“He touched me.” With what ears do you hear that sentence? Do you hear the refrain of a comforting hymn or the revelation of a sexually-abused child? The seemingly simple phrase may call to mind for you the reality of the touch of God in your life but for many others it brings waves […]
Nearly 20 years ago, I was walking down the large hall of a Convention Center during a national church meeting when I heard him. “You!” “You!” I turned to see a man nearly running in my direction pointing a very accusatory finger. You might wonder why I didn’t run. I can tell you that I […]
The title is total click-bait for a person like me: Psychologist is developing a smart phone to talk to dead people. The article is written with open mockery of the idea and those working to bring products to market which would satisfy a particular consumer demand. The article appears on the Patheos website. The drop-down […]
Today’s public language and cultural rhetoric is demonstrably coarse. It’s no way for people of good character to speak to one another and yet we hear coarse speech throughout the public discourse. Coarse talk bears witness to a coarse walk. Ephesians 4 makes clear that those who are seeking to live lives worthy of […]
If you thought the conversations were being dominated by activist polarized whites, you were right. The N.Y. Times’ David Brooks has written a piece entitled “The Rich White Civil War: A smarter look at America’s divide” that’s worth a read. Utilizing research results from “Hidden Tribes: A Study of America’s Polarized Landscape,” Brooks exposes what […]
The man furrowed his brow and spoke slowly, “You’re not from ‘round here are ya?” I smiled. “Well, I lived here for a number of years, my parents live down on the lake, and we’ve got a house up on the mountain where we plan to retire. But no, right now, I live just outside […]
College football season has kicked off but for many Christian kids on college campuses this is open season on their faith. Four things you need to know about today’s college climate: Postmodern social theory and philosophy are assumed in American higher ed. Tolerance no longer means what it used to mean. The most committed […]
Three headlines in quick succession over the past few days got me thinking about how my fellow Americans are thinking about animals and personhood. PETA, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, have a new ad campaign equating the eating of crustaceans (crabs in Maryland and lobsters in Maine) with cannibalism. The tag lines […]
“Is the hot weather and political climate getting you down? It’s time to eat more ice cream!” NARAL Pro-Choice Oregon wrote on its Facebook page advertising Rocky Roe v Wade ice cream to support abortion. Even as we grieve the point at which we have arrived in our common life, let us never forget the […]
In the ongoing political conversation about whether or not the President of the United States will sit down with Robert Mueller for an interview related to the question of Russian interference in the U.S. 2016 election, one of the President’s lawyers, Rudy Giuliani said “truth is in the eye of the beholder.” I suspect he […]