Either we have freewill and are really making choices that have the potential to change the future, or we are living in a magical snow globe, completely ignorant of the actual circumstances of our existence.

When Mariah Villanpando arrived in Spokane in 2017 to escape a domestic abuse situation in rural Washington, she and her children had no choice but to live in their car. Despite the trauma of abuse, the anxiety of an unplanned relocation and the stress of single motherhood, Villanpando was determined to find safe housing for her family. She went through intake at one of the large, faith-based organizations in Spokane, but the resources she needed were not readily available. Five years later, she still hasn’t heard back. 

In an article entitled “Curtailing Abortion Rights Undermines Religious Freedom,” Muslim writer Fatima Argun and Jewish author Walter Ruby declare, “The Court’s striking down of Roe v. Wade appears as nothing less than a Christianization of American law, which is perceived by our minority faith communities as a peril to the principles of religious pluralism and governmental neutrality.”

I’m talking about white church-goers like myself who wade in the deeply spiritual, beautifully haunting songs that emerged from what W.E.B. Du Bois called “the souls of black folk” during slavery.

Gonzaga University is one of only 50 venues across the country selected to host the “Americans and the Holocaust” traveling exhibition from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, which opened Tuesday.

I think much of the decline in belief is due to the precipitous decline in trust of all institutions. If we do not trust in government, or business, or media, or even the organized church, then why should we trust there is a God?