Culture & Public Square

Culture & Public Square helps Christians think biblically about life in society and engage today’s issues with conviction and compassion. Explore articles on current events, ethics, justice, race, technology, public life, and cultural trends—grounded in Scripture and shaped by Christian wisdom. You’ll find guidance for faithful witness, thoughtful dialogue, and making disciples in a complex world, while keeping the gospel at the center. Whether you’re navigating challenging conversations or seeking clarity for ministry and daily life, these resources equip you to live and speak with grace and truth in the public square.

April 24, 2015

Christian Standard

Released to Report

By Cathy Mogus I feel honored to know Stefan Petelycky. The first time I saw the elderly man he was wearing a white apron. I remember thinking he looked a bit out of place as he helped set the tables for an evangelism outreach dinner. Was it because I thought he was too old””or too good? I had heard bits of his unbelievable story. He wasn”t a big man, but there was something about the way he carried himself, the way his eyes sparkled when he spoke, that gave him stature. Maybe it was the tattoo on his left arm.

April 22, 2015

Christian Standard

World on Trial

By Jim Tune Henri Nouwen tells about a doctor in Paraguay who spoke out against the oppressive tyranny of the government. The local police took revenge against him by arresting his teenage son and torturing the boy to death. It was a brutal and senseless murder. The boy”s courageous father responded with the most powerful protest imaginable. At the funeral, the father did not have his son”s body cleaned up and embalmed. Instead, he displayed it as he found it in the jail: naked, scarred, twisted, with open wounds from the beatings and burns from cigarette butts. All the villagers

March 29, 2015

Christian Standard

A Platform of Power(lessness)

By Danielle Hance The world tends to idolize the rich and powerful. We look up to Donald Trump, Angelina Jolie, Justin Bieber, and Oprah because they represent some aspect of success, accomplishment, fame””images we aspire to attain. Rarely do we look at a star and think, Wow, she is one of us! We are more likely to think, I could never be as beautiful as she is. I could never sing as well as he does. At some level, we cannot relate to stars. They belong to another class, another category of superior people. As much as we might relate

February 28, 2015

Christian Standard

A Literary Conversation about Racial Prejudice

By LeRoy Lawson Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power Jon Meacham New York: Random House, 2012 Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America Gilbert King New York: Harper Perennial, 2013 Trivial Pursuits: Why Your Real Life Is More than Media, Money and the Pursuit of Happiness Ian DiOrio Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2014 I often make my way through two or three books at a time, one on my Kindle, one for listening pleasure when grunting my way through morning exercises, and a “real book” with paper pages at the office or

February 25, 2015

Christian Standard

A Little More Substance, Please!

By Jim Tune We cannot cry over a story we don”t know. That much I”m sure of. Events in Ferguson, Missouri, the Eric Garner tragedy in New York City, and other controversial stories divide and confuse. I often wish I had more of the facts behind these tragedies. Something tells me I would respond more appropriately if I knew the people””the victims, the police officers, the circumstances. Even then, as a white male and beneficiary of a host of advantages since birth, there are gaps in my experience that cannot be easily closed. Empathy is in short supply in the

February 19, 2015

Christian Standard

Breaking the Cycle of Poverty

By Jennifer Johnson Emmanuel House originally began as a simple effort to help a few Afghani refugees resettle near Aurora, IL. Rick and Hayley Meksi, in partnership with Community 4:12 and Community Christian Church in Naperville, IL, launched the organization in 2007 after realizing how difficult it was for these refugee families to “break into” the housing market. The concept expanded, and the ministry now helps families from a variety of backgrounds struggling with similar issues. “We realized there were a number of people caught in the cycle of generational poverty,” says Hayley. “A lack of stability in the family,

January 20, 2015

Mark A. Taylor

After Selma

By Mark A. Taylor About 100 people were at the 7:05 p.m. showing of Selma in the theater where my wife and I sat last Saturday night. Of that number, we were two of about 10 white folks in the house. Everyone else was African-American. This was something different from the typical weekend movies crowd. Whole families were there. And senior citizens; I saw at least two on walkers labor to their seats on the handicapped row. It would be much more than two hours of entertainment for them. We were about to see a depiction of history these folks

December 18, 2014

Christian Standard

Breaking the Link from Poverty to Prison

By T.R. Robertson Prison life is easier than life on the street for many in our country”s poor population. By understanding and taking effective measures to address poverty, we are helping to solve the crime problem as well. Here are some basic understandings and ideas. Until she went to prison, Janie said, she had never in her young life been sure she would get to eat three meals in any one day and have a bed to sleep on at night. Born into the make-do culture of generational poverty, the only “meals” she”d ever known consisted of whatever food could

December 13, 2014

Christian Standard

A Biblical View of Poverty

By Mark W. Hamilton A paradox confronting modern Western Christians is this: we who are rich serve a Lord who was poor. At the first Christmas, Jesus and his family did not hang their stockings by the chimney with care. Instead, they haunted stables and fled their home as refugees. Nor did things improve for the adult Jesus, who survived on the generosity of women who embraced his message of the kingdom.  Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor” (Luke 6:20); “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or your body, what you will wear” (Matthew

December 12, 2014

Christian Standard

Uneasy with the Times

By Neal Windham When I grow weary with the poverty that surrounds us, I remember one fact about the One whose birth we celebrate: When Jesus came to earth, he chose to be poor. Defining moments often arrive without warning. Back in my college days, somewhere around 1977, I was returning from work during a pelting thunderstorm when I came across a man who was wandering around in a ditch near the road. He had no raincoat or umbrella, and his hat and clothes were drenched, head to toe. I pulled over, invited him into the car, and asked what

December 10, 2014

Christian Standard

Power, Politics, and the Kingdom

By Jim Tune There seems to be a set of unwritten rules and preferences concerning which political party one must belong to in order to be considered a Christian of good standing among many Evangelicals. I have heard such things as, “I am sorry, but I really have to question your faith if you”re a Democrat.” Of course, the left can serve up remarkably similar disdain by inferring that no real thinking person could possibly vote Republican. Both sides claim to cherish freedom, democracy, and the American way. Political differences are so polarizing that they can readily turn friends and

December 8, 2014

Christian Standard

Your Privacy Policy

By Chris Jefferson Almost every church and parachurch ministry has a website, and many collect data from those who visit their site.  To manage this information well, the first step””too often overlooked””is a privacy policy. At no time since the Pax Romana have ministries been better equipped to share the gospel and fulfill their mission than in this digital age. Back in the first and second centuries, the intricate road systems of the Romans allowed missionaries””gifted with common Greek and ease of worldwide travel””to connect with cultures far and wide to spread the gospel. Today, digital connectivity provides a new

November 16, 2014

Christian Standard

India at a Crossroads

By Abhineeta Matney An April election raises pressing questions, especially for the Christian minority in one of the world”s largest nations. Until a few months ago, the U.S. government boycotted Narendra Modi, the former head of the government in the Indian state of Gujarat. Modi was blacklisted and shunned for his questionably reticent political tactics. He was denied a visa to the U.S. for almost a decade because he allegedly encouraged and/or did nothing to stop the violence that erupted against minorities in Gujarat in 2002. Today Modi is the prime minister of the world”s largest electorate. Hours after this

November 4, 2014

Mark A. Taylor

Electing a Balanced View

By Mark A. Taylor In the face of nonstop media coverage leading up to Election Day, many in the United States are tired, cynical, or bored by it all. But that”s not me. On Election Day, I will not give in to the naysayers. Yes, I”m appalled by the millions and millions of dollars spent, often with little effect, to woo voters toward one candidate or position. Yes, I”m weary of the half-truths and media spin. I”m suspicious that what we see in political ads, Internet posts, and major interviews is a thin façade hiding unsavory truths and off-the-record deal

October 21, 2014

Christian Standard

Diverse, Dynamic, and Difficult to Summarize

By Mark A. Taylor Suppose you were asked to summarize the current condition of Christian churches and churches of Christ to an interested but largely uninformed audience. That was my assignment at the Sunday-evening worship service sponsored by the Stone-Campbell Dialogue in Austin, Texas, October 5. As I reported in this space last week, I was one of three speakers, each with a similar assignment; the others spoke, respectively, about the a cappella churches of Christ and the Christian Church/Disciples of Christ. Realizing that no one in our group can represent the whole group and no one can know everything

October 14, 2014

Mark A. Taylor

Sowing Seeds of Unity

By Mark A. Taylor Two weekends ago (October 5, 6, 2014) I attended the 19th annual gathering of the Stone-Campbell Dialogue, this year in Abilene, Texas. It was a wonderful gathering! I had the privilege of preaching at the Minter Lane Church of Christ before the Dialogue convened, and I enjoyed rich fellowship with members and leaders of all three “streams” of the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement. The goal of the Dialogue is to foster understanding, trust, and partnership among these “streams”: the Christian churches/churches of Christ (my group); the traditionally a cappella churches of Christ; and the Christian Church (Disciples

October 13, 2014

Christian Standard

Can We Let Artists Be Artists?

By Dan Drage The Christian church doesn”t inspire me. Unless one counts reaction against something to be inspiration. No, overall I find the Christian church quite dull and unimaginative.  If you”re reading this far, I trust you”ll respect me enough to hear me out. I”m an artist. Perhaps that says it all right there. And this is precisely what I”d like to talk about. Being an artist may account for my distaste with the Christian church. I am a part of the Restoration Movement. I have been for 33 years, since I was 3 years old. One could argue that

October 12, 2014

Christian Standard

The Power of the Arts

By C. Robert Wetzel “While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols” (Acts 17:16). How are we to understand Paul”s distress in seeing the city of Athens full of idols? Surely he had been in many cities whose streets and marketplaces were adorned with numerous idols. Perhaps his anguished reaction was because Athens was regarded as the intellectual capital of the Western world, and Athenians should have known better. Certainly some of the city”s philosophers had known better . . . and found themselves in trouble for

October 11, 2014

Christian Standard

Integrating Faith with Art

Joe D”Alessandro has been in the film industry since 1981. He has worked on such films as The Natural, Maximum Overdrive, Crimes of the Heart, The Prince of Tides, The Blind Side, The Hunger Games, Nell, The Hudsucker Proxy, and The Secret Life of Bees. Joe, his wife, Barbara, and their son, Giancarlo, live in Wilmington, North Carolina, where we caught up with him in the middle of filming Under the Dome, the Stephen King inspired CBS television series. In 1953, Joe”s parents moved to the United States from Italy. Joe says they were “the last vestiges of the traditional

October 10, 2014

Christian Standard

Interview with an Actor

By Jonathan Williams “Most people grind it out for years as servers, bartenders, and baristas before they book their first acting gig. I was lucky.” Ben Jeffery is lucky. After moving to New York from Kansas City, Missouri, almost five years ago, he found work in commercials and in TV shows, including Louie. “I mean, I did spend some time working as a barista at Starbucks,” Ben tells me with an affable nod, “but I basically got the chance to live out my dream as an actor right away.” For the past three years, Ben has entertained capacity crowds as

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