Veterans Day seemed a bit more sacred to me this year. After a contentious election and reshuffling of chief military officials, I thought about our connections to those who serve on the home front or abroad, often in life-altering, terrifying…
History tells the power of peaceful protest
When my wife, Priscilla, and I return to Germany for research, we stay at an apartment building in Munich that sits a stone’s throw from the famed English Garden, a magnificent mixture of streams and forest and fields. Halfway to…
Military chaplains who died together ‘had to be scared,’ Baptist naval officer says
Like other military personnel, chaplains never know when their lives will be required.
Pastor: ‘Protecting borders’ was also the excuse for detention of Japanese-Americans
Jennifer Ikoma-Motzko, a Japanese-American mom and Baptist minister, says an unusual weariness crept over her this summer when news broke of the forced separation of immigrant children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexican border. “As the images and stories started…
Peace group head urges Obama to get specific during Hiroshima visit
The leader of the nation’s largest peace group focused on abolishing nuclear weapons and urged President Obama to get specific about his plans to reduce their number during his historic visit later this month to Hiroshima, Japan. The White House…
The Banality of Evil
“Banality” is not a word that we often hear. The dictionary I consulted defines it as “the condition or quality of being banal, or devoid of freshness or originality.” “Triteness,” “staleness,” and “unimaginativeness” are synonyms for banality.
The value of remembering
A friend called last week to ask me to think back to the beginning of a community service organization I helped to launch almost 20 years ago. Despite some time in reflection, there was very little I could add…
Forever Changed #6: Band of Brothers
WoW! Issue 6, that feels good to say. Today I am reminded that 61 years ago more than 130,000 Allies flew, glided, jumped and boated their way to France and onward. President Dwight D Eisenhower gave the following words on…
Immigrants and other neighbors God told me to love, Part 1
In past months, I have received invitations to attend meetings on the issue of immigration. I have expressed myself both publicly and privately to my lawmakers about what I think about the issue and have written about the matter. It…