I was born in the waning years of the Vietnam War. I don’t recall the war itself, but one of my earliest childhood memories dates to about 1970 and, for some reason, it is remarkably vivid. I had tagged along…
Christians and climate change: A chance to take the Bible seriously
My wife might tell you that I seem more comfortable than most in staking out a confrontational, or even controversial, position and then defending it as if I were in a bare-knuckled brawl with my life at stake. It’s hard…
Confessions of an unpatriotic Christian
As a dog owner, I’m ambivalent at best about fireworks, but I absolutely love a cookout. In fact, I consider myself a connoisseur of all things hotdog, hamburger or potato salad-related and, as a child, I developed abnormally large forearms…
Letter to the Editor: Praise for Chris Conley analysis on abortion debate
Dear Editor: Chris Conley’s opinion piece on finding middle ground in the bitter debate over abortion rights is the most cogent, persuasive perspective I’ve read anywhere. Whatever one’s position on Roe v. Wade, or one’s hopes or fears that it soon will be…
When being ‘pro-life’ really isn’t: How I became a Democrat who opposes abortion
The Supreme Court is now set to hear an abortion case originating from Mississippi — a case that both sides of the abortion debate point to as a threat to the continued existence of the rule of law imposed by…
Apartheid in Palestine and a Christ who stands on the other side of the wall
Today, the Holy Land burns. The latest round of evictions of Palestinians from their homes in favor of the illegal Israeli settlement of the Occupied Territories predictably has led to violence which has, equally predictably, spiraled into death and destruction…
Remembering Jamorio and praying for justice
I don’t think all police officers are bad people. I think many are good people, trying to do a very hard job for very little pay, and that they are doing so out of a real sense of service to…
We cannot now close our border to those fleeing the horror we helped create
Why should we open our border to poor people from Central America? What if they are really terrorists? What if they have COVID, or something even more contagious? How can we afford to take care of “their” children when we…
My journey toward LGBTQ inclusion: God still speaks
As a cisgendered heterosexual male, my own sexuality was not a problem in the Southern Baptist faith of my youth and young adulthood. Having come of age with the Moral Majority, though, I cannot remember a time when the question…