Jesus was a table-turning radical

Jobs, Journalism, Justice

Contributing Writer

Rev. Helmiere convenes Valley & Mountain.

Where are the prophets?

by John Helmiere | July 11th, 2018

Real Change columnist

At our borders, toddlers are locked in cages.

In our courtrooms, children are left to defend themselves.

In Seattle, we are building a new jail to incarcerate youth.

In times like these, I turn to the prophets. But where are they?

First, let’s clarify a common misconception. Prophets are not fortune-tellers.

Prophets are truth-tellers.

The Hebrew prophets boldly confronted the ruling class with harsh truths, usually about social justice.

Theologies devalue bodies

by John Helmiere | June 13th, 2018

Real Change columnist

Immigrant children are currently being torn from their parents’ arms and locked in separate cells. Yet vast numbers of so-called evangelical Christians are silent or even supportive. The roots of Christian acceptance of this sort of evil may be found in a twisted form of Gnostic theology.

Youth jail revelations

by John Helmiere | May 9th, 2018

Monthly columnist

Last week, The Seattle Times published an opinion piece arguing that the No New Youth Jail movement was “a dangerous fantasy.” Writer Danny Westneat centers his column on a case of murder allegedly involving several youth. He says his issue is primarily that our movement must want murderers to run wild.

The current of love and grace

by John Helmiere | April 11th, 2018

Real Change columnist

Last year, I tried fixing my clothes-drying machine. I kept forgetting to unplug it and I got shocked no less than a dozen times (I went into the humanities for a reason). Every time I got shocked, my arm jumped and twitched painfully. In movies you see people touch a major power source and get thrown across a room.

It turns out that this actually happens, but not for the reason that most of us imagine. Most of us envision that when you touch a hot power source, electricity flows into your body kind of like a painful liquid flowing out of the wall socket and into your veins.