I first met Jillian Mason Shannon last fall in San Antonio, but I’d known of her for some years because of my friendship with her father, the great pastor and preacher George Mason. What I knew long before I met…
Trump’s perverted and violent rhetoric requires a response
Donald Trump reposted a video to his personal social media website depicting President Joe Biden with his hands and feet tied together in the back of a pickup truck. Disgusting, but what’s new? Observing Trump’s perverse rhetorics — visual and…
In an ironic twist, South Africa calls out Israel’s genocide
Yesterday marked the six-month anniversary of the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel. Still, we see the images of dead bodies wrapped in white sheets, women lamenting their fate, Gaza residents young and old with empty bowls and pots wondering when…
Letter to the Editor: Don’t downplay the realities in Gaza
April 8, 2024 Dear Editor: I am writing in response to “Netanyahu’s got to go but so do other obstacles to Mideast peace” by Erich Bridges, which itself is a response to Mark Wingfield’s “Netanyahu has turned Israel into an…
Is this the end of the world as we know it?
Back in 1987, the alternative rock band R.E.M. sang their hit song: “It’s the End of the World as We Know It.” The song clamors of catastrophic events devastating the earth (such as earthquakes, hurricanes, fires, continental drifts and military…
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…
An oft-quoted biblical scholar changes his mind on LGBTQ inclusion in the church
Hang up your tweed jackets and lower your spectacles, people, something big just rattled all us scholarly types. Richard B. Hays has changed his mind on LGBTQ inclusion, and there are layers to this conversation. In 1996, Hays released Moral…
‘Broken Churches, Broken Nation?’ A crisis of our times
“The very worst omen of the times is the fact that the religious (people) of the country stand apart to so great an extent in this hour of trial. Most of the Churches have split on the very rock upon…
Searching for Grace: Bend or break?
This is the final in a five-part fictional story set in the early 1990s about Rev. Paul Graham and his congregation, Grace United Church of Christ. In previous episodes Tommy Branson, a gay man and a lifelong member of Paul’s…