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Miguel De La Torre

Is Jesus Ambiguous on Violence?

May 3, 2023 by Miguel De La Torre

Apologists seeking to save God from God are quick to remind us that the God of the Hebrew Bible was a God of justice in order to explain the violence found there. They contrast these texts with the God of the Christian Testament – seen…

Why I Refuse to Save God from God

May 2, 2023 by Miguel De La Torre

The Hebrew Bible introduces a tribal deity fighting Canaanite deities for land supremacy, instructing God’s people to do likewise. God’s chosen, liberated from Egypt’s bondage, are led to a Promised Land, which inconveniently, is already occupied. The solution? Portray them as evildoers existing outside God’s…

Will Humanity Heed the Warnings and Rise to the Occasion?

April 24, 2023 by Miguel De La Torre

Eurocentric thought is rooted in this religious context: that man (specifically cis-gendered males) is the pinnacle of creation. Psalm 8:4-9 informs this kind of thought and belief: “What is man that you are mindful of him, or the son of man that you care for…

What if Crucifixion Is Not Salvific?

April 5, 2023 by Miguel De La Torre

What do you do when the hymns we sing reinforce a theology which is, and continues to be, detrimental to the marginalized, those who liberationist theologian Jon Sobrino called “the Crucified People”? “Would you be free from the burden of sin? There’s power in the…

What Are the Correct Pronouns for God?

March 8, 2023 by Miguel De La Torre

A theological debate is taking place within the Church of England as theologians discuss if they should refer to God in gender-neutral terms. If God is not a “he,” should our language reflect this complexity? Should the proper theologically based pronouns for God therefore be “they, them,…

Chickens Coming Home to Roost

March 2, 2023 by Miguel De La Torre

There have been seventy-seven mass shootings in the U.S. in the first 45 days of 2023. Collectively, 109 were killed and 273 were wounded while sitting in a university classroom, going to high school, eating at fast-food restaurants, attending a concert, dancing at a club, relaxing at…

Legislating Ignorance: The Battle for Democracy

February 8, 2023 by Miguel De La Torre

Disinformation, anti-intellectualism and intimidation are tactics employed by authoritarians throughout history to obtain and maintain power. In the U.S., we’re seeing these tendencies manifested in book banning and in legislative efforts to prevent certain ideas and concepts from being discussed or taught in public schools…

Legislating Ignorance: Authoritarian Tactics

February 7, 2023 by Miguel De La Torre

While in Kraków, Poland, I visited Oscar Schindler’s enamelware factory. Schindler, immortalized in the Steven Spielberg movie “Schindler’s List,” was a German industrialist and Nazi Party member who was credited with saving the lives of some 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust by employing them in…

A Terrorist by Any Other Name

January 12, 2023 by Miguel De La Torre

Robert Gregory Bowers walked into L’Simcha Congregation (Tree of Life synagogue) in Pittsburg, on October 27, 2018, and shot unarmed worshippers. Eleven died and seven (including the gunman) were injured. One need not be a Jew to recognize Bowers as a terrorist. On August 5,…

How Two SCOTUS Cases Could Strengthen White Affirmative Action

January 5, 2023 by Miguel De La Torre

Imagine applying for admission to your ideal university or for that perfect job, only to be turned away because someone lacking your work ethic, skills or intelligence is given your spot because of their skin pigmentation. An injustice exists whenever a person, based solely on…