Category: Leadership
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
“Are You a Christian?”
I can picture it now: the old man with a scowl eyes me suspiciously from the bed as I stand in the hospital room doorway. He has just come out of open heart surgery, or has been given a terminal cance... 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
Embracing the Imago Dei With(out) our Hair
I am 23 and my hair is thinning. Noticeably. At first, I was not okay with this. I am too young and the old legend about male pattern baldness running through maternal lineage had proven to hold... Read More
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Revised: Is Atheism the New Gay in the US Military?
Maybe you’ve heard of this, but even if you haven’t, the story isn’t news. It is just another version of the now ancient tradition of justifying war through religious belief. We owe the latest v... 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
Guest Post: “Pass the Antacids; Skip the New Year’s Predictions,” By Martin Davis
It’s tempting to write year-end reflection pieces, or to predict what is to come. But I’ve become bored of these. Year-end stories are designed to focus on the sensational, the harrowing, ... Read More