“Teacher! Billy stuck his tongue out at me!” You’re the teacher. Take a moment to think about how you’d respond. Many folks would say, “Billy? Did you stick your tongue out at Jimmy? … Tell me the truth. … OK….
Maybe we are the sharks
We fear shark attacks despite being far, far more likely to die in a car wreck while driving to the beach than being bit by a shark once at the beach. Shark attacks make the national news precisely because they…
Why I marched in a Pride parade and what I experienced
I’m not gay. On the Kinsey Scale, I’m a 100% heterosexual male. I don’t understand what either straight women or gay men see in men. I think we’re gross. I mean, I can say such-and-such male is “an attractive person,”…
The canary in the American judicial mine Christians are ignoring
With so many warning signs of rising theocracy being ignored, what’s one more? Metaphorically speaking, in terms of U.S. religion and politics, we might pass off our “shortness of breath” over politicians’ chronic dishonesty as our just being out of…
The idea of eufeminism — A reel reaction to The Idea of You
A relative texted me about a month ago curious about my reaction to the movie The Idea of You (hereafter TIOY). This request came right in the middle of moving and my youngest child graduating from college, so I never…
The Holocaust Musaffecteum: Humbling irritations amidst genuine horror past and present
My family and I had been standing in line for nearly half an hour at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. Despite all that time and with prior experience at another high-security location, I still wasn’t ready…
God’s divine plan for eclipses and ellipses
A few years ago, my teenage son beat me at chess. Because I’m a horrible chess player, I took the defeat with aplomb. Later the same day, though, he beat me at Scrabble. Now, that just plain hurt. I rarely…
God, sex, gender and politics
A redlight recently stopped my progress through snow falling heavily on the smalltown equivalent of Times Square. Gold letters across the courthouse façade proclaimed, “IN GOD WE TRUST.” Trusting both God and my all-wheel-drive Subaru, I felt awe and excitement…
What is ‘religion’? From football to faith to faithfulness
In my home state, folks make regular pilgrimages to a revered shrine where they engage in rituals, sing songs, pray, engage in charismatic hand lifting, and often speak in mysterious tongues indiscernible to outsiders. Sometimes adherents express the ecstasy of…