Religion
A Calling to Bring People Together
This article was first printed in UMKC’s University News, and is reprinted by permission here. Hope Austin is a UMKC creative writing student and a community producer for KCPT’s Beyond Belief project. On April 13, 2014, outside the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City, white supremacist Frazier Glenn Miller opened fire on an unsuspecting…
‘Religious Freedom’ Amendment a Shield Not a Sword, Says Proponent
With estimates of the cost to Missouri mounting, proponents of the state’s ‘religious freedom’ amendment found little sympathy among commentators on KCPT’s news program “Ruckus” last week. The amendment to the Missouri Constitution (pdf) would give protection from lawsuits to churches, clergy or anyone who provides a wedding-related service to the public, but wants to refuse that service to…
Muslim Like Me | A Journey Toward Islam
According to the Pew Research Center, Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the world, and Muslims currently make up just less than 1 percent of the total U.S. population. Pew projects the numbers of Muslims in America to grow to 2.1 percent of the population by the year 2050. What these findings suggest is that Islam,…
Muslim Like Me | On a Mission
According to the Pew Research Center, Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the world, and Muslims currently make up just less than 1 percent of the total U.S. population. Pew projects the numbers of Muslims in America to grow to 2.1 percent of the population by the year 2050. What these findings suggest is that Islam,…
Commentary | What’s Love Got To Do With It
To help you understand what I mean when I say Pope Francis’ new document on family life, “The Joy of Love,” (or “Amoris Laetitia”) is “pastoral,” let me start by telling you a personal story. In the 1980s I was serving on a Heartland Presbytery committee that oversees students from this area enrolled in seminaries of…