This week, Common Dreams reported on the federal budget outline approved with a party-line vote in the House of Representatives, noting: Republican hardliners are also reportedly pursuing changes that could force states to end their Medicaid expansions, which would strip coverage from…
I was sworn to silence after female genital mutilation
Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act. God will not hold us guiltless. — Dietrich Bonhoeffer I was sworn to silence after being a victim of…
Are you offering a ‘kids’ table’ for single adults at your church?
My best friend here in Dallas got dressed up and went to a church dinner this weekend in someone’s home. He paid $300 for his seat at the 10-course meal as part of a church fundraiser. You need to know…
Jesus, the Holy Spirit and ‘more of the same’
For the past 30 years, I have made it a practice to read the four Gospels all the way through, every word, about three or four times a year; all of which must add up to somewhere around a hundred…
You can’t love Jesus and hate immigrants
In the years leading up to World War II and the Holocaust, large numbers of German Christians condemned people who differed from them politically, theologically, nationally or ethnically. In the midst of that dangerous context, one offbeat newspaper dared to…
The kingdom within: Reclaiming the sacred in an age of contradiction
“The kingdom of God is inside you, and all around you, not in mansions of wood and stone. Split a piece of wood, and I am there; lift a stone, and you will find me.” — Gospel of Thomas, Saying…
What can we learn from Jesus’ encounter with the Rich Young Ruler?
“And looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, ‘One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come follow me’”…
It’s time for evangelicals to leave Anglicanism
“Don’t give me a jar of piss and then tell me it’s Memaw’s sweet tea.” My East Texas-raised father uttered these words when I tried to explain away my failing grade in freshman high school biology. I told him I…
Shall the fundamentalists yet win?
In 1922, a Baptist minister serving a Presbyterian church in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village kicked a hornet’s nest with his Sunday message. Far from the first, or for that matter, last Baptist preacher to do so, he pleaded to those packed…
Let’s consider Christian community, nudist colonies and ‘complete transparency’
Early years at a new job will tax the training of even the most well-prepared. A key challenge involves navigating workplace boundaries. It’s difficult to imagine being more well-prepared for my first years as a Christian college professor. And yet….
The bottom line of my religion: Christian values and practices
Like many others, I enjoyed the fascinating Cold War TV drama, The Americans. The show depicted a Russian couple living as spies in America. After their daughter began attending a progressive church, the mother initiated several conversations with the pastor. In…
Processing a sabbatical reveals life as a mosaic, not a puzzle
It’s been months since my sabbatical ended, and I am still processing. Because of holidays, inclement weather and other hiccups, I didn’t give my official sabbatical report to our church for quite a while. The extra time to process was…