Category: Featured
Virtue is its Own Reward: Why Michael Pollan’s “Cooked” is a Religious Text
After perhaps my 20th snide comment about something in "Cooked" that annoyed me, my fiancee asked me if I would please shut up and allow her to enjoy her food porn. This is an entirely reasonable req... Read More
Public Piety, Authentic Courage and Christian Witness
You may have heard about the young man, a valedictorian in Liberty, SC. I’ve been following the story somewhat closely, because it’s close to home in more than one way. More abstractly, is... Read More
“Recognizing a Saint: The Politics of Identity within the Canonization of Kateri Tekakwitha,” by Erin Routon
In 2006, a young boy in Washington State named Jake Finkbonner was playing basketball when he hit his face on the rim. As a result of that injury, Jake caught a flesh-eating bacteria that nearly too... Read More
Buddha Jayanti at Buddhist Vesak: Time of Spiritual Recollection, Celebration, Penance, and Renewal
Introduction Every year in the late spring, Buddhists all over the world celebrate Vesak, i.e., the birth, death, and enlightenment of Siddhārtha Gautama, who came to be known as Śākyamuni Buddha, ... Read More
On the Park 51 Community Center: Why I am committed to building inter-religious relationships
Park 51 Community Center, AKA the “Ground Zero Mosque”, has, today, a single employee: a young woman named Hanadi. During a recent visit, I had the opportunity to hear Hanadi’s story firsthand &... Read More
Can Progressive Churches Avoid a Double Standard in the Public Sphere?
Earlier this May, the Minnesota state legislature legalized gay marriage, making Minnesota the twelfth state (in addition to Washington, DC) to recognize same sex marriages. A couple of days after the... Read More
Wandering Through the Desert: Sifting Through Our Past on our Way to Revelation
During Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur we cast our sins in to the desert, freeing ourselves from their oppressive burden, unshackling our hearts and minds so that we can begin the year anew. Six months l... Read More