Author: John Pavlovitz

Wake up, white Liberals and Progressives and Moderates. It’s morning in America. A lot happened while we were sleeping. This is not the America we thought existed back in November of 2008 — likely the last time many of us were fully awake. Back then, we basked in the warm glow of the reality of a black President and we grew comfortable, nestling down into a complacency that only the blind spots of privilege and false information provide. The joy of that moment became a slow-acting emotional sedative that slowly squeezed out the urgency from us; one that gradually...

I recently asked my social media followers what gives them hope right now. There was a myriad of reasonable answers: children, grandchildren, spouses, partners, meaningful work, laughter, music, and dogs – lots and lots of dogs. But there was an unsettling pattern to many of the responses. Despite every breakdown of our election processes, legislative safeguards, and Constitutional protections over the past three years, and despite being perpetually let down and betrayed by elected officials and church leaders and federal judges—far too many people are still inexplicably waiting for saviors and superheroes to save them. “I have faith that...

Dear Dr. King, I wish I’d have written this sooner. Indeed I should have, but doing so was simply not possible, as it’s taken me this long to realize that these were words that needed to be said — and that they needed to be said by me. For much of my life I’ve imagined I was fighting the good fight of equality because I believed in it philosophically, because intellectually I agreed it. I’d frequently recited your words and loudly amen-ed your sermons and easily claimed affinity in your declarations of the worth of every human being. I’d...

I used to think I was a Christian. I was raised in a Christian home and went to a Christian school. After a few meandering spiritual wilderness years I attended a Christian seminary, became a Christian pastor, and have served in Christian churches for most of the past twenty-five years of my life. I’ve read and studied and preached the Scriptures extensively, led community Bible studies and student retreats and overseas mission trips, ministered in tiny rural chapels and massive gleaming megachurches. As a result of these decades immersed in the Christian tradition both personally and vocationally, I thought...

“If fighting anti-Semitism was really a priority, you’d address how rampant it is in the rank-and-file of your following, the white supremacy embedded in the MAGA movement, the anti-Jewish conspiracies and slurs of your supporters, the hate crimes so prevalent during your tenure — but protecting people has never really been your calling card: profiting off of them has been. That’s all this is. Mr. President, We shouldn’t be here. It is both laughable and sickening that we find ourselves at this place, having this conversation, about something like this — but then again, such has been the nauseating...