Chorus America, a nationally known advocacy, research and leadership development organization that supports the choral arts, has written much on the benefits of singing. Most recently, an article came out in June 2019 that lauds the benefits of singing for…
My beef with the Senate confirmation hearings isn’t political, it’s theological
I try to stay abreast of current news, believing that Karl Barth’s admonition is a good measure for all who dare to claim time in any Christian pulpit. Barth is often quoted as having said that ministers should “preach with…
The bigotry on display in the confirmation hearings for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is nothing new
In recent days we have witnessed unprecedented evidence of bigotry and violence. Bear with me while I mention some of the more obvious examples. Start with the abuse and disrespect Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson experienced last week from Republican members…
What is a woman?
Late Tuesday of this week, Sen. Marsha Blackburn asked Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to define “woman.” Everyone watching the Supreme Court nominee’s confirmation hearings knew it was a loaded question. Judge Jackson stated that she wasn’t a biologist and did…
Where I found acceptance as a woman, others now find rejection
I was sitting at a table on the first floor of the library at Hardin-Simmons University when a fellow classmate from Logsdon School of Theology approached me with a smile. He sat down across from me and slid the rough…
We need to talk about Voddie … and fast
I’ve learned recently that the value of a disagreement in 2022 is fairly low, nearly completely devoid of any real value at all. This is due mostly to the constant stream of information for which we are able to, and…
Three cheers for Utah Gov. Spencer Cox and Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb
In a sign that sanity is possible amid today’s culture wars, the Republican governors of Utah and Indiana this week vetoed mean-spirited bills passed by their legislatures to address a fake crisis about transgender student athletes. This year already is…
Faced with a frightening dream, my father with dementia showed me the way
A few nights ago, I had a dream that terrified me. Actually, it woke me up feeling physically ill in my waking moments. I was on the side of a mountain that had a series of large boulders lining it….
To reduce abortion humanely and justly, people of faith should back the ERA
Fifty years ago, Congress passed a constitutional reform to ensure “equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged … on account of sex.” On March 22, 1972, a bipartisan supermajority sent the Equal Rights Amendment to…
Apparently not all children learned the same things as me in Sunday school
When I was child, I loved Sunday school. I loved hearing about Jesus and how Jesus loved everybody and talked to everybody and healed so many people. Had Jesus not been the Son of God, I probably would have said,…
Racial history is American history
We have seen the backlash against all things “woke,” a word and movement that means to become “awakened” to American history, particularly as experienced by Black Americans. The word “woke” itself, and its supporters, have been criticized as jargonistic, left-wing…
The Freddie Freeman Effect
Over the last two years, Freddie Freeman, the five-time All-Star first baseman for the Atlanta Braves, has become a focus for folks eager to extrapolate the meanings of a mixture of national crises that include health, economics and the forging…