There was a time when Black Republicans like Frederick Douglass championed the cause of racial justice. They were the “progressives” of their day. None were perfect, but most had a sense of integrity. Colin Powell comes to mind when I…
Ye shall know the truth, and?
On Thursday, Oct. 2, I exited the Winston-Salem Costco with products purchased for home and the storm-ravaged North Carolina mountains. At that moment, a man and a woman were loading a large pickup truck parked next to my car with…
If you plan to vote for Donald Trump …
If you plan to vote for Donald Trump, it is your right to vote for the candidate of your choice. Just be aware the candidate of your choice doesn’t want the rest of us to have a choice in the…
Should I force my child to go to church?
In my years of serving as a pastor to students and their families, I’ve heard the following question phrased in a few different ways: Should I force my child to go to church if they don’t want to? In the…
Falling again
Today, I just sit. Taking a pregnant pause from the constant demands of life on this early October afternoon, I find myself sitting on a simple wooden bench in the woods outside an abbey in southern Missouri. I am taking…
Bullshit
In 1916, a 26-year-old Darley Hiden Ramsey submitted a motto for the newly commissioned town seal of Asheville, N.C. His choice, levavi oculos meos in montes, “I lift my eyes to the hills” was taken from Psalm 121. Scholars consider…
My slow slide into addiction
I started drinking after my wife died in 2017. It wasn’t a plunge to drown my sorrows, exactly. More of a slow slide. The widower buddies who helped me get through that brutal first year of loss met at a…
Illiberal America has won many times before
As I write, it is four weeks until the election. The polls on reputable sites like Fivethirtyeight.com are giving the Harris-Walz ticket a very slight advantage, with the results coming down to one or two states. Those of us who…
Floyd Craig gave me the courage to speak
Floyd Craig started making a difference in my life before I knew who he was. I was a senior in college in 1968, a ministerial student serving a small rural church in Middle Georgia. Most of my church members lived…