News Alert! Herod the Great massacres Jewish male babies ages two and under in the region of Bethlehem! This massacre is described in Matthew 2:16 -17. Please notice three things: I didn’t say “the Gospel of Matthew,” primarily because the word gospel means “good news,” and this headline isn’t that. This story is only told … Read more
I can hear many of you asking, “What in the world is an iftar?” This Arabic word means “a meal that breaks the fast” that occurs after sunset each day during Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting. Ramadan occurs in the ninth month of the Muslim calendar. Here you can see how Ramadan’s dates move … Read more
Let me share a story I heard the other day. You might recognize the hero in this tale, a remarkable person who lived some two thousand years ago. As the story goes, his mother had a visitor from above before he was born. This visitor told her that her son wouldn’t be like anyone else. … Read more
Every day, to get off to a good start, I like to read the comics, Dear Abby, and Dear Amy. I think it was in Dear Amy that I read the letter from “Concerned Mom and Dad.” It seems that their daughter and niece grew up together and were very close. After coming out as … Read more
I am a strong proponent of the separation of church and state. I don’t want any politician to tell me what to do in church. Unfortunately, today too many politicians are fundamentalists who are trying to do just that. That’s why I’m a member of the Americans United for Separation of Church and State, whose … Read more
All my life, I have had people I have looked up to and wanted to emulate. They all have the same characteristics. They are authentic, real in every sense of that word. They talk the talk and walk the walk. One of my current heroes is eighty-six years old, still here but unfortunately challenged by … Read more
One of my favorite subscriptions is a weekly called The Spong Newsletter. It’s distributed by ProgressiveChristianity.org, which I suspect is on the Forbidden to Read List for some Christian sects. On March 9, David Felten, a Methodist pastor with a congregation in Fountain Hills, Arizona, published “How to Repeal and Replace Christianity’s Addiction to ‘Fake … Read more
Happy Belated Ascension Day. This always happens forty days after Easter and this year was on Thursday May 25. Many Christians don’t know anything about an ascension. Interestingly, neither Paul nor the authors of Mark, Matthew, Peter, or John ever mention it. Only Luke and Acts (written by the same author) allude to such an … Read more
I suspect some of my readers aren’t quite so sure about the word oenologist. How does one say an o and an e together? Is it pronounced o, then enologist? Do folks just forget the o sound and simply say or write enologist? I do the latter. It’s easier! Anyway, an enologist studies and masters … Read more
A friend gave me What Pope Francis Really Said (Servant Press, 2016). Interesting book! Now, mind you, I like Pope Francis. He’s a breath of fresh air and an inspiration, especially compared to the last two popes who were trying to move the church back to the fourteenth century. However, for me, the jury is … Read more