Occupy Faith Reaches Out to Greater D.C. with a Message of Social Justice

By Matthew Santoro

(Photo by Coulter Loeb)

Even before the raids that ended the encampments at Freedom Plaza and McPherson Square, Occupy DC’s faith-based community had begun to shift its focus.

“After a time, we felt the physical encampment had lost its effectiveness towards the ends of the Occupy movement [such as] ending inequality, corporate power in government, and for us, as Christians, calling out a society that worships money and economies in place of God,” said Jeremy John of the Occupy Church.

The Christian activist group started out of a prayer tent in McPherson Square, where they offered tea and conversation to passersby and held a weekly service on Saturday night, giving occupiers a space for worship and discussion.

Questioning Its Commitment to Social Justice, Young Evangelicals Are Leaving the Church

By Matthew Santoro

Quit hitting the snooze button.

It’s time for the church to wake up!

According to a Laura Sessions Stepp at CNN.com, evangelical churches are finally acknowledging a trend that statisticians have been tracking for years: young evangelicals are leaving the church in droves.

In the new report, You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are Leaving Church and Rethinking Faith, Barna Group President David Kinnaman notes a 43 percent drop in Christian church attendance between the teen and early adult years.

Perhaps most intriguing is that research indicates younger people are not only departing from their elders on “social issues,” such as same-sex marriage and abortion, but on wealth distribution and care for the environment, as well.