Black
Believe Out Loud Fridays is a new series of spiritual reflections—pieces that connect our identities and lived experiences with sacred texts and spiritual guidance. In this week’s reflection, Union Theological Seminary students and BOL interns Kimberley Gordy and Sulkiro Song draw on Scripture and ritual to embrace the moments of “wilderness” many of us experience…
Read MoreIn 2007, the sitting President, George W. Bush, was an evangelical Christian Republican who professed the belief that marriage “is between a man and a woman,” and had in recent memory backed a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage at a national level. President-to-be Barack Obama, an upstart liberal Democrat, would soon state on…
Read MorePlease find below Believe Out Loud’s parent organization’s statement on racism and the current civil unrest. “Do not stand idly by when your neighbor’s life is threatened. I am the Lord.” – Leviticus 19:16 (NLT) Our nation is hurting. We are hurting. We are praying and we are marching. We are crying and shouting from…
Read MoreJosephine Baker’s life story was unbelievably queer, boundary-defying and transgressive. The first indication of this is found in the St. Louis city records. Baker’s mother, Carrie McDonald, became pregnant while working for a German family, and was admitted to the exclusively white Female Hospital. This was 1906: America was segregated and patriarchal, and typically Black…
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