(RNS) — Candice Marie Benbow came to be a theologian by way of the death of Whitney Houston, who she considers “the ultimate church girl.” Dressed like they were there, Benbow said, she watched the famous singer’s funeral on TV with her mother and grandmother and wondered how and why Houston was once hailed by the Black church, dissed by it when she had addiction and marriage troubles and later reclaimed by it. When the service ended, she started writing an application to seminary. Fast-forward a decade, and Benbow is now a public theologian out with a new book called “Red Lip Theology: For Church Girls Who’ve Considered Tithing to the Beauty Supply Store When Sunday Morning Isn’t Enough.” Both spiritual and religious, Benbow offers critique of the overall Black church but remains a member of an Atlanta congregation affiliated with the National Baptist Convention, USA. Benbow, 40, has her own style of practicing and writing about faith, even as she challenges the Black … [Read more...]

(RNS) — For 11 hours this past Shabbat, the Jews of America and the world held their collective breath. We were waiting to see how the hostage crisis at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, would play out. We were reliving the prayer from the Days of Awe: “Who shall live, and who shall die?” Only one person died — the gunman himself. The rabbi, Charlie Cytron-Walker, emerged as a true hero. First, for embodying the Jewish value of welcoming the stranger. He had initially allowed the gunman to enter the synagogue, thinking him in need. Second, the equally Jewish value of resistance. When he realized the situation was getting desperate, he threw a chair at the gunman, which allowed the hostages to escape. During that time of anguish for the American Jewish community, what did American Jews hear? In the words of Paul Simon, the sounds of silence. Based on the reports of many of my rabbinical colleagues, the first rendition of silence was from our non-Jewish … [Read more...]

(RNS) — White people regularly dilute the words of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to be more palatable. No one is more prone to this temptation than we white Christians who want to think of ourselves as the kind of well-meaning people who love King. Doubt me? Check the church bulletin this MLK weekend and see what makes the cut. “I have a Dream”? Check. “Beloved community”? Check. “In the midst of blatant injustices inflicted upon the Negro, I have watched white churchmen stand on the sideline and mouth pious irrelevancies and sanctimonious trivialities”? Probably not. As we mark King’s birthday on January 15th and look ahead to the national celebration on Monday, January 17th, we need to get beyond the shallow and partial recollections of the safe King highlight reel. I would wager that most white Americans know little of the actual context and content of that great defining speech King delivered August 28, 1963 on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The four words … [Read more...]

(RNS) — If there’s a word that comes up repeatedly when friends discuss Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker, the rabbi who was taken hostage with three others at his Reform synagogue Saturday (Jan. 15), it’s “kind.” “Kind doesn’t begin to cover it,” said Lindsey Weiss, who attended Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, since she was 11. “He’s the nicest guy.” But it wasn’t kindness alone that may have helped Cytron-Walker defuse a tense 11-hour standoff with a gunman who said he brought explosives to the synagogue. The rabbi, who has led the Reform synagogue of about 125 families since 2006, is also an interfaith champion with deep-rooted friendships not only among Christians but Muslims, too. Those friendships were evident in the command center set up at Good Shepherd Catholic Community nearby, where a group of rabbis, imams and pastors helped FBI teams negotiate with the hostage-taker. The team included Bob Roberts Jr., pastor of Northwood Church in nearby Keller and … [Read more...]

(RNS) — Nearly a year ago, some 60 Black Christian leaders signed a letter criticizing the Equality Act, a historic bill in Congress that would provide non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people. The signers of the letter called instead for a compromise bill that would include religious exemptions, which would in practical effect create substandard protections with massive loopholes and carve-outs and upend existing federal programs that serve children in need. With Martin Luther King Day approaching, we are reminded that from abolition through the civil rights movement, faith has been a driving force in the struggle for freedom and equality for African Americans. But Black Christians also know that religion can be used to disenfranchise and exploit their community. Discrimination against all people is immoral, unethical, and unacceptable. While religious communities have the right to exercise their beliefs, religious freedom should never be misused to deny people the right … [Read more...]

(RNS) — It had been a glorious Shabbat at our synagogue, Temple Israel in West Palm Beach, Florida. We began with our service in honor of the birthday of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., which we shared with community leaders and members of the Historic Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church. On Shabbat morning, we studied Torah together, finding new meaning in the haftarah story of Deborah. A young man celebrated becoming bar mitzvah in the presence of his family and our community, teaching us about the Jewish sources of empathy. Then, came the news about the hostage situation at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, in which a gunman took the rabbi and several congregants as hostages. It was an 11-hour ordeal, which ended with the freeing of the hostages and the killing of the invader. We utter profound words of gratitude to the police and hostage rescue team, who helped turn what might have been a horror into a moment of redemption.  What words kept going through my … [Read more...]