Prepare for a Messy 2020 Election Season
Pastors and congregations, fasten your seat belts, secure your crash helmets, and get ready. The 2020 elections are coming, whether we’re ready or not.
How We Respond to Coronavirus Outbreaks May Depend on What We Want From Religion
More than 40 years of research on the psychology of surviving disasters has found that religion can be a valuable resource in fostering resilience. Studies of people’s reactions to the Ebola outbreak and Syrian refugee crisis show that some forms of religiosity may be less healthy and less helpful.
Private, Religious School Minimum Wage Exemption ‘Wrong Decision’
The Missouri House has approved a bill exempting private and religious schools from raising the minimum wage for their workers, as state law now requires. It was the wrong decision.
Compromising With Evil
Two hundred years ago this month, the Missouri Compromise of 1820 — and the related Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 — shaped the nation in ways that continue to haunt our politics, justice system, and even churches. And it offers critical lessons for us today.
Trump Poses a Challenge for the US Religious Freedom Commission
In an inversion of Teddy Roosevelt's dictum, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom speaks loudly and carries no stick at all. And not surprisingly, over the years its words had little effect beyond annoying the objects of the criticism.
Paving Paradise
Bob Dylan famously declared, “The times they are a-changin’.” In the world of journalism that sure feels spot on. Nearly every week another story hits about some publication going out of print or even out of business. And nearly every week it seems there’s also
Our Heroes Have Clay Feet. But Forgiveness Is Something Else.
Jean Vanier, who died last year at the age of 90, has been credibly accused of an abusive sexual relationship with six non-disabled adult women to whom he was giving spiritual direction. At the same time, I ask myself, why am I surprised?
Now Hear This
Most of us take our hearing for granted. If you doubt that, let me ask when was the last time you thanked God for your hearing? Did you ever do so?
Looking Back to Look Forward
January marked the 50th anniversary of my brother Dennis’s death. The sheer volume of days, months, and years is staggering. But it’s more than that. I’m amazed that after five decades, the dull ache of loss persists.
Grateful to God for the Wheelchairs
When I came to pastor here more than a decade ago, I wanted to see younger people join the church. But now more than ever, I’m thankful for those wheelchairs.