If anyone tells you there are easy answers to poverty, brokenness, and injustice, they’re probably selling you snake oil. Snake oil gained wild popularity among 19th-century laborers working on the U.S.’s First Transcontinental Railroad and desperate for relief from their muscle and joint pain. While there is legitimate evidence indicating that oil from certain sea...
Recently, my friend Shane Claiborne and I took part in a debate on Christian responses to poverty. To call it a debate might be a bit of a stretch, especially when the prevailing image of a “debate” is rancorous TV personalities angrily shouting over each other. Still, in the midst of our discussion, we...
A few months ago, I wrote about how HOPE was changing its mission statement to replace the language we use to describe “the poor,” a phrase that stuck in my throat whenever I tried to use it. Since adapting the mission statement, I’ve been thinking about other words and phrases that might unintentionally dishonor...