Last October I wrote a column for Sightings presenting evidence that African American political participation is directly influenced by the content of black religious beliefs (“Black Churches: Liberation or Prosperity?”). Specifically, my piece suggested that black liberation theology and the prosperity gospel offer radically different
Against my better judgment, I allowed myself to be lured into a conversation concerning the bible by an 80 year old black woman who wore a rhinestone studded church hat the size of Delaware. As she engaged me in conversation, her helmet for Jesus began
It has the power to wound yet the capacity to heal. It has the power to kill but the authority to resurrect. It is the most powerful weapon used to tear down a child of God yet the most influential tool used to uplift him,
Liberation is not free. It’s just that simple. Liberation costs blood, sweat, tears, and even human life. Liberation combined with disobedience cost Moses and the children of Israel 40 years of wondering in the wilderness. Liberation cost Jesus Christ his life and over 1,900 years
Once an unspoken and nearly unseen taboo within the black community, the topic of homosexuality has repeatedly resurfaced in recent years as many black churches and community leaders have struggled to address issues concerning a lifestyle often demonized, misinterpreted and exclusively seen only through the
I was “raised in the church” and as a child reveled in the type of religious community where everyone knew your name, adults looked out for you, and everyone praised your academic and social progress. My schoolteachers, my barber, my mentors and friends of my
The word ‘fruit’ has, in the context of this article, three meanings. Billy Holiday’s haunting 1939 rendition of the song “Strange Fruit” gave voice to a nation’s anguish over the lynching of African-Americans. [1] Southern trees bear a strange fruit, Blood on the leaves and
WASHINGTON – Union United Methodist Church in Boston made history by voting to become the nation’s first black Methodist church to officially welcome and include gay and lesbian worshipers. “This is a courageous, precedent-setting decision that blazes a new trail for other churches who want
Many people ask what I know about the berdache — that sacred person in the native world who is said to be “Two Spirited” — both female and male. The questioners have read my historical novel One Is the Sun, which is a historical novel
To know Jesus with all my heart and to seek his blessed face with my soul; to understand his life and how he lives in me; to be pleasing before his sight; and for him to one day call me home and say, “well done,