The work goes on

The murder of George Floyd, a Black man, by white Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin on May 25, 2020, spurred nationwide Black Lives Matter protests. In Asheville, Floyd’s murder had the immediate effect of religious institutions looking inward and engaging with their congregations around racial justice. More than a year on from those events, many […]

Letter writer: Asheville offers multiple spiritual (and nonspiritu­al) paths

I enjoyed the cover article for a December issue (posted online on Dec. 24) entitled “Churches in the fall: local churches get back to their roots in a rapidly changing millennial culture” [Dec. 25, Xpress]. Howard Hanger, founder of Jubilee! definitely helps with the hanging chads left behind by more conservative expressions of orthodoxy and orthopraxy […]

Video: Did ‘Obama’s spiritual advisor’ go on ‘race rant’ in Hot Springs?

Calling Dr. Jim Wallis President Barack Obama’s “spiritual advisor,” the popular conservative news and opinion website The Daily Caller reported July 7 that the liberal evangelical leader went on a “race rant” at a recent event Hot Springs. But was it really an accusatory, racist rant, from a man “who has the ear of the leader of the free world,” as the website alleges? Or was it part of a constructive dialogue on a tough topic?

WNC religious leaders seek the right to wed same-sex couples in their congregati­ons

This morning a federal challenge to Amendment One was filed in the Western District of North Carolina on behalf of the United Church of Christ (UCC) as a national denomination, clergy from across faith traditions and same-sex couples, according to a press release. The case challenges the constitutionality of marriage laws in North Carolina – including Amendment One – that ban marriage between same-sex couples and make it illegal for clergy to perform wedding ceremonies for same-sex couples within their congregations.

Ralph Burns: A Persistenc­e of Vision

Ralph Burns: A Persistence of Vision, 1972 – 2013, is a new exhibition opening this Saturday, March 29 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Asheville Art Museum. The show, curated by J. Richard Gruber, Ph.D., the Director Emeritus of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, surveys 41 years of work by Asheville photographer Ralph Burns. Photo: “Baptism #1,” Jordan River, Israel, 1996, silver gelatin print