Category: Community
Call for Submissions: History and Inter-Religious Encounter
“There is no surer basis for fanaticism than bad history, which is invariably history oversimplified.” – Diarmaid MacCulloch Is the history of religious encounter largely one of disagreement and... Read More
Memento Mori: Cultivating a Mortal Imagination
I believe that it is not a coincidence that our president was able to challenge us to expand our moral imaginations during this time of national grieving and reflection. It is precisely because our im... Read More
Time to Stop Rewarding the Dehumanizing Rhetoric
This post originally appeared in the Washington Post’s On Faith. In the wake of this national tragedy, many have speculated about whether violent rhetoric and imagery used by Sarah Palin and oth... Read More
Palin’s “blood libel” Comment Re-examined
As a Christian who is invested in building new, constructive bridges between Jewish and Christian communities, Sarah Palin’s recent claim that she had been accused of blood libel, in regards to ... Read More
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
Making Male Circumcision Humane: A Jewish Moral Imperative
This article was co-authored with Anne C. Epstein, MD, FACP. Human rights start at home. We must defend them for children in our community as much as adults in others. Day eight in the life of Jewish ... Read More
On Being Krista Tippett
I am a relatively recent, but wholeheartedly enthusiastic fan of Krista Tippett, host of American Public Media’s Being, formerly Speaking of Faith. Listening to her this week as the opening lect... Read More