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Editor’s Note: Understanding what you’re most passionate about helps shape the future of our work! Your input matters to us, so we're inviting you to take our audience survey now. Please complete as much of it as you are able; we read everything you send to us through the survey. Thanks! Tired of Western expressions of Christianity that are ahistorical, deeply individualistic, and private, Sandy Ovalle Martínez writes in this week’s SojoMail that she longs for cosmologies that integrate the pieces within us: Costa Rican-American writer John Manuel Arias often says that he lived in San José, Costa Rica with his grandma and four ghosts. When he shares this fact with Latine folks, he is typically met with curiosity: What are the ghosts’ names? How do they communicate with you? Did they follow you to the U.S.? It is a common understanding in many Latin American Indigenous cultures that the veil between the living and the dead is thin, and relating with our ancestors can be an everyday occurrence. Scriptures that speak of the clouds of witnesses surrounding those who follow Jesus resonate strongly with many Latine folks. We know that those who have endured the race set before them still encourage us today. We think of Jesus on a mountain conviviendo and communing with Moses and Elijah before his three disciples as an experience that can be part of our reality too (Luke 9:30-36). We may not call them ghosts, but we recognize our ancestors are still with us. Many Latines living in this country have adopted a form of white, Western Christianity that has come at a great cost to our cultural identity, our communal connection, and our sense of belonging. We’ve faced the tension of embracing a faith marked by discourses that demonize Indigenous, Afrolatine, and mestizo wisdom and spiritual practices. In trying to live out our new faith values, we wrestle with continuing to trust the goodness of the traditions and saberes in which we were raised. If we have internalized the air of superiority that white, Western Christianity breathes, we are at risk of losing the very wisdom that allowed our people to resist the dagger of colonization. But our bodies, our hearts, and our communities often clamor to remember, and they will not go silent.
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Our Latest Christians Should Face US History, Not Suppress It (by Ryan Duncan) Recent legislation suppresses knowledge about historic injustices in classrooms, but Christians must stand for truth. This Is What a Faith-Based, Pro-Family Agenda Really Looks Like (by Adam Russell Taylor) I’m tired of hearing politicians using “family values” as shorthand for a narrow and often misguided agenda. Rich Mullins Played Evangelical Court Jester (by Mitchell Atencio) The writer of “Awesome God” challenged the assumptions of his CCM audiences and industry with ‘wisdom, humor, and love.’ Faith Activists Urge Congress to Resurrect the Child Tax Credit (by Bekah McNeel) After Congress failed to renew “the most important anti-poverty program” in half a century, child poverty more than doubled. |
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From the Magazine ‘It Came Back to Haunt Them’ (by Gabriel Pietrorazio) The Seneca Nation works to heal the wounds inflicted by a Presbyterian-run residential school. |
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New Sojourners magazine offer for students If you are a student looking for a way to put your faith into action for justice, look no further than our new offer of six free issues of Sojourners magazine. Don’t miss this opportunity to get six issues of Sojourners magazine with no obligation! Go to our website to learn more. Announcing the Flourishing Futures Campaign This month, SojoAction launched Flourishing Futures: a campaign to equip faith-rooted early-childhood development champions and allies everywhere to protect and promote the health of children and their primary caregivers. Join Churches, congregations, and leaders like you to meet this moment with courage and faithfulness so every child can thrive. |
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