Evangelicals have gotten all the attention, but it is the Catholics that are reshaping American life. By Catholics, I mean the six Roman Catholics that comprise the conservative super-majority on the United States Supreme Court: John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, Samuel…
The Devil’s tool
When I was the age of my grandson Sam, I was enamored with the song “Ya Got Trouble” from the musical The Music Man. I even memorized it and performed it once or twice for some gatherings. It clearly did not…
What I’m learning about Christian nationalism
Christian nationalism is gaining ground among Republicans, they say — and I’m not sure who “they” is, but it could be somebody who knows what they’re talking about. I am trying to learn about all this because it has to…
It is a lie
Supreme Court Associate Justice Samuel Alito has penned, we now know, the draft of a Supreme Court decision that contains at its core a lie. He wrote: “Nothing in this opinion should be understood to cast doubt on precedents that…
Christian nationalism in Russia
The religious angle of the war in Ukraine has been largely ignored by the generals, the journalists and the politicians. But the pastors, bishops and theologians of the Christian community around the world, especially the Orthodox, have found their voice….
Let’s keep the lights on in Georgia
A half century ago, Bobby Russell wrote a song about infidelity, murder and a messed-up legal system. The chorus summarizes the result and gives the song its now-famous name: That’s the night that the lights went out in Georgia. That’s…
Why I’m quitting church: I’ve got better things to do than watch my pastor be run off over race
World Series. Halloween. Time Change. Full Moon. Election. COVID. And for me: Goodbye Church. I love my church here in Georgia and my ministers, my Sunday school class, and the friends I have made. But today, I resolved to put…
My Dad witnessed the last ‘legal’ hanging in America
My dad, Tom Moody, was there. Aug, 14, 1936. Owensboro, Ky. The last legal public hanging in America. “My brother and I got up before dawn and hitchhiked into town,” he said many years later. “There were lots of cars going that…
50 years later, abortion remains a political smokescreen
Abortion has been at the forefront of the Religious Right for almost 50 years — since the landmark Supreme Court decision in 1973 that recognized a woman’s freedom to abort a fetus based on the constitutional right to privacy. That…