americans Project

On Faith is highlighting this video of Young Muslim Americans as a snapshot of the incredible range of talents and contributions of this growing segment of American society and inviting emerging leaders from this community to comment and expand the conversation.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | March 3, 2010; 12:29 AM ET | Comments (0)

Proselytism is a dangerous religious idea

Proselytizing in a globalizing world shakes the foundations of security that religion offers and it has a profoundly unsettling effect. Since increased anxiety often manifests itself in aggression and even violence, religious proselytizing is an ever more dangerous religious idea, and a bad one at that.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | March 1, 2010; 08:51 PM ET | Comments (9)

Religion: the smartest power of all

American foreign policy has been seriously debilitated from the lack of sustained analyses of the multiples roles religion plays around the world. Religious leaders and foreign policy experts should (and sometimes do) work towards each other in bringing religious assets to the table where they can support rational policy. This would be the "smart" in smart power.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | February 22, 2010; 09:22 PM ET | Comments (4)

End the hypocrisy that words don't matter

The hypocrisy of people in the conservative movement jumping on this particular bandwagon about retardation to make political capital, while having ridiculed and damned such efforts in linguistic transformation before, is frankly, intolerable.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | February 17, 2010; 09:07 AM ET | Comments (4)

'Don't ask, don't tell' was always a bad idea

It has always been a sin against God's universal love to say some are not included in that divine generosity. That's why 'don't ask, don't tell' was always a bad idea.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | February 10, 2010; 11:20 AM ET | Comments (2)

Snowmageddon a sign of 'global weirding'

Is this "snowmageddon"? Or is it an in-your-face, indisputable example of "global weirding"?

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | February 8, 2010; 08:14 PM ET | Comments (79)

CBS: don't help religion become a political football

This Super Bowl ad featuring Ted Tebow plays politics with faith. I have no doubt that Tebow is a person of faith, and he is entitled to his beliefs. Others are entitled to their beliefs. So, show everybody's faith-based ad, or don't show any. Otherwise, CBS is allowing ad time during the Super Bowl to become a political football.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | February 2, 2010; 01:49 PM ET | Comments (5)

Democrats and theocrats

Americans do seem to expect their presidents to be spiritual leaders, but given a choice, they'd rather the president make sure they have a job. If the unemployment rate were now at 6%, even 7%, would we even be having this conversation? No, of course not.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | January 25, 2010; 10:55 PM ET | Comments (4)

Robert's Rules of judicial activism

Justice Robert's predilection for conservative judicial activism was obvious from the time of his appointment

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | January 24, 2010; 02:13 PM ET | Comments (0)

Shaken but not forsaken

Women who have been repeatedly battered, like the Haitians who have been battered by colonial repression, vicious dictators, poverty and hurricanes, cry out to God, and God can feel silenced to them. They suffer and no one comes. Surely, they reason, this is the will of a just God, isn't it? And so they conclude they deserve their suffering. The Psalms don't let us or God off the hook that easily, however.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | January 19, 2010; 07:40 PM ET | Comments (7)

Haiti and human decency

The Chinese, the Americans, the Cubans, the French, the Germans and others all have aircraft sitting side-by-side on the tarmac in Haiti. Whatever differences there are among these countries, the sheer magnitude of the catastrophe in Haiti dwarfs them.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | January 14, 2010; 08:33 AM ET | Comments (34)

Bad media Karma?

Things like bad media don't just happen to people according to Buddhists. No, the law of moral causation means Palin and Hume need to look to their own past misdeeds to figure out why they may get bad press. From the perspective of the Christian faith, the closest parallel to Karma is the teaching that "you reap what you sow." In other words, those who sow pious criticism and religious shaming may get some back in return.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | January 11, 2010; 08:21 PM ET | Comments (9)

Mary Daly's 'courage to sin big'

More than three decades ago, Mary Daly wrote, "If God is male, then male is God." She was right then, and she is right now. Religions that will not recognize the full equality of women simply substitute maleness for divinity.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | January 5, 2010; 09:28 AM ET | Comments (19)

Blasphemy is good for religion

Blasphemy laws are irreverent (that is, offensive to religion) because making criticism of religion a crime can choke off one of the most vital element of living religions, the drive to reform religion again and again and again throughout the ages.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | January 4, 2010; 06:34 PM ET | Comments (6)

High anxiety: Faith, fear and flying

Air travel places us each in a vast network of relationships. We have no control over the whole process, but that doesn't mean we have no role at all in how this system works through each of us.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | December 29, 2009; 07:19 PM ET | Comments (36)

Baby Jesus was uninsured

On this night where millions of Americans are closer to having health care reform, it is well to remember the fight for universal health care is a moral struggle. Jesus' birth as an uninsured child is an unambiguous sign to us that in the Christian faith, the care of the most vulnerable is the will of God.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | December 24, 2009; 12:21 PM ET | Comments (1)

Good or evil? A decade defined by religious struggle

This is the decade in which Christianity, Judaism and Islam really began to deal with the cost of their continued alienation and strife. We may one day look back on this momentous decade and realize it was the moment in human history when the children of Abraham began to heal the wounds of their violent past.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | December 22, 2009; 11:49 AM ET | Comments (6)

"Just war" or just more war?

President Obama was right to use theological categories such as Just War and also Just Peace. His use of these terms marks the return of long-standing, normative moral theory to American foreign policy. The only war that can ever be completely just, however, is the war that is never fought.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | December 21, 2009; 07:18 PM ET | Comments (4)

Oral Roberts took salvation to prime time

The creative use of the internet and other forms of new media by conservative Christians today has its roots in the early work of Oral Roberts; Roberts made it culturally acceptable for deeply devout Christian evangelicals to accept media innovation as part of the spread of their faith. The question remains, however, 'Can salvation be packaged and sold like toothpaste?' Probably not.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | December 15, 2009; 07:26 PM ET | Comments (11)

Obama's new 'Just War Peace' policy

If there is an emerging "Obama Doctrine" on war and peace, it is contained in a "new way" of thinking called "Just Peace," not in the older Just War theory alone.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | December 11, 2009; 09:15 AM ET | Comments (97)

Symbol wars

There is no blueprint for how a whole nation moves through such broad cultural and political shift as the current one over the relationship of an increasing religious diversity to our public life. But this much is clear. Neglect the power of religious symbols at your peril.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | December 8, 2009; 08:22 AM ET | Comments (22)

Tiger's Unplayable Lie

Can Tiger's game actually help him get out of this unplayable series of lies? Tiger is courageous on the golf course, however, and he needs to draw on that quality from his golf game to get him out of this series of unplayable lies. No more circumlocutions about "transgressions" through his website. That's being a chicken.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | December 6, 2009; 07:08 AM ET | Comments (2)

Obama: The end of endless war

Obama's Afghanistan speech signaled a change in the moral understanding of war, the rejection of endless war.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | December 2, 2009; 05:42 PM ET | Comments (8)

Switzerland falls off a mountain of fear

Switzerland has just demonstrated the real goal of the politics of fear: create enemies and then use the division to gain political power. This is the strategy of the right-wing in the U.S. and it is the strategy just employed by the far right in Switzerland in this stupid and shameful ban on minaret construction in that country.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | December 1, 2009; 04:38 AM ET | Comments (7)

American holidays are already Godless

The humanists are pointing out the obvious. American public holidays are about consumption, not God. Even worse, the Christian faith has internalized this message of cultural Christmas. Christians themselves often forget what Christmas is really about. The humanists really can't do any more harm to Christians about Christmas than we've already done to ourselves.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | November 23, 2009; 02:34 PM ET | Comments (17)

GOP declares "Holy War" against health care reform

God as Holy Warrior had gone out of fashion in Christian theology for about a thousand years. Until now. God as Holy Warrior is now apparently running the GOP senatorial opposition to the health care bill.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | November 19, 2009; 07:51 PM ET | Comments (0)

Bad Samaritans

There's a big difference between witnessing to your faith in the public square and lobbying behind the scenes to cut a deal. The care of those who are sick and injured is the paramount moral obligation, even for those of different customs and beliefs. Good Samaritans don't judge the poor. They help them.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | November 17, 2009; 11:24 AM ET | Comments (9)

Obama: War is sacrifice

You have to go back to Abraham Lincoln to understand where President Obama is trying to take the country in relationship to understanding the changes we need to make about the conduct of the war in Afghanistan. War, in this President's view, is not bloodless (and mindless) triumph, but a bloody and costly sacrifice. This is what profound change looks like.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | November 13, 2009; 11:20 AM ET | Comments (2)

Military chaplains know: no religion can be excluded

It is up to the chaplains to cultivate a climate of respect for each religion in the services. The increasing religious diversity in the military makes this a crucial job. It is a challenging job for chaplains, but chaplains must agree to respect all religions--that's why they cannot evangelize or proselytize. There is an ever more demanding task of gaining greater knowledge and depth of understanding of the many religions represented in the unit.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | November 9, 2009; 06:03 PM ET | Comments (5)

Fort Hood: Trauma is contagious

The trauma of war is like a huge stone thrown into a pool; the ripples go out in wider and wider circles, catching those who serve, hitting their families, flowing into the lives of those who are supposed to care for them and help them, and finally into our whole nation. As our thoughts go out to Fort Hood today, let us really see war in its ever widening effects and really count the cost.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | November 6, 2009; 09:46 AM ET | Comments (60)

Death with dignity: end-of-life counseling helps

End-of-life counseling is a way for seniors to keep some of their dignity, because it can help them and their families make some purposeful choices about this important time of life--a time of life that comes to all of us.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | November 3, 2009; 10:04 AM ET | Comments (2)

Goodness happens

Abstract questions about whether God is necessary for there to be morality, for there to be a sense of right and wrong, simply will not stand in the face of events such as the genocide in Rwanda. Rather, the answers we seek about how goodness happens are found in the simple practices of decency, of goodness, that some people perform and by their performance teach others.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | October 27, 2009; 08:35 PM ET | Comments (1)

Crimes against community: a special kind of hate needs a special kind of law

It takes a special kind of hate to make a hate crime. It takes the kind of hate that targets a whole community through the torture and death of one of its members. In religious terms, this makes such a crime not just sin, but evil. In the language of law, it makes it a hate crime.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | October 19, 2009; 05:32 PM ET | Comments (3)

Paging Dr. Salk: Undermining Trust in Science Puts our Kids at Risk

Where is the trust my parents had in Dr. Salk? It is no more, replaced by religious fear-mongering about science and aided by the lack of basic science education in our schools.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | October 12, 2009; 06:52 PM ET | Comments (1)

Looking for God in All the Wrong Places

I believe there is no scriptural text, no argument from nature, no human or divine words, and no example of human kindness that works to inspire faith until there is a "Why?" that springs from the human heart.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | October 8, 2009; 11:30 PM ET | Comments (1)

Afghans Want What You Want

If we worked through the profoundly Islamic vision in Afghanistan, what would our policy be? We would pull back from engaging extremists in far-flung military battles and turn our attention to protecting civilians.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | October 6, 2009; 01:41 PM ET | Comments (2)

Michael Moore and Capitalist Immorality

What is now broken in our American capitalist system is that the drive for acquisition is completely unregulated; capitalism has become uncoupled from democracy and its systems.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | October 4, 2009; 04:32 PM ET | Comments (8)

Nuclear Heresy

In a Christian sense, nuclear weapons represent the ultimate heresy because their capacity for world-annihilation is a repudiation of the goodness of creation, and the goodness of God as creator. This strikes at the core of Christian faith in God as Creator.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | September 28, 2009; 06:54 PM ET | Comments (6)

Immigration Gets 'Churchy'

The reason faith communities all across the nation have begun to engage in grassroots activism is because they are outraged by the treatment of their neighbors and friends.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | September 22, 2009; 12:26 PM ET | Comments (15)

Just Say No to Faith-Based Discrimination

If you feel that your faith dictates that you should discriminate, just don't take government money. That's freedom of religion too. But if you take the money, you have to play by the rules.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | September 21, 2009; 07:50 PM ET | Comments (6)

It's not "Incivility," It's Racial Prejudice

What we are seeing in our public life right now in this writhing, screaming and resisting President Obama's leadership is, in fact, the next step on the journey toward one America. The vitriol is coming from the still deeply held race-prejudices in some that are being are pulled out into the open and exposed.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | September 14, 2009; 05:40 PM ET | Comments (36)

Obama Is The Moral High Ground

Obama's message to Congress and the country is that grownups take responsibility. It is a test of national character.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | September 9, 2009; 11:38 PM ET | Comments (6)

Guns or God? You Can't Worship Both

Bring guns to worship and you're likely to shoot yourself, both spiritually and literally.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | September 9, 2009; 11:51 AM ET | Comments (59)

Zombie Nation

If you feel like a drum-beat of death is eating your brain this summer, it turns out you're right. That's what Zombies do.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | August 31, 2009; 05:50 PM ET | Comments (4)

Teach Tolerance: It's the Biblical Thing to Do

The "Facing History and Ourselves", and the "Teaching Tolerance" online curricula have much to offer the Texas Board of Education about how civics education for a religiously pluralistic nation should and can be done.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | August 31, 2009; 04:19 PM ET | Comments (16)

Senator Kennedy's Hope, and Heart for the Good Fight

Who now will speak for the powerless, the voiceless and those disregarded by the powerful? Who will fight simply for what is right?

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | August 26, 2009; 10:12 AM ET | Comments (12)

Scotland: Mercy Without Empathy

Governments cannot, and they should not, aspire to the heights of religious transcendence. They should make decisions that are accountable, and part of Scotland's accountability was to the magnitude of this crime and the suffering of the victims and their families.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | August 25, 2009; 12:21 PM ET | Comments (3)

Cheap Evil

The reason the "cheap evil" of references to Nazis is so attractive to those attacking health care reform is that it seems to cost nothing to make these emotional appeals and not have to back them up with any facts.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | August 21, 2009; 10:22 AM ET | Comments (0)

Jesus Healed the Sick

As a Christian, I believe the biblical truth of the matter is that if you don't take care of the sick and the poor, you are rejecting Jesus himself.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | August 17, 2009; 04:17 PM ET | Comments (30)

Gutenberg Got the Same Question

The technology doesn't matter. From the oral recitation of memorized texts, to scrolls, to books, to Facebook and other social media and finally to Twitter, it's the spiritual connection that counts.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | August 12, 2009; 11:06 AM ET | Comments (2)

Woodstock Nation Turns 40

The lesson of American history since Woodstock is the struggle with the fall from innocence. You can't confront the politics of anger with naïve dreams of innocence. You'll lose.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | August 12, 2009; 10:52 AM ET | Comments (4)

How to Be White

The way to be white in America is to frankly acknowledge we are not there yet on racial/ethnic equality. See the patterns of racial discrimination, don't overreact and choose to join a movement of people who realize that deep change comes from concrete actions that shift power relations.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | July 30, 2009; 10:12 AM ET | Comments (129)

God Blesses Gay Marriage

Why should it be the marriages of gay Americans where we take God out of the contract? I think a related, and I hope complimentary struggle, is for the equality of soul of every human being.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | July 27, 2009; 06:30 PM ET | Comments (96)

When God Was a Woman

Women's second-class status in the world's major religions is not primarily a text problem, it's a God problem.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | July 21, 2009; 01:55 PM ET | Comments (10)

Harry Potter: Wizards and Racism

Wizards may do magic, but prejudice does not magically disappear in their society, as we've seen in Sonia Sotomayor's hearings.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | July 15, 2009; 06:49 PM ET | Comments (130)

Accommodate All Faiths, Or None

Bad news, kids. My recommendation is that you get only your own religious holidays off from school, and even worse, you will need to make up the work.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | July 7, 2009; 04:42 PM ET | Comments (7)

No Nukes: Reality Meets Morality

If nuclear weapons are ever used again, it is likely the justification for such use will be religious, not strategic. Religious leaders from many faith groups are beginning to recognize that they had better step up to this challenge and help the arms control and diplomatic effort.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | July 7, 2009; 10:24 AM ET | Comments (13)

The Pandering Penitents

The religious language used by the political penitent is actually a form of the sin of pride: 'I'm really a fine Christian because I am religiously penitent."

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | June 29, 2009; 07:26 PM ET | Comments (6)

Michael Jackson in Black and White

The promise of the younger Jackson, his grace, charm and astonishing talent are juxtaposed, in his changing face, with the melting and morphing of his promise and his identity into something that, in the end, becomes impossible to define or even understand. But tears seem appropriate.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | June 26, 2009; 10:08 AM ET | Comments (25)

Non! Don't Ban the Burqa in the U.S.

The burqa is as welcome in America as much as is my cross or my clerical collar. The only people who should decided whether to wear the burqa or not are Muslim women. Stay out of it, Sarkozy. Liberté, Egalité, Sororité!

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | June 24, 2009; 06:28 PM ET | Comments (26)

Cheap Grace in Senate's Apology for Slavery

After two-and-a-half centuries of slavery and racial segregation, some actual consequences might be in order.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | June 22, 2009; 12:00 PM ET | Comments (7)

God's Vote -- Democracy Comes to Iran

When I watch the people in Iran spilling out into the streets, demanding to know where their vote went, I can see the hand of God.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | June 16, 2009; 10:27 AM ET | Comments (16)

Iranian Youth Tweet Up a Revolution

You can just as easily tweet about bombing as you can about demanding that votes be counted honestly and fully.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | June 15, 2009; 12:13 PM ET | Comments (1)

Right-Wing Extremism on the Rise

This is a rise in right-wing domestic terrorism and it is murderous and dangerous.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | June 10, 2009; 05:23 PM ET | Comments (22)

Religious Liberty and Gay Marriage: A Winning Strategy

The key to the successful legalization of gay marriage in New Hampshire was the emphasis supporters placed on protecting religious liberty.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | June 9, 2009; 03:26 PM ET | Comments (6)

Breaking Up the Moral Monopoly: Gay Marriage Passes in New Hampshire

Making a mainstream case to the American public on gay equality issues requires breaking up the moral monopoly that has been held by opponents of gay marriage.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | June 4, 2009; 12:21 PM ET | Comments (0)

Bin Laden's Problem: Obama IS the Message to the Muslim World

Obama's story is the message to the Muslim world; his story is compelling because it is such a story of the coming religious pluralism the world as a whole is trying to understand.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | June 3, 2009; 11:41 AM ET | Comments (28)

The Killing of George Tiller: A "Pro-life" Murder?

"Pro-life" as the self-description of the anti-abortion movement has a fundamental flaw at its heart.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | May 31, 2009; 05:31 PM ET | Comments (220)

Cheney, Torture and the Road to Hell

Adopting policies of torture and then lying about the fact that it's torture is weakness not strength.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | May 22, 2009; 11:37 AM ET | Comments (10)

Obama Acknowledges Women as Moral Agents

The fact that women are the primary ethical decision-makers in the abortion decision has most often kept religious authorities from making the connection between insights from the history of ethics and the abortion question.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | May 19, 2009; 08:43 AM ET | Comments (3)

"Real Life, Real Love": Why Celibacy Needs to Go

How did the Catholic Church ever get the idea that single, celibate men would be in the best position to deal the most common problems of their parishioners? No sex. No children. No money (vow of poverty). No experience.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | May 11, 2009; 07:19 PM ET | Comments (4)

Star Trek Beams Us Up Again

The new Star Trek movie shows us how to get our post-9/11 imaginations back from the brink of Armageddon.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | May 11, 2009; 09:31 AM ET | Comments (41)

Skip the Proclamation, Host the Event

It is in the act of coming together to hear diverse prayers spoken that we build whatever civic solidarity we can, and we build our religious pluralism at the same time.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | May 5, 2009; 11:19 AM ET | Comments (3)

Why the Faithful Approve of Torture

For Christian conservatives, severe pain and suffering are central to their theology.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | May 1, 2009; 04:15 PM ET | Comments (333)

Torture is Moral Stupidity

Truth is the bedrock of morality--and the fount of religious wisdom. In the last few years, however, Americans became morally stupid about torture. That there is even the appearance of a debate about torture illustrates how disconnecting truth from reality makes you morally stupid.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | April 28, 2009; 08:16 AM ET | Comments (7)

Totalitarians in Religious Clothing

Those who want Islamic law in Pakistan are violent and extreme. They are very visible. Those who want Islamic law in Turkey are more subtle in their tactics.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | April 23, 2009; 08:03 AM ET | Comments (5)

Thank God for Secularism

Our successful American experiment in religious diversity enables President Obama to state plainly that our nation cannot be "at war" with a whole religion

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | April 14, 2009; 09:06 AM ET | Comments (34)

Must Love Dogs

I believe dogs are a gift of grace, and Bo -- the new Obama family dog -- is such a gift to all of us.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | April 13, 2009; 06:46 PM ET | Comments (7)

Nuclear Weapons Are An Offense to God

I believe that President Obama's rejection of nuclear weapons is his faith in action. He is finally trying to realize what the American Catholic Bishops stated in 1983, Protestants leaders in 1986 and Muslim and Christian religious leaders in 2005: nuclear weapons insult God. Get rid of them.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | April 7, 2009; 11:51 AM ET | Comments (12)

Who Are You Calling A Religious Centrist?

Before you accuse someone of being a "centrist" and use that as code for lack of faith commitment, ask these questions: Does it matter at all where the center is? Does it matter at all where the center could and should be?

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | April 2, 2009; 09:12 AM ET | Comments (21)

Cult of Cruelty

Organized religion or fringe cult, it's love and kindness that define the fruits of true religious faith. When you have pain, suffering and systematic cruelty, you are deluding yourself into thinking such things have anything to do with true faith.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | March 31, 2009; 07:06 PM ET | Comments (8)

Devil in a Pinstriped Suit

At the deepest level, the figure of the Devil and the seemingly cosmic struggle with evil he represents is always actually an incredibly intimate struggle. It is not the struggle with the enemy far off, but with the friend, the neighbor and ultimately with yourself.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | March 23, 2009; 04:24 PM ET | Comments (42)

When Christian Means Intolerant

When Christian Means Intolerant, The Tolerant Reject the Label Christian.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | March 18, 2009; 01:55 PM ET | Comments (10)

The Moral Imperative to Relieve Suffering: Embryonic Stem Cell Research

There is a clear moral imperative, shared across many religions, to relieve suffering and promote healing. This is a strong ground on which to base religious arguments for embryonic stem cell research.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | March 6, 2009; 05:33 PM ET | Comments (71)

Cain and Abel's Mortgage Company

Cain is the poster-child for the banks and mortgage companies, the investment brokers and the whole sorry chain of folks who are now trying to duck their responsibility for the incredible disaster they have helped create. This includes financial reporters who mostly cheered on the whole sorry system of greed for the sake of greed.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | March 3, 2009; 12:43 PM ET | Comments (3)

God's Batterers: When Religion Subordinates Women, Violence Follows

The primary connection between religion and domestic violence is religiously sanctioned subordination of women.Christian sanction for domestic violence is deeply rooted in our religious tradition.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | February 27, 2009; 06:01 AM ET | Comments (94)

Be Suspicious of Religious Authorities Telling You What the Bible Says

Religious authorities are often NOT helpful in reading the Bible, especially for those whom the church hierarchy considers suspect: women, gay people, African Americans have all been in this category for far too long.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | February 18, 2009; 07:58 AM ET | Comments (65)

Don't Use My Tax Dollars to Discriminate

If your faith-based organization wants to discriminate because of its beliefs, there is a simple remedy. Don't take the federal grant money.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | February 17, 2009; 07:19 AM ET | Comments (8)

A Christian Progressive Happy Birthday to Charles Darwin

An infinite God can neither be proved nor disproved. Religion and science are, in the end, different ways of knowing. But there are large and increasing areas of fruitful dialogue possible.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | February 12, 2009; 12:44 AM ET | Comments (84)

Always Challenge the BIG LIE

If religion or the state have any claim, any claim at all, to speak the truth, then religious or state leaders who tell the BIG LIE must be refuted so loudly and so often that they can no longer speak and be believed.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | February 9, 2009; 09:11 AM ET | Comments (30)

Obama's Screw Up

What Obama realizes, and the previous administration could not ever acknowledge, is that good intentions are not enough.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | February 4, 2009; 09:40 AM ET | Comments (14)

Obama to Muslims: "We Are Not Your Enemy"

What is astonishing to me is less the Inaugural rhetoric of "mutual interest and mutual respect" than the fact that the President today spoke directly to many in the Muslim world. This is not only a new foreign policy approach, it is also a different ethics for engaging with the peoples of the world.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | February 2, 2009; 07:39 AM ET | Comments (33)

Obama's Religious Message: Grow Up, America

Neither the invocation nor the benediction could equal the daring of the core Pauline theme of President Obama's Inaugural Address: Time to grow up, America. Grow up and act like adults.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | January 23, 2009; 08:03 AM ET | Comments (7)

Obama's Hoop Dreams

The real game is the on-going struggle for justice and equality and it's played down on the court and mostly under the basket.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | January 16, 2009; 04:35 PM ET | Comments (0)

Bush's Tortured Morality

Susan Thistlethwaite | The President's rigid, faith-based certainty beget a moral relativism that failed us.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | January 12, 2009; 09:40 PM ET | Comments (155)

Hamas Looks at Islam, Sees Its Own Violent Reflection

The leaders of Hamas remind me of battering husbands who use religion to justify beating their wives. The violent use religion to justify using violence. The choice to use violence comes first; the religious justification follows. When you choose peace, that is the religious reflection you see and the reality you live.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | January 9, 2009; 12:29 PM ET | Comments (44)

Destroying the World to Save It: The Awful Truth About Religion in 2009

Religions do contain visions of ending the world to save it. But that is not the whole truth of religion. And it is only an alternative religious vision that can provide the alternative truth, that the world itself is of consummate worth and infinite spiritual value.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | January 2, 2009; 09:06 AM ET | Comments (37)

Ethics (and Hubris), Illinois Style

What we need to recognize is that both the Illinois governor and the major actors in the financial meltdown were not simply greedy, and regulators or citizens were not simply blind. The real ethical default in both cases is hubris.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | December 31, 2008; 11:47 AM ET | Comments (4)

Rev. Joseph Lowery, The Anti-Warren

If you look at the Warren/Lowery pairing in inaugural prayer, it fits the Obama paradigm of moving toward the center by including both right and left. This may work, for example, when applied to economic policy. This right/left paradigm does not work in terms of human rights.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | December 22, 2008; 09:04 AM ET | Comments (70)

Episcopal Conservatives, Check Civil War History

The tide of history is against is against conservative Episcopalians. They may split the church, but young people are increasingly accepting of equal rights.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | December 19, 2008; 07:25 AM ET | Comments (35)

WWJM? Who Would Jesus Marry?

Yes, there is a scriptural case to be made for gay marriage and that case is nothing less than the all inclusive love of God as taught to us by Jesus Christ.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | December 14, 2008; 12:06 AM ET | Comments (44)

Profanity and [Expletive Deleted] Power

Governor Blagojevich's profanity is jarring, but it is his alleged blatant attempt to sell a seat in the U.S. Senate that is truly shocking and deeply profane.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | December 11, 2008; 05:33 PM ET | Comments (7)

Don't Overreact!

Terrorists count on their targets to overreact. Terrorism is designed to provoke outrage and calls for reprisals. Don't fall for it.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | December 5, 2008; 07:40 AM ET | Comments (8)

Death by Consumerism

Wal-Mart worker's death by frenzy shows our corrupt relationship with consumerism.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | December 1, 2008; 07:30 PM ET | Comments (106)

Presidential Worship in the Age of YouTube

This is what happens when you drag candidates' pastors into politics, especially in the age of YouTube. It becomes literally impossible for the President and family to join a single worshipping community.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | November 25, 2008; 04:00 PM ET | Comments (2)

Give Thanks in a Real Way and Skip Presidential Decrees

The real issue for many people isn't legislation about Thanksgiving, it's how we give thanks in hard times. I don't think any President should legislate about giving thanks to God, but we really do need a time set aside to think and to act on what it means to give thanks.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | November 24, 2008; 12:01 PM ET | Comments (3)

An Ethical Approach to Bailing Out Detroit

Susan Thistlethwaite | Can we find a "common good" approach that balances the well-being of the country, workers and customers?

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | November 19, 2008; 08:41 AM ET | Comments (18)

The Emerging "Common Good" Voter

We are still in the first decade of the new century and yet the religious landscape in regard to electoral politics is reshaping itself before our eyes.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | November 7, 2008; 04:15 PM ET | Comments (94)

The Vote Heard Around the World

President-elect Obama is right, this election was not just about him, it was about us as a people and whether we can believe in our national ideals and act on them. It is also an election about the world and how we want to live together rather than annihilate one another in spasms of fear.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | November 5, 2008; 08:06 AM ET | Comments (0)

I Believe in Hope and Obama

My religious reason for voting for Senator Obama is because I believe in hope. I also believe the fear-mongering of Senator McCain's campaign violated my religious convictions at the deepest level and it was the main reason I did not vote for him and Governor Palin.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | October 28, 2008; 03:16 PM ET | Comments (12)

Too Scary for Halloween

This is a good time to remember the origins of Halloween and its deep symbolism of the thin boundary between life and death, a boundary that becomes almost permeable as the days darken and become colder

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | October 27, 2008; 07:43 PM ET | Comments (3)

Eve Was Empowered

Sarah Palin is scarcely the first right-wing woman to have moved into political power through conservative Christianity and she will not be the last.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | October 21, 2008; 11:23 AM ET | Comments (11)

Calming the Perfect Storm

Don't be complicit in helping create the perfect storm of a politics of fear and anger. Do what you can to still the waters of hatred and strife.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | October 14, 2008; 01:23 PM ET | Comments (4)

Warren Buffett, American Dumbledore

The most important lesson Buffet has to teach Americans is that only human smarts can make good judgments about what to do and what not to do in a crisis. And if he can teach that not only to the candidates, but to the American people, that is truly wizardry.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | October 14, 2008; 12:35 PM ET | Comments (11)

Hell on Heels: Palin Misquotes Albright

Right wing women such as Palin are perfectly willing to take the gains of the women's movement without understanding the deep truth of what we have struggled for so long: women need to be there for each other, especially when others will not.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | October 7, 2008; 02:27 PM ET | Comments (0)

You Shall Know Them By Their Lobbyists

The question asks us to compare associations that are not comparable. Pastors and religious beliefs should be off-limits in a political campaign. Chairmen of banks that defraud their investors clearly are not off limits in regard to their association with political candidates

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | October 6, 2008; 03:07 PM ET | Comments (0)

Why Should We Trust You? Be Specific

The issue is trust. If this November we don't elect a President and Vice President whom we trust to actually tell us the truth and put the welfare of the whole country before crass political manipulation, I think we're toast.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | October 5, 2008; 09:27 AM ET | Comments (2)

A Woman's Life is a Human Life

If we ever again make abortion completely illegal, we will have established one religious view of when the human being becomes human, i.e. one religious view of ensoulment. This must be unconstitutional in a plain reading of the establishment clause.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | September 27, 2008; 07:37 AM ET | Comments (76)

Be Not Afraid

I'm tired to the bone of the rhetoric of courage wrapped around panicked political expediency. Enough of this. This time, I, along with many Americans, must find the strength to say "no" to the rhetoric of panic and the drive to rush headlong off a financial cliff with no pause to think it through. We need to find the courage to say "yes" to one another.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | September 25, 2008; 12:28 PM ET | Comments (4)

God's Economics

The "Good News" in Jesus' terms, it turns out, is also good news for a healthy economy. We must turn the economy on its head and promote growth from the bottom up.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | September 21, 2008; 07:19 PM ET | Comments (21)

The Wages of Sin

Sin is a religious term that means an act that violates a moral rule. The moral rule here is that when you have other people's livelihoods in your hands, you have a responsibility to them. When you fail in that responsibility, you and the lack of government regulation you rode in on need to be held accountable.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | September 17, 2008; 07:50 PM ET | Comments (2)

Den of Thieves

The moral failure here is that those who were charged with protecting the public interest from runaway greed and unfair lending practices instead have shown that they are the ringleaders of the Den of Thieves.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | September 16, 2008; 07:34 AM ET | Comments (27)

Extreme Religion

You put all these beliefs together and I ask myself if Sarah Palin is going to defend the modern state of Israel as a self-determining democracy and work for peace in the Middle East, or just abandon Israel to destruction from its enemies in order to hasten the Rapture and the return of Christ?

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | September 15, 2008; 02:32 AM ET | Comments (20)

Country Last

Putting country first is, according to Reinhold Niebuhr, "a high form of altruism"; the Palin pick is the antithesis of this kind of altruism. It is selfish in the extreme.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | September 8, 2008; 11:34 AM ET | Comments (2)

As One Hockey Mom to Another

Will the culture wars ploy work? Perhaps, but the new factor this time around is U-Tube and the Internet. No good whining about the old media when it is the new media that will do you in with clips of you telling us that the war in Iraq is part of God's plan.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | September 4, 2008; 10:20 AM ET | Comments (59)

Palin: Is She Subject to Her Husband?

What I would like to know, first of all, is who is going to have the final authority as Vice-President if Sarah Palin is elected, Palin or her husband? Will Palin obey the Constitution over her husband?

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | September 3, 2008; 12:20 PM ET | Comments (114)

Mile High Miracle

In a moment, in a city in the western United States, in the midst of all the kinds of political maneuvering imaginable, there was real blessing. I will never forget that I was there.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | August 28, 2008; 10:19 AM ET | Comments (30)

All Atheists Are Not Created Equal

"What do you think about all the progressive faith caucuses at the DNC this year?" That was the question I asked more than 50 people in the Convention Center in Denver today who self-identified as atheist or agnostic. This is,...

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | August 27, 2008; 03:24 PM ET | Comments (5)

First Ever Faith Caucus at DNC

There are those both inside and outside the party who think the Democrats should not be talking about faith like this. I wish these critics would actually come and hear these discussions.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | August 26, 2008; 08:50 PM ET | Comments (3)

Democrats and Bloggers Get Religion

Susan Thistlethwaite | Both are feeling the new spirit at this year's Democratic National Convention, but will it matter in November?

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | August 25, 2008; 02:19 PM ET | Comments (54)

Amen Chorus at the DNC

Susan Thistlethwaite | The clergy who spoke at Sunday's interfaith gathering agreed with conviction that faith without works is dead.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | August 24, 2008; 11:29 PM ET | Comments (34)

Beware Faith Monologues

As I watched the Rick Warren event, and it was a "Rick Warren" event at Saddleback, my growing impression was of an effort to re-brand "faith" as Christian conservative, or at least "evangelical."

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | August 18, 2008; 12:47 PM ET | Comments (23)

Godless Communism Again?

This isn't Ronald Reagan's "evil empire" versus the God-fearing West and Western- aligned.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | August 14, 2008; 10:36 PM ET | Comments (21)

Can't We Get Some 'Purpose-Driven Politics'?

The reason we don't have a "purpose driven politics" is because the American people do not set limits on what is acceptable in political campaigning.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | August 14, 2008; 06:16 AM ET | Comments (4)

Vengeance is Mine, Sayeth the Lord

Perhaps Elizabeth Edwards has forgiven her husband; I know that speaking personally, I want to shake John Edwards until his bleached white, perfectly aligned teeth rattle like castanets.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | August 12, 2008; 11:34 PM ET | Comments (2)

No Atheists in Recessions

Americans have few biblical or historical religious resources to apply to their current economic situation and they have to soldier on alone, as best they can.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | August 11, 2008; 08:16 AM ET | Comments (35)

McCain: Biker Family Values

McCain's "biker family values" demonstrate just how thin his veneer of faith and family values really is.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | August 6, 2008; 12:28 PM ET | Comments (73)

McCain: Anger Management Issues

In a political sense, we are getting a glimpse of the McCain default to anger as a response to challenge. In a religious sense, we may be getting a glimpse of McCain's true moral character.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | July 31, 2008; 03:54 PM ET | Comments (1)

Confess to God, Not Pollsters

Racial prejudice in a person of faith reflects an unexamined conscience. It is finally a failure of relationship to God. There's no other conclusion you can draw.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | July 31, 2008; 03:07 AM ET | Comments (3)

Military Chaplains, Yes! Prayers at Meals, NO!

In today’s armed services, many of the troops are there because they have no other options for employment. That means to me that we as a society have no other option than to see that they receive spiritual care if they need and want it.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | July 28, 2008; 11:01 AM ET | Comments (13)

Obama: No Miracles on Race

It is absurd to imply that somehow the Obama candidacy should have eliminated differing opinions on race by now.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | July 16, 2008; 07:11 PM ET | Comments (46)

Ghostly Polling Data

I think that all religions attempt to make sense of human life and the ubiquity of human pain.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | July 16, 2008; 06:00 PM ET | Comments (44)

Generosity is the First Rule

All religions have their own practices and interpretations of what their practices mean and those should be respected. No religion, however, owns the sacred, the realm of grace and generosity that is the gift of an infinite God (or spirit if you prefer) to limited and finite people.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | July 9, 2008; 06:24 AM ET | Comments (153)

James Dobson: Out of Step with Evangelicals?

There is even more evidence that it is Dobson and not Obama who is out of step with the American people and their views on faith and public life.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | June 25, 2008; 11:11 AM ET | Comments (46)

Ceasefire Across the Religious/Secular Divide?

Sixteen religious scholars, historians, philosophers, activists, public policy experts, many of whom work in several of those arenas, have combined to produce a new work that maps out the new terrain for how religion works best for both its religious and secular citizens.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | June 22, 2008; 04:47 PM ET | Comments (16)

Your Church Can Help You Get Well (or Make You Sick!)

Even as we can sin against one another in body, mind and spirit, so too can we grace one another in body, mind and spirit and help each other become more whole.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | June 11, 2008; 03:52 PM ET | Comments (56)

Hillary's Biblical Role Model

Are Hillary Clinton and Katherine Harris share a favorite biblical heroine. Is it Queen Esther's courage or her ruthlessness that inspire them?

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | June 1, 2008; 11:02 PM ET | Comments (123)

Pfleger: Bully in the Pulpit

I resent Father Pfleger's sermon mocking Hillary Clinton and his bullying rant was disrespectful of all of us.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | May 30, 2008; 12:16 PM ET | Comments (295)

Led Into Temptation, One Point at a Time

Sin doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It is very revealing to think about a sin like greed in context. Certain conditions conspire to tempt people to be greedy and those conditions are part of how we think theologically about sin.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | May 29, 2008; 01:06 PM ET | Comments (28)

Remember War

There will be speeches and flags and words about heroism spoken this Memorial Day, but relatively little about the moral evil of war and what it costs.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | May 23, 2008; 09:46 AM ET | Comments (0)

Rites and Wrongs

The way we currently handle marriage is a remnant of our centuries long, partly unsuccessful, effort to disentangle church and state, to disentangle morality and legality.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | May 22, 2008; 10:41 AM ET | Comments (19)

IRS Clears Obama's Church

Americans clearly believe that their many faith voices need to be raised in the public square. We need an Internal Revenue Service that is clear in its guidelines for tax-exempt religious organizations and we need the IRS to follow those guidelines.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | May 21, 2008; 09:02 AM ET | Comments (11)

Evangelical Does Not Mean Conservative Voting Bloc

These Evangelical leaders have come to rue the day they were discovered as a voting bloc by Republican strategists. They have been manipulated and “that way faith loses its independence.” All people of faith should heed this warning.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | May 19, 2008; 06:25 AM ET | Comments (8)

The Sermon Chop Shop

The radical right is now chopping up the sermons of Rev. Otis Moss III, Wright's successor, and trying to peddle the parts to generate new controversy.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | May 12, 2008; 02:59 PM ET | Comments (132)

Politics: Where Truth Comes to Die

I regret to say that I think the electorate, and not the candidates and elected officials, are most to blame for the wide-spread acceptance of the fact that it’s pretty much OK for people in public life to lie to us.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | May 8, 2008; 09:59 AM ET | Comments (26)

Rev. Wright and the Religious Right

Susan Thistlethwaite | The weakness of Rev. Wright’s theology is that it locks us into the “good vs. evil” frame, the same frame used by the religious right.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | May 2, 2008; 06:12 AM ET | Comments (61)

Memo to White America: Respect African American Preaching

It is not at all necessary, however, that we all agree about the content of these sermons; what is crucial is that we respect the form of this preaching and its roots in the profound suffering of black America.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | April 28, 2008; 12:56 PM ET | Comments (45)

The Public Nature of the Human Soul

Religion that stays private, that does not cry out to heaven when fundamental human dignity is violated and does not take this struggle into the public square, is soulless religion.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | April 24, 2008; 01:38 PM ET | Comments (14)

Benedict: Protect Children from Future Abuse

To date, in Benedict’s papacy, how has the Catholic Church shown it is planning to go about preventing more abuse by priests?

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | April 18, 2008; 12:07 PM ET | Comments (147)

Obama: Faith is Mind and Heart

Bill Kristol starts his recent New York Times editorial attacking Senator Obama’s faith by acknowledging that he doesn’t know much about the subject (Marx) about which he’s writing. Confession is good for the soul, Mr. Kristol, so you’ve started well,...

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | April 15, 2008; 01:51 PM ET | Comments (41)

Good Works on the Campaign Trail

The “Compassion Forum”, sponsored by Faith in Public Life and held at an evangelical college in Pennsylvania, did put an end to the idea that only Republicans have values. It also succeeded in drastically broadening the concept of morality to...

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | April 14, 2008; 08:21 PM ET | Comments (1)

Benedict's Bridges Need Work

The Pope seems to think that he and Mr. Allam had previously been “in opposition to one another,” merely because they were not of the same faith. The Pope is saying that it is the faiths themselves that are in opposition.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | April 11, 2008; 08:54 AM ET | Comments (127)

McCain's Hate Problem

John McCain should immediately renounce Rod Parsley not only for his astounding hate mongering against Islam, but also for his extreme views on a range of issues including his denunciation of separation of church and state.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | April 7, 2008; 09:43 AM ET | Comments (62)

King Was Killed Speaking Truth to Power

I have heard so many stupid speeches about Dr. King that blather on about how he “gave his life for freedom.” He didn’t give his life; it was taken. He was shot by an assassin because he had dared to speak the truth to power about race, about poverty and about war.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | April 4, 2008; 08:10 AM ET | Comments (35)

Spies in the Pews? Is Nothing Sacred?

Challenging your pastor’s freedom in the pulpit is bad. Spying on people at prayer is reprehensible.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | March 28, 2008; 10:40 AM ET | Comments (55)

“My ‘ism’ is Worse Than Your ‘ism’”

The first move in breaking with these wicked systems is not to play the game of “my oppression is worse than your oppression.”

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | March 27, 2008; 07:02 AM ET | Comments (5)

Obama: And the Truth Will Set You Free

It truly astonished me that Senator Obama was able to speak to my own white, immigrant past in a way that did not shame this past, but honored it for the life and death struggle it was.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | March 25, 2008; 07:21 AM ET | Comments (17)

John McCain and Permanent War

Susan Thistlethwaite | A cornerstone of conservative Christian theology is the providence of the Christian God and supremacy over other gods and religions. That fits McCain.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | March 17, 2008; 11:55 AM ET | Comments (80)

Cain and Abel Both Used E-mail

What makes E-mail such a vehicle for good and evil, and on some days I think for more evil than good, is that it removes the presence of the other to a distance.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | March 13, 2008; 09:30 AM ET | Comments (13)

You're Wrong, Ms. Ferraro

Geraldine Ferrraro's comments about Barack Obama were sinful and wrong.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | March 12, 2008; 02:04 PM ET | Comments (276)

The Grand Inquisitor's Veto: Bush Vetoes Torture Bill

torture and morality, waterboarding and morality, Bush veto

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | March 9, 2008; 10:20 PM ET | Comments (73)

Gospel Politics

I wish I could say that either the Republicans or the Democrats measured up to the gospel politics of Jesus, but to be truthful, they’re not even close.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | March 6, 2008; 07:40 AM ET | Comments (18)

The U.S. is Post-Denominational

This is more dynamic and faithful than just sitting in the pew in the Methodist (Presbyterian, Baptist, Catholic—you fill in the blank) church that your parents sat in and their parents sat in etc. without ever asking yourself “why?”

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | February 27, 2008; 07:15 AM ET | Comments (328)

IRS Investigates Church for Letting Obama Speak

The temptation to empire is the temptation to persecute freedom, especially religious freedom, rather than respect and honor it.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | February 26, 2008; 07:09 PM ET | Comments (90)

The Thing with Feathers

Hope is the profoundly religious cord that Obama has struck in the minds and hearts of Americans. Religion is the search for ultimate meaning and purpose in life.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | February 20, 2008; 08:18 AM ET | Comments (342)

What the U.S. Should and Should Not Do

The best way we as Americans can be genuinely more respectful of the increasing religious pluralism in our midst is to maintain a strict separation of church and state, mosque and state, synagogue and state.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | February 14, 2008; 09:45 AM ET | Comments (23)

Huckabee: The Religious Right is Alive

“The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” That, of course is the text of the famous cable that Mark Twain sent to the U.S. from London after his obituary had been mistakenly published. Huckabee's strong showing this past weekend...

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | February 10, 2008; 06:40 PM ET | Comments (38)

It's the Religion, Stupid

The overly pious rhetoric by some politicians betrays a superficial faith and a lack of respect for democracy.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | February 7, 2008; 03:11 PM ET | Comments (97)

Jesus of Russia

Who would you rather follow, a brutal neo-dictator and former KGB member or a guy who claims to be the Siberian Jesus and who teaches that people need to love one and support one another?...

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | February 5, 2008; 06:19 PM ET | Comments (1)

Women as Bombs: No Innocent Civilians Anymore

Just War theory was predicated on the idea that “Just War” did not target non-combatants and indeed the innocent were to be protected. Now in the 21st century, war has degenerated to the point where killing civilians itself is the tactic.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | February 3, 2008; 09:49 PM ET | Comments (25)

Do Christian Beliefs Preclude Freedom of Speech?

Dissent was not to be tolerated as it would both imperil a person’s salvation and undermine civil authority. In Locke’s time, freedom of speech was, in effect, un-Christian because it would lead you to damnation.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | February 1, 2008; 07:24 AM ET | Comments (37)

The Face of Faith

The only face of faith that really matters is your own and whether you can finally face yourself before God.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | January 31, 2008; 09:50 AM ET | Comments (51)

Saving God from Those Who are Right

As a person of faith, I want to “save God” from the religiously self-righteous such as Mike Huckabee who claim to know “God’s standards” and who have no trouble using the name of God to advance their political and social agendas with the divine name.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | January 25, 2008; 01:15 PM ET | Comments (31)

Faith, Fear and Falling Markets

Susan Thistlethwaite | As FDR said, having faith in these times means living out the truth that human beings are not just the sum total of their net worth.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | January 21, 2008; 10:24 PM ET | Comments (41)

Pride Caused Us to Attack Iraq

Prideful behavior on every level is what caused this administration to violate 1,600 years of Christian moral reasoning, the Just War theory, and attack Iraq. This kind of prideful behavior is not only a political and strategic error, it is a fundamental faith error.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | January 17, 2008; 09:10 AM ET | Comments (136)

Four Thousand Years and Counting

There is no other way forward than for all Americans, Jewish and non-Jewish, to insist on a real and far-reaching Middle East peace process.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | January 11, 2008; 07:41 AM ET | Comments (34)

Searching for God in New Hampshire

“God is watching you,” sang Leslie Phillips in her evangelical Christian chart-topping hit. One verse is particularly apt in regard to the sudden decline in religious references by some presidential candidates in the “Granite State.” “When you always have to...

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | January 6, 2008; 02:44 PM ET | Comments (7)

Iowa's Two Childrens' Crusades.

Obama's young supporters yearn to heal divisions in the body politic and take the country in a new direction. Huckabee's long for a mono-culture of fixed virtues

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | January 4, 2008; 02:04 AM ET | Comments (5)

Spiritual Spin

Voters think faith = trustworthiness. We shouldn't be so quick to generalize.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | December 30, 2007; 11:20 AM ET | Comments (49)

Congressional Christmas: Pork and Piety

This bill seems designed not to serve others, but to serve the Congressional representatives who voted for it. But you can’t legislate Christmas -- you can only live it.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | December 21, 2007; 05:17 PM ET | Comments (77)

Crossing Huckabee Off My List

Susan Thistlethwaite | Huckabee's latest campaign video with the interestingly-shaped bookshelf offends me as a Christian and as a citizen.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | December 19, 2007; 09:19 AM ET | Comments (158)

Attention Shoppers: Jesus Christ for Sale in Aisle 3

Christians no longer have a nativity theology, we have a “black Friday theology”. Unless Christ turns a profit for us, the American economy shows a net loss.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | December 16, 2007; 06:24 AM ET | Comments (26)

God Save Us from Some “Well-intentioned Religious Believers”

Can big social problems be solved by “well-intentioned religious believers”? Not without telling the truth about homophobia, about greed or about selfishness.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | December 14, 2007; 12:32 PM ET | Comments (42)

The Devil and Mike Huckabee

Presidential political campaigns are filled to the brim with opportunities to fall into temptation. This is a spiritual lesson, Rev. Huckabee.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | December 13, 2007; 04:11 PM ET | Comments (28)

Torture Coverup: We Need a U.S. Truth and Reconciliation Commission NOW

It is hard to overstate the urgency of the need we have as a nation for truth to be told about torture. Once you get too far down this road of moral decay, it is hard to come back.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | December 11, 2007; 11:38 AM ET | Comments (16)

Closet Theocrat

Beyond the buzz words, Romney is clearly ascribing to the ‘Christian America’ idea that is, at bottom, the rule of the state by religion or what we call “theocracy.”

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | December 10, 2007; 09:04 AM ET | Comments (60)

Sex, Power, Sin: A Moral Trifecta

The abuse of power by a religious leader is the ultimate betrayal, especially when linked to a theology that seduces the believer into confusing the religious leader and God.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | November 29, 2007; 06:17 AM ET | Comments (53)

Give Thanks, Give Yourself

This Thanksgiving you may not be able to end the war in Iraq, bring about reconciliation among the world’s religions or solve ethnic strife, but you can definitely get yourself down to the local homeless shelter and feed somebody. The...

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | November 19, 2007; 05:19 PM ET | Comments (1)

The Great Secret of Forgiveness

Forgiveness is the path to freedom from being dominated by the harm that has been done to you or to those you love.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | November 15, 2007; 07:03 AM ET | Comments (20)

War Can Kill the Body, but Torture Destroys the Soul

n employing the tactic of torture, (and please, let us not add the disgrace of lying about the fact that we torture), we have descended as people into moral degradation.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | November 13, 2007; 05:52 AM ET | Comments (37)

Only a Sick Society Plays Politics with Children's Health

We have the money to pay for health care insurance for every child in America and instead we are choosing to spend it on making war. That is truly sick, morally sick

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | November 1, 2007; 02:40 PM ET | Comments (223)

Why Halloween is No Fun Anymore

Halloween is no fun for me anymore. I just can’t bring myself to make fun of ghosts and goblins and devils when there is so much real horror around us.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | October 30, 2007; 08:03 AM ET | Comments (39)

A Burning Need: The Religion/Science Imperative

Which biblical symbol of fire will this global warming catastrophe portend? The fire of the end of times, or the fire of inspiration at Pentecost?

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | October 26, 2007; 02:33 PM ET | Comments (45)

Love and Hate; Compassion and Cruelty; Forgiveness and Condemnation

Violent people love violently, stupid people love stupidly, selfish people love selfishly and so forth.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | October 17, 2007; 08:42 AM ET | Comments (11)

Still Dead: The Ghosts of New Orleans

The dead floated up from their tombs during the floods of Katrina. Why shouldn’t New Orleans float up from its watery grave as well?

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | October 11, 2007; 10:26 AM ET | Comments (26)

Why Jesus Can't Be President

Must we go through this every time this country becomes more religiously pluralistic?

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | October 4, 2007; 01:26 PM ET | Comments (126)

Religion for Adults

The image that kept coming into my mind as I was reading Mr. Hitchens’ book God is Not Great is of a large child stamping his foot and screaming in rage because things aren’t going his way. “Religion Poisons Everything!” he rants. Everything? Really, Christopher, every single thing? I doubt it.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | September 26, 2007; 02:25 PM ET | Comments (33)

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