https://wwjad.org/ Exploring what Jesus of Nazareth — a radical, liberal Jewish reformer — would actually say about the issues we face today. Rooted in scripture, Jewish ethical tradition, and Catholic Social Teaching. en-us Sat, 11 Jul 2026 11:30:09 +0000 https://wwjad.org/assets/img/icon-512.png https://wwjad.org/ https://wwjad.org/articles/casual-drinking-and-drugs/ https://wwjad.org/articles/casual-drinking-and-drugs/ Mon, 13 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Jesus turned water into wine at a party. The first-century Jewish world he inhabited had no concept of alcohol as inherently sinful. The question the tradition actually asks is not 'is this substance forbidden?' but 'is this harming you, harming others, or becoming your god?' culture ethics health https://wwjad.org/articles/common-sense/ https://wwjad.org/articles/common-sense/ Mon, 13 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 "Common sense" has become one of the most weaponized phrases in American political life — invoked to dismiss complexity, shut down inconvenient evidence, and dress up ideological preferences as self-evident truth. The irony is that the actual teachings of Jesus were, by any conventional measure, the opposite of common sense. They still are. politics culture theology https://wwjad.org/articles/communion-exclusion/ https://wwjad.org/articles/communion-exclusion/ Mon, 13 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 The Catholic Church has denied communion to divorced Catholics, politicians who support abortion rights, and remarried people for decades. Jesus, who ate with tax collectors, prostitutes, and Roman collaborators, did not appear to have a guest list. church sacraments inclusion https://wwjad.org/articles/premarital-sex-and-unmarried-couples/ https://wwjad.org/articles/premarital-sex-and-unmarried-couples/ Mon, 13 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Jesus never mentioned premarital sex. Not once. The tradition does have teachings about sexuality and marriage, but they exist in a historical context almost nothing like modern life — and the most important questions the tradition asks are not about legal status. They are about dignity, faithfulness, and what we owe each other. relationships ethics sexuality https://wwjad.org/articles/secularized-holidays/ https://wwjad.org/articles/secularized-holidays/ Mon, 13 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Christmas is the most commercially successful event in the American calendar. Easter is a close second. Both commemorates events at the absolute center of Christian theology. The gap between what they mean and what they have become is one of the most visible contradictions in American religious life — and the tradition has quite a lot to say about it. culture economics church https://wwjad.org/articles/constitution-obsession/ https://wwjad.org/articles/constitution-obsession/ Sat, 11 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Some Americans treat the Constitution the way they treat the Bible — as a perfect, inspired, unchangeable text whose original intent must be preserved against all interpretation. This is a theological claim dressed in legal language. And it has some serious problems. politics faith ethics https://wwjad.org/articles/creationism-and-the-creation-museum/ https://wwjad.org/articles/creationism-and-the-creation-museum/ Sat, 11 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Young Earth Creationism — the belief that the universe is roughly 6,000 years old and that Genesis is a literal scientific textbook — is not an ancient faith tradition. It was invented in 1961. Jesus almost certainly didn't hold it. And the $100 million tourist attraction built around it in Kentucky raises questions the tradition knows how to ask. faith science theology https://wwjad.org/articles/gender-identity-and-trans/ https://wwjad.org/articles/gender-identity-and-trans/ Sat, 11 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Before we can ask what Jesus would say about gender identity, we need to be honest about something biology has been telling us for decades: biological sex is not a binary. The human body is more complex than two check-boxes — and the tradition has the tools to engage that complexity with more honesty than most culture-war arguments allow. human dignity social justice faith https://wwjad.org/articles/space-travel-and-cosmos/ https://wwjad.org/articles/space-travel-and-cosmos/ Sat, 11 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Awe at the scale of the universe is a deeply Jewish and Christian instinct. So is the prophetic question: who does this serve? When billionaires race to build escape rockets while the planet burns and people go hungry, the tradition has something to say about that too. science economics ethics https://wwjad.org/articles/ai-and-scientific-progress/ https://wwjad.org/articles/ai-and-scientific-progress/ Mon, 06 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Every generation has faced a technology that seemed to threaten the sacred. The printing press, the telescope, the theory of evolution, the internet — the tradition's response has never been to stop the clock. It has been to ask: who does this serve, who does it harm, and who gets left out? science ethics economics https://wwjad.org/articles/animals-and-souls/ https://wwjad.org/articles/animals-and-souls/ Mon, 06 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Jesus said not a single sparrow falls to the ground apart from the Father. Translators often supply the word 'care' — the Greek just says the Father is there when it happens. That's not a throwaway line. It's a theological claim about what God considers worth watching. theology environment faith https://wwjad.org/articles/billionaire-class/ https://wwjad.org/articles/billionaire-class/ Mon, 06 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Jesus had more to say about extreme wealth than about almost any other subject. He said it plainly, repeatedly, and without apology: hoarding vast resources while neighbors suffer is a moral emergency. economics social justice faith https://wwjad.org/articles/body-modifications/ https://wwjad.org/articles/body-modifications/ Mon, 06 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Leviticus 19:28 says 'do not put tattoo marks on yourselves.' It also says don't eat shellfish and don't wear blended fabrics. Christians who selectively cite this verse while ignoring the rest of the chapter haven't engaged with the text. They've used it. faith scripture personal life https://wwjad.org/articles/consumer-culture/ https://wwjad.org/articles/consumer-culture/ Mon, 06 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Jesus told a parable about a man who tore down his full barns to build bigger ones, congratulated himself on his security — and died that night. The question wasn't whether he was evil. It was whether he had confused having enough with having a life. economics environment personal life https://wwjad.org/articles/death-penalty/ https://wwjad.org/articles/death-penalty/ Mon, 06 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Jesus was executed by the state. He stopped a legal execution mid-process and forgave the woman. Restorative justice — healing harm, not inflicting more of it — is the throughline of everything he taught. criminal justice human dignity faith https://wwjad.org/articles/environmental-stewardship/ https://wwjad.org/articles/environmental-stewardship/ Mon, 06 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Destroying the earth is not a political issue — it's a moral one. Creation is sacred, and trashing it is a sin against the poor who suffer first. environment social justice faith https://wwjad.org/articles/evolution-and-science/ https://wwjad.org/articles/evolution-and-science/ Mon, 06 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 The Catholic Church has formally accepted evolution since 1950. The Jewish tradition has no official conflict with Darwin. The "science vs. religion" conflict is largely an American cultural product of the late 19th century — and it has done enormous damage to both faith and science. science faith theology https://wwjad.org/articles/family-estrangement/ https://wwjad.org/articles/family-estrangement/ Mon, 06 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Jesus ate with tax collectors, Pharisees, zealots, and sinners — often at the same table. His method for changing minds was never argument and certainly never abandonment. It was presence, story, and a shared meal. community personal life politics https://wwjad.org/articles/forgiveness-and-accountability/ https://wwjad.org/articles/forgiveness-and-accountability/ Mon, 06 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Jesus preaches radical forgiveness. Jewish law says forgiveness without repentance lets the offender off the hook and abandons the victim. Both are right — and the tension between them is the point. faith community personal life https://wwjad.org/articles/free-choice-and-original-sin/ https://wwjad.org/articles/free-choice-and-original-sin/ Mon, 06 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 What if the snake in the Garden wasn't a villain? A close reading of Genesis reveals something far more interesting than a cosmic mistake: a story about why genuine freedom requires the real possibility of failure — and why a God who wanted robots would have built a very different world. theology faith human dignity