Category: Social Issues
Spills: A Collage for the News
When we receive news, we are being invited into a transaction of words, but we are not told what to do with them. We respond.... When words respond to words, we call it “education” and “dialogue... Read More
Where is God in Goodbye?
A while back I found out that my partner was a sex addict who had been leading a boozy secret life full of violence fetishes, endangerment of women, unprotected sex, compulsive pornographic email exch... Read More
Making Sense of Tragedy: Was the Earthquake a “Divine Punishment”?
Over at Religion Dispatches Levi McLaughlin, a professor of religion who specializes in East Asian traditions, writes about Tokyo’s governor Shintaro Ishihara describing the tsunami that struck... Read More
Celebrating Female Clergy
A college chaplain once candidly described the process for him, as a Protestant, as one of simultaneous celebration and mourning when he recognized that Protestantism was no longer a universal norm on... Read More
Inter-Religious Diplomacy: Trustworthy Opponents Engaging in Respectful Contestation Yield Peaceful Tension
Historically, when people have found themselves in conflicts over the best way to live or the very purpose of life, they have often found a way to separate from—if not fight—each other to protect ... Read More
Video Blog: “Islamophobia: The New McCarthyism?”
Here is my interview with Odyssey Networks on why, as a Jew, I find the Peter King hearings so disturbing. Do you find them disturbing? If so, why? On the bright side, as noted in Religious Freedom U... Read More
Give Meaning to What is Positive, Not to What is Negative
I can say with complete honesty that I am not mean. In fact, I haven’t a mean bone in my body. So, why then, do I sometimes do mean things? Why do I sometimes surround myself with negative thoughts ... Read More
Bullying isn’t just for kids: why dialogue is essential in Wisconsin teachers’ strike
Over the past few weeks, I have been fascinated at the cat and mouse game that is happening just over the border from me in Wisconsin. The big bully Governor Walker is metaphorically taking away the... Read More