By Miguel De La Torre Even before all the votes are fully counted, there is one undeniable conclusion about the 2012 election: We live in a divided nation. If we nuance that division, however, we discover that who is divided…
In the same boat: Republicans and the church
Listening to all the soul-searching and finger-pointing among Republicans since Election Day reminds me of the conversations that have been going on in many American churches for several decades. The puzzling ingredient for both groups is demographic change and how—or…
Praying behind his back
Recently my family was honored to participate in my son’s ordination to the Gospel ministry. After heeding a call from God, enduring seven years of higher education and gaining quality experiences, his church in Topeka, Kansas felt it was time…
The morning after: Relevant or retro?
By Bill Leonard “Their relevancy has moved away from them.” That statement bubbled up on cable TV’s Morning Joe the morning after Barak Obama won re-election as president of the United States. It was one commentator’s sound bite assessment of…
The confusion of ‘most’ or ‘many’ — even among Baptists
Recently I began reading a book I was sent to review. It is by two people I know well; one of them more than the other. The one I know better is often given to over-statement and over-generalization. I found…
Four more years of Obama
By William Thornton Barack Obama has been reelected, and it was not as close as many predicted. I am not much of a political prophet, but I had already pondered this outcome and have decided how I will handle four…
Confessions of a dysfunctional decorator
With apologies to all self-help movements, my name is Mike, and I am a dysfunctional decorator. When it comes to wall colors, any shade of blue works for me. Left to my own devices, I would paint all the walls…
A zeal he does not own
By Bob Burroughs There is a wonderful, thought-provoking text by the hymn writer Frederick W. Faber (1814-1863) titled “There’s A Wideness In God’s Mercy. It speaks to this generation perhaps even more powerfully than to his own. It is not…
Think, vote, pray
Today we have an opportunity to exercise our civil liberty by going to the polls to vote. Tom Brokaw reminds us that we will go freely and “not at the point of a gun or a tank” and that is…
How not to vote on today
Alas, my Facebook and Twitter feeds are blowing up with political jabs that mostly rely on ad-hominem attacks that play into people’s confirmation bias of a candidate. [sigh] No candidate is immune from a little ad-hominem attack against their opponent….
Hope is my friend
I was cruising through the list of notification on the GoodReads web site when one caught my eye. “Hope is your friend.” Of course, it was a notification that someone named Hope and I had made a social media connection,…
Talking politics in church
When 4-year-old Abigail Evans burst into tears for no apparent reason, her mother asked what was making her so sad. “I’m tired of Bronco Bama and Mitt Romney,” Abigail wailed between sniffles. Mamma Evans didn’t switch off NPR, but she assured her daughter that…