In case you hadn’t heard, Zondervan made a major announcement yesterday regarding the Deadly Viper Character Assassins book that was the source of so much anger and controversy recently. Effective immediately, Zondervan undertook the courageous step of permanently removing all the books from…
One of the toughest parts of being the author of a book about racial reconciliation is that when the latest racial incident flares up, everyone expects you to chime in with your two cents. I’m feeling a bit penniless on…
A Facebook friend sent me a link to a wonderful YouTube video. The clip, which apparently has now gone viral with over 366,000 views so far, captures 3-year-old Hannah as she recites a freestyle prayer before bedtime. Her exhausted dad…
On a sad but pivotal day in the late 1780s, several of the African American members of Philadelphia’s St. George’s Methodist Church were thrown out of the church by the congregation’s white leaders because of their refusal to sit in a…
One of the big conversations in my household this year has revolved around the question of whether my 9-year-old daughter is ready to get her hair “permed.” Some girls at her school have already been initiated into the world of…
I can’t read the guy’s mind, of course, but after the initial, natural response of “Yeah, I got it goin’ on,” I’m thinking this is what President Obama must’ve really been thinking upon hearing that he’d won the Nobel Peace Prize:
Sixteen Christian leaders talk faith, policy, justice, and reform. Featuring Jim Wallis, Harry R. Jackson Jr., Alveda King, Brian McLaren, Barbara Williams-Skinner, Noel Castellanos, Diana Butler Bass, and more.
“We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We…
I have to admit, I wasn’t expecting much when I first took my seat in the theater to preview Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, a 3-D animated comedy based on the popular children’s book. At the very least, I…
I suppose I’m asking for trouble by going here, but could someone explain to me the current controversy surrounding President Obama’s speech to American public school students on Tuesday? I’m serious. At first I thought the whole thing was just a minor…
It has now been a couple of weeks since President Obama convened what was infamously dubbed the “Beer Summit.” You know the story by now. After Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s arrest and Obama’s subsequent words about the Cambridge, Mass., police acting…
Are we living in the golden age of racial debates? Every week seems to bring some new wrinkle in the national conversation about race, class, and ethnicity. And with the emergence of social media, we can now engage in these…
You offer a blistering critique of the emerging church movement, suggesting that it is overhyped and lacks diversity. Is diversity possible in the “emerging” or “emergent” churches? It seems as if Christians involved in that movement are extremely…
Let the wall-to-wall Michael Jackson coverage continue. As soon as I heard the tragic news about his passing yesterday afternoon, I knew it would mean nonstop fodder for all the CNNs and WGCIs and TMZ.coms (sorry, Farrah). This will be just like Princess…
It’s hot in Chicago. Summer is officially doing its thing. Like so often with the weather here, one day you’re shoveling snow from the driveway, the next you’re listening to the AC crank up and praying that the sump pump…
This week’s issue of Newsweek features a compelling article about the evolution of race relations at Princeton University (”Black in the Age of Obama”). By looking at the experiences of two African-American Princeton students from the turbulent 1960s and comparing them to the college experiences of their…
Congregational worship music has plenty of variety these days. Depending on the church, you could hear traditional hymns, a gospel choir, or arena rock. What’s harder to find on a typical Sunday morning is a jazz quartet. For many of…
“Is colorblindness or multiculturalism better for minorities?” I missed this post by Dawn Turner Trice when it first appeared a couple weeks ago. Trice hosts an ongoing, and always lively, forum at the Exploring Race blog at ChicagoTribune.com. In the blog post,…
Well, March Madness is now over. Every year around this time, there’s a disturbing report or two highlighting the low graduation rates of African American college athletes, particularly in the NCAA basketball programs.
One of the big conversations in my household this year has revolved around the question of whether my 9-year-old daughter is ready to get her hair “permed.” Some girls at her school have already been initiated into the world of…
I have to admit, I wasn’t expecting much when I first took my seat in the theater to preview Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, a 3-D animated comedy based on the popular 
Are we living in the golden age of racial debates? Every week seems to bring some new wrinkle in the national conversation about race, class, and ethnicity. And with the emergence of social media, we can now engage in these…
