After a meeting with President Joe Biden in 2021, Vladimir Putin held a press conference in which he answered a question about future relations between Russia and the United States. He cryptically quoted Leo Tolstoy: “There is no happiness in…
I’m disappointed with the world but still wanting to hope
I’m disappointed with the world. I really did not expect to be here as a 58-year-old man. Call it optimism, theological progressivism, maybe naivete, but I didn’t expect to be so disappointed with human beings at this stage of the…
Racism from the perspective of a white man
I frequently hear white people claim we do not have a race problem in this country, and to prove their point, they say they like Black people and even have a few Black friends. Even though they are aware of…
‘The Religion of the Lost Cause’ is back, and it may be winning
An intelligent foreigner, making his observations at Washington at this time, would be puzzled to determine whether the Americans had a Government, or not. There are the names: The Executive, the Congress, the Judiciary; but what is the executive question,…
What is a Baptist?
You must have a sense of humor to talk about being Baptist these days, with all the craziness associated with the word and with many Baptists today who are a contradiction to what “Baptist” has meant through the centuries. If…
Assessing the damage Twitter has done to American Christianity
When historians look back to assess the decline of American Christianity in the first half of the 21st century, they will no doubt finger Twitter as a point of no return. If you are among the 77% of Americans who…
In our dystopian world, I’m leaning into the Korean concept of han
What are we to feel and to think in these dystopian times when our nation is moving backward on so many issues of human dignity, equity and justice? I feel defeated. Exhausted. Grieved. Aggrieved. Or, as one friend put it,…
Letter to the Editor: Wingfield is wrong on ‘performative Christianity’
Letter to the Editor May 11, 2022 Dear Editor: Mark Wingfield’s recent editorial on “performative Christianity” and religious liberty was both devoid of nuance and ill-informed of history. The “religious liberty” he advocates is no liberty at all, but the…
Do or donut; there is no try
Some would be embarrassed to admit they went on a tour of doughnut shops, but those same people would be secretly jelly to learn that Carol and I have experienced the marvel that is the Brooklyn Donut Tour. We invited…
Will we be silent as stones or voices of light?
It’s a common dilemma nearly every day: You’re having a conversation and you suddenly pause, take a deep breath and count to 10, thinking, “Should I say anything?” While the question floats in space like a cloud, you know your…
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…
A brief history of the Hateful Faithful threat to democracy through the Supreme Court
In the November 1980 U.S. presidential election, Ronald Reagan defeated President Jimmy Carter thanks to votes from white conservatives who called themselves evangelical Christians. Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, James Dobson, Phyliss Schlafly, James Robison and a host of other white…