Category: Topic of the Week
Tick-tock, Tick-tock: Practicing Patience as an Impatient Person
“An ancient story from the Jewish Talmud [Shabbat 31a] tells about the time two men made a bet whether Hillel, the wise and famous rabbi, could be made to lose his patience. One of the men waite... Read More
Advent, AAR, and the Diversity in the Academy
Christians around the world are knee-deep in the season of Advent. Advent is about waiting. Advent is about anticipation. Advent is about the in-breaking of God into the world as the baby Jesus –... Read More
Tearing Down Christmas Lights: The Reason for the Season
Last Wednesday, protesters in downtown Chicago started pulling lights off the city’s newly-lit Christmas tree. Marching to decry the death of Laquan McDonald at the hands of the police, they broke t... Read More
Finding a New Freedom in Academia
One of the central ideas of my family while I was growing up was the idea that we should never make fun of anything Christian or something that reflects Christianity. As ancient Michael W. Smith and S... Read More
Humanism, Race, and Why NonHumanists Should Care
I am a white, female, humanist writing today about what I have seen and heard about the racial climate in humanism (and its relatives: atheism, skepticism, freethought, etc.). “Racial climate” all... Read More
Should Civil and Church Marriage be Separated?
Some Christians have responded to the court's recent ruling in favor of same-sex marriage by calling for Christians to totally separate 'civil' marriage from 'church' marriage. But this position is to... Read More
Generalizations Are Never Defensible. Or Is This an Indefensible Generalization?
Figuring out how to talk about religion, especially in boundary crossing contexts, can be a struggle. Isn’t that part of what we are trying to do at State of Formation–figure out the how of in... Read More
Family, Like Faith, Is What You Make It
I have launched a campaign to have all of my loved ones move to New York City. Ideally, they’ll all move to Queens (one of the most diverse counties in the country!), but I’ll take any borough rea... Read More