Books

We Pray Freedom

We Pray Freedom: Liturgies and Rituals from the Freedom Church of the Poor

Edited by Liz Theoharis and Charon Hribar

Broadleaf Press, available now!

A book of prayers, rituals, and liturgies that grows out of communities committed to abolishing poverty.

Prayer has long sustained movements for social change. Ritual gives shape to our desire for justice, and liturgy lends power to our work. In We Pray Freedom, we learn from activists and movement builders the songs, stories, and ritual practices that keep them going for the long haul.

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You Only Get What You're Organized to Take: Lessons From the Movement to End Poverty

You Only Get What You’re Organized to Take: Lessons From the Movement to End Poverty

by The Rev. Dr Liz Theoharis & Noam Sandweiss-Back

Beacon Press

Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, one of the nation’s leading anti-poverty organizers and moral voices, and her co-author, Noam Sandweiss-Back, argue it is possible to abolish poverty. But this won’t happen through the goodwill of the powerful or the charitable actions of well-meaning people alone. It will happen through a mass movement, open to all, and led by the poor themselves.

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Articles & Interviews

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Solidarity, Justice, and Interfaith Organizing

Interview on the “Solidarity is This” Podcast

Co-host Adaku Utah and Reverend Dr. Liz Theoharis discuss the reclamation of justice work by faith communities and the solidarity possibilities that arise from interfaith organizing.

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supreme-court

Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor…

The Case for Asylum in These Less Than United States

Tom Dispatch
By Liz Theoharis
April 19, 2026

In late March, I sat in the gallery of the Supreme Court for the first time in my life. Throughout my 30 years of grassroots anti-poverty work, I’ve joined countless protests and vigils outside the Court. In 2018, I was even arrested and held in detention for praying on its palatial steps. Now, I was seated with a clear view of the nine justices of the nation’s highest court. I was there as a guest of immigrant rights lawyers, as their team made oral arguments in Noem v. Al Otro Lado, the most significant case on the right to asylum in decades.

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liz-lbj-library

Remarks at the LBJ Presidential Library: Poverty in America Today

The panel discussion on the state of poverty in America today featured Professor Adam Green, Bobby Shriver, and Reverend Dr. Liz Theoharis. Together, the three discussed today’s affordability crisis—and what it will take to end poverty. 

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faithandreason

Video: Scandal of Jesus: Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis

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yosc

The Young Organizers Survival Corps

Can the Young Wrest This Nation from the Clutches of Full-Throated Authoritarianism?

Tom Dispatch
By Liz Theoharis and Sam Theoharis
February 3, 2026

Here’s a small suggestion from the two authors of this piece (us): don’t be young in Donald Trump’s America if you can help it. Being young in America right now means you’ll have to contend with stalling job markets, rampant inflation, deep political and economic instability, and impending climate disaster. If you point these things out, you’re labeled a dangerous (and misguided) radical. If you’re too busy trying to make ends meet for you and your family, you get labeled as lazy, apathetic, and defeatist.

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Nero

Is Trump the New Nero?

The (Immoral) Politics of Authoritarianism and the Bible (Then and Now)

Tom Dispatch
By Liz Theoharis
December 11, 2025

As more of the Epstein files are released, reminding us of Donald Trump’s close association with Jeffrey Epstein and the young people he abused and trafficked, as well as the president’s ongoing array of misogynist insults and actions (like calling journalist Catherine Lucey “piggy” and name-calling Marjorie Taylor Greene to the point where she jumped ship), what keeps coming to my mind are the sexual exploits of authoritarians throughout history. As a scholar of the New Testament and the origins of Christianity, I have a special interest in the lives of the Roman emperors — in particular, the notorious Emperor Nero.

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About the Author

The Reverend Dr. Liz Theoharis is a theologian, pastor, author, and anti-poverty activist. She is the Director of the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights, and Social Justice and Co-Chair of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. Rev. Dr. Theoharis has been organizing in poor and low-income communities for the past 30 years. Her books include: You Only Get What You’re Organized to Take: Lessons from the Movement to End Poverty (Beacon, 2025), We Pray Freedom: Liturgies and Rituals from the Freedom Church of the Poor (Broadleaf Press, 2025) and Always with Us?: What Jesus Really Said about the Poor (Eerdmans, 2017) and she has been published in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Politico, Sojourners and elsewhere. Rev. Dr. Theoharis is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and teaches at Union Theological Seminary. She has been awarded the Freedom Award from the National Civil Rights Museum, the Selma Bridge Award, the Women of Spirit Award from the Presbyterian Church (USA) and many others.