By Cynthia Holmes A friend of mine recently was terminated from his job. In the exit interview, he was accused of misusing company e-mail by the way he identified some of his co-workers and supervisor. Isn’t this an issue of…
On becoming an ordinary Christian
By Benjamin Cole When you grow up in Grayson County, Texas, there are two events on your annual calendar that demand your attention. The first is the annual “Battle of the Ax” wherein the Sherman Bearcats take on the Denison…
A pop quiz for biblical literalists
By Miguel De La Torre No one reads or interprets the Bible literally — regardless as to what they profess. To do so is simplistic, if not dangerous. All of us read our bias, our theology, and our social location into the…
Supreme remorse
By Benjamin Cole The elevation of David Hackett Souter to serve as the 105th justice of the United States Supreme Court was, to borrow a phrase from Eliot, the whimper that ended the world for conservatives. Confirmed by a 90-9…
A Christian’s lament over the Pew torture poll
By David Gushee Dear Jesus, Everyone seems to be talking about the poll put out last week by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. They found that 62 percent of white evangelical Protestants believe “the use of torture…
Panic in the church
By Harry Lucenay March 17, 2003, Nancy and I arrived in Hong Kong. As we were taking our bags into the place where we would be lodging for the next few weeks, a cell phone rang. The caller told our…
Ban the bomb?
By Norman Jameson Remember when you had to duck under your school desk for a nuclear attack drill? It made me wonder what all the fuss a nuclear bomb was about if hiding under my desk would protect me from…
Unholy smoke
By Benjamin Cole Can anything good come out of Mexico? That’s the central question in the minds of millions of Americans who have favored protectionism over of free trade, gun-toting Minutemen at the border instead of substantive immigration reform and…
Torture, human dignity, and Christian failure
By David Gushee The recent release of four key memos from President Bush’s Justice Department does not exhaust the revelations that are still to come related to the brutal interrogation policies of our government in the years following the 9/11…