Religion Dispatches

religiondispatches.org — Rather than approaching the tagging as a criminal act, however, church leaders decided to take the tagging seriously as an expression of something spiritually meaningful-a cry for help, perhaps; even a mocking expression of religious skepticism. They approached it relationally, using the church building itself as a social media platform, and responding with their own message of hope.

religiondispatches.org — Tennessee Republican Rep. Stephen Fincher provides an excellent case study on why context should never be disregarded when quoting from the Bible. In recent moves by Congress to slash $4.1 billion or more from food stamps (otherwise known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP) over the next 10 years, Fincher quoted from 2 Thessalonians 3:10: "For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work should not eat."