Category: Academic
Five Reasons Why I, a Christian, Oppose the Public Display of the Ten Commandments (Part I)
I am among the millions of people who claim dual citizenship in the United States and one of the faiths which consider the Hebrew Bible / Old Testament to be sacred writ. With all due respect to Ben... Read More
Five Reasons Why I, a Christian, Oppose the Public Display of the Ten Commandments (Part II)
(read Part I) My previous article raised two objections to the public display of the Ten Commandments in the United States. First, such displays can function as a veneer masking substantial disregar... Read More
When Trickle Down Doesn’t Work: Evangelicals and Interfaith Dialogue
It was an unassuming debate, the kind that takes place before everyone has arrived and you are still mixing sugar and cream into your coffee. A tantalizing mix of progressive social justice types and ... Read More
An Atheist on Mount Soledad
When I was younger my older sister would take me on midnight drives down the coast, inevitably ending up at the beautiful view from Mount Soledad. Mount Soledad has a 29-foot Easter Cross on public ... Read More
Israelis, Palestinians…and Lutherans? The Myth of the Apolitical Pastor
His eyes burned green and his hands shook as he gave me my first history lesson on the Six-Day War. Somehow at 22-years-old I had managed to find myself sitting at a moonlit beach restaurant in Aqaba,... Read More
Ridiculous Encounters of the Inter-Religious Kind
Well this is my fifth post on this inter-religious site, so I thought I might share some thoughts on the topic. I’ve intentionally kept my first four posts tradition-specific. I’m a United... Read More
Behold the Lady: Lady Gaga and God-sacrifice
Lady Gaga's performance at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards began with her sprawled out center-stage singing a line from "Poker Face," followed by the ominous line, "Amidst all of these flashing lights... Read More
Jews and the Need For God: Modern Lessons from Moses Maimonides
Judaism is an action-oriented religion. We have, according to the Talmud, 613 Commandments — not just a top-10 list. In rabbinic courts, your actions can be praised or punished. Faith is a mean... Read More