Make Foreign Aid More Effective - 6/19/2009 7:00:00 AM

Clutching my cup of coffee, I peruse the headlines each morning and often feel overwhelmed by the scale of human suffering present in this world. From Sri Lanka to the Democratic Republic of Congo to Haiti, grinding poverty continues to afflict and oppress nearly half of the planet’s population. While globalization has enhanced the lives of many, its economic benefits have been unequally distributed and left billions lagging behind. | Read More...

Still in the Eye of a Hurricane - 6/5/2009 7:00:00 AM

This week marked the start of hurricane season. Nearly four years after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck the Gulf Coast, the human disaster brought on by those storms continues. Poverty and racism compounded the effects of the storm but are too often not taken into account in the process of rebuilding. | Read More...

Caring for God's People and God's Planet - 5/29/2009 7:00:00 AM

On May 18, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce began debating a bill to address the negative effects of climate change. The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, H.R. 2454, would establish a “cap and trade” system for reducing greenhouse gas emissions; encourage the use of renewable sources of energy (such as wind, solar, geothermal, and certain forms of hydropower and biofuels); and work to increase energy efficiency in buildings, automobiles, and industrial plants. | Read More...

No Holiday in Sri Lanka - 5/22/2009 7:00:00 AM

Monday, May 18 was Victoria Day, a national holiday in Canada commemorating the British Queen who chose Ottawa as our capitol and was so influential she managed to have both a moral and architectural era named after her. But on this unofficial launch of summer the reality of the ongoing brokenness and complexity of the world hit disturbingly close to home. | Read More...

An Emerging Bipartisan Consensus on Crime and Justice Policy? - 5/8/2009 7:00:00 AM

The ideological narratives of the last three decades are familiar. Conservatives are “tough on crime,” emphasizing individual responsibility and the use of harsh sentences to deter would-be criminals from committing illegal acts. Progressives are “soft on crime,” emphasizing communal responsibility for social ills and the use of lighter sentences that allow the rehabilitation of those who commit crimes. But such simple clichés don’t fit anymore. | Read More...

A Disturbing Rest - 4/24/2009 7:00:00 AM

I don’t think I’ve experienced insanity before, but that must have been what temporarily occurred when we decided to drive the family across North America to retreat on the Pacific coast. We’ve visited fourteen States and two Provinces thus far.   We’ve stuck it out and survived, mostly. We’ve learned plenty and realized again that creation is wild, people are diverse, and God is holy and wild himself. | Read More...

Uganda: No Peace, No War - 4/17/2009 7:00:00 AM

In 2005 the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a rebel group that has terrorized northern Uganda for the past two decades, fled the country to set up shop in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo. Before fleeing the LRA carried out child abductions (nearly 66,000), brutal attacks on civilians, and mass displacement in northern Uganda. | Read More...

Praying the Stations - 4/3/2009 7:00:00 AM

Two years ago on Good Friday, I participated in praying the Stations of the Cross at a retreat center. These prayers focus on 14 scenes of Jesus’ suffering, from his condemnation through his burial. | Read More...