The seminarian economist view of NAFTA

By Jennifer Lewis

Unlike many of my younger seminary classmates, I was not reared in a progressive activist culture, powered by internet and social media. I was raised in the era when the power-suit was a necessity for success and the multinational CEO was idealized by most everyone.   As an economist, specifically an agricultural economist by academic training, my natural inclination is always toward freer and more open markets with just enough governmental involvement to ensure everyone follows the law. 

Derby and Displacement

By Dee Huey

It’s Derby week in Kentucky.  As a girl born and raised in the city that is home to the greatest two minutes in sports I have a great love for this time of year. It sounds like blasphemy to many, but I actually love the Kentucky Derby more than Christmas and Easter!  The excitement, pageantry, and beauty of the Derby festivities, however, hide a dark and dangerous under world: human trafficking.

No Life is Worth More than Another

By Liz Herrick

In 1994 Operation Gatekeeper went into effect on the US-Mexico border. It increased border security in highly populated areas, forcing anyone attempting to cross into hostile environments. Since then over 5,600 people have died attempting to enter the US. But the majority of Americans think we need harsher immigration laws and stricter border control, with 67% saying military forces should be deployed to guard the border.

A border crisis which reaches beyond the border

By John R. Roberts

When I was growing up my family, like any good Christians, would frequent our local Mexican restaurant almost every Sunday after church. I have still yet to find that commandment in Holy Scripture, but every other family also did it so I’m sure it is part of the protestant sacraments. We would go to the Hispanic eatery, get the messiest and most queso covered dish they could conjure up in the kitchen. It was always so satisfying. But among the tortilla chips, salsa, and American inspired Mexican dishes (I’m still trying to wrap my mind around that concept myself) there was always some sort of racial slur blurted out from one of the God fearing white patrons of the place. Whether it was a simple comment regarding how the restaurant should use English words to describe their dishes or as extreme as making statements about how the workers were part of a larger problem of Hispanics ruining the US economy, the statements always were striking to me even as a young boy.

Hate in Indiana (It’s not what you think)

By Jennifer Lewis

What do you think of when you hear a “Religion Mobilized for Violence?”  Were you thinking of a very religious, highly nationalistic, group of men with a charismatic, wealthy leader with devote followers willing to do whatever is asked of them?   Are you visualizing Boko Harm in Nigeria, maybe ISIS in Syria or possibly al-Quaeda in Afghanistan?  I admit that is exactly what I was thinking when I recently heard this phase “Religion Mobilized for Violence.”  I instinctively thought Islamic terrorist.

Theology of Hopelessness

By Dee Huey

This past week Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary experienced an abundance of riches in the form of Miguel De La Torre! Dr. De La Torre,professor of social ethics and Latino/a studies at Iliff School of Theology,  screened his film Trail ofTerror which documents the plight of Mexican nationals attempting to enter the United States.  In addition, Dr. De La Torre lectured on a Theology of Hopelessness.  Dr. De La Torre’s first hand experience as a Cuban immigrant enables him to bring a challenging and honest perspective to the issue of displacement.

Peacekeeping: Are we doing it right?

By Ethan Harbour

Never before has the urgency of world peace needed to be attained. As globalization encompasses the world and cultures meet and clash with other cultures that it now encounters, mutual respect and awareness of the other are accompanied with a thin fuse. When these thin fuses are ignited, conflicts emerge, which may result in decades long battles between cultures, nations, and peoples.

Caring for the Refugee

By Liz Herrick

According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), in 2013 the worldwide number of refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced[1] exceeded 50 million.  The number jumped about 6 million between 2012 and 2013, mostly due to the war in Syria, but also other conflicts like those in the Central African Republic and South Sudan.  That is over 50 million people forced to leave their homes, their livelihoods, and everything they know. 

Visiting KRM, The American dream myth, and Christian conversion

By Matthew Derrenbacher

This past week our Multifaith Perspectives on Global Displacement class visited KRM – the Kentucky Refugee Ministries. Here we had the privilege to listen to, and hear from a number of refugees regarding their experiences, faith journeys, struggles, reasons for immigration, the impact of these experiences on them and their families, and what these experiences, both good and bad, cause for them now, and in the future.

The Real Religious Persecution

By Liz Herrick

It’s a fairly common trope among Right-Wing Christians in the US that they are being persecuted.  Laws and court rulings meant to protect non-Christians from having Christianity forced on them in public settings are seen by the Right as taking away their religious freedom.  “Undeniable: The Survey of Hostility to Religion in America,” is a 363 page document outlining such cases (it can be downloaded here), many of which  either the Right won or were later discovered to not be about religion at all.   But with over 75% of Americans identifying as Christian, this persecution is far from reality.  What is a reality however, is the persecution faced my many Christians elsewhere in the world, as well as people of other faiths around the world (including in the US).