Category: Challenges
How do you solve a problem like Fred?
Reportedly, the Rev. Fred Phelps, the longtime head of the Topeka, Kan.-based hate group the Westboro Baptist Church, is in hospice care [Phelps passed away on Mar. 19th ed.]. His son Nathan Phelps, o... Read More
Can Emotional Awareness Lead to Better Healthcare?
As a resident in the ICU, I’ve spent 160 hours over the last two weeks treating pneumonia, respiratory failure, alcohol withdrawal, and dozens of other diagnoses. I have spent less than precious few... Read More
Streams Run Uphill
In an excellent new book, Streams Run Uphill: Conversations with Young Clergywomen of Color, Ruth-Aimée Belonni-Rosario writes about the promises and pitfalls of colonialism in her own spiritual jour... Read More
Unreconcilable Beliefs: Humanism, Witches, and Human Rights
Before I went to Ghana I had no idea there were witches there. For me, witchcraft accusations were of historical interest, not a contemporary concern. How wrong I was. Witchcraft accusations are very ... Read More
On being Called to Celebrate Difference
"Sh'ma Israel Adonai Eloheinu Adonai echad!" (Deut. 6:4) "Hear o Israel the Lord our god the Lord is One". This sentence is probably the one most known by Jews. We say it when we get up, during the da... Read More
Interfaith Youth Core’s first ever Alumni Gathering
At the end of January I attended the Interfaith Youth Core’s first ever Alumni Gathering. It was an incredible experience. Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC) is an organization that anyone interested in t... Read More
In Another Gilgul: Forgiveness, the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict, and Bedtime
Every night before we go to sleep, Jewish liturgy offers us the opportunity to forgive. The Bedtime Shema begins: “Master of the universe, I hereby forgive anyone who angered or antagonized me or wh... Read More
On reviving the legacy of Islamic religious tolerance and coexistence
Sometimes people take things for granted. Muslims, for example, have been heedless about their historical heritage of religious tolerance and interfaith dialog until they were hit by the backlashes of... Read More