From my post at the front desk of our local YMCA, I notice a lot of interesting slogans on T-shirts as members scan in to work out. Recently a man came through wearing a T-shirt, the arms of which were…
Don’t be a Stormtrooper: Moral clarity in story and in life
As someone who has fond memories of watching the original Star Wars in the theater, I will confess I am drawn to the meme of Star Wars stormtroopers in their off hours — hanging in the break room, eating lunch,…
The rotten fruit of Paige Patterson’s loins
Progeny is a gift. In the Hebrew Bible, more than 20 distinct words describe children in various senses, such as “lad,” “boy,” “youngling,” “child,” “offspring” and more. They appear in some form or another more than 1,500 times throughout the…
Trump vs. Harvard, round 2: The Constitution fights back
In a nation that reveres liberty, intellect and rule of law, the latest clash between Donald J. Trump and Harvard University is not just a headline, it’s a high-stakes constitutional confrontation. And in this second round, the gloves are off….
Evangelical Trump Hypocrisy Syndrome strikes again
Imagine former President Joe Biden, a devout Catholic, posting a social media meme riffing off The Blues Brothers movie and declaring he’s “on a mission from God.” Conservatives would have lost their ever-loving minds. This would have been further evidence…
A vessel for whom? How I learned self-hatred and neglect at church
Conservative legislator Sen. Mike Lee of Utah has introduced the Interstate Obscenity Definition Act that, in part, would ban pornography in the United States. As conservatives push more restrictions, we have to question: Who actually benefits from a culture that…
The lies my country taught me
When I was 12 years old, growing up in the 1950s, I gathered every Saturday with hundreds of kids my age at the downtown theater in my West Texas town where the silver screen fed us lies that passed for…
Children in the marketplace
Jesus said it: But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another, “We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not…
The Episcopal Church refuses to help Trump Make Apartheid Great Again
On Wednesday, May 21, President Donald Trump once again sullied the presidency and our nation’s reputation by ambushing South African President Cyril Ramaphosa with a made-for-social-media propaganda stunt that was peppered with lies and misleading video about an alleged white…
Love led me out of the closet
There are thousands of young LGBTQ Christians across the country sitting in church pews, overwhelmed by anxiety and shame. Each week, they hear sermons suggesting their identity —something they did not choose and cannot change — is a barrier to…
Nazi ideology wrapped in an American flag
Sinclair Lewis is quoted as saying, “When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” He wrote his novels in the 1930s, the time of the first “America First” movement when our nation…
Get out of the echo chamber and hold to hope and courage
The echo chamber sends unending messages each day about the onslaught of the evil that is walking the national leadership halls surrounded by an aura of being unstoppable. It is maddening. I am sure I am not alone in being…