This week, the United Methodist Church held a special conference to address the issue of what to do about same-sex marriage and gay clergy. And, after not dealing with these issues, exactly as they’ve done at the past several (quadrennial?) General Conferences, the UMC has decided, once again, to do nothing. Same-sex couples cannot be … Continue reading The Looming Schism in Methodism
Category: News
I don’t have anything to say on the events in Nice, France last night. Words fail me. The world needs your kindness today. Go out and be a friend. #NiceAttack pic.twitter.com/MJbDLnuoHg — Sesame Street (@sesamestreet) July 15, 2016 pic.twitter.com/9yt9Cd1IvS — York County Dems (@YorkCountyDems) July 8, 2016 Mister Rogers' Message on the One-Year Anniversary of … Continue reading A Paucity of Words and the Important Things in Life
This morning at work I listened to BBC Radio 4’s The World at One program. It’s a news program I’ve never listened to — usually, I listen to the BBC World Service’s Newshour — but I wanted to get a feel for what was happening on the ground in the wake of the Brexit vote … Continue reading Brexit and the Scottish Independence Question
I sat at my desk today and wept. My day at the office was spent writing; today I started on the text for my 108th catalog. I listened to minor league baseball games through the day as my background noise, and at four o’clock — and ten thousand words later — I’d wrapped up work … Continue reading Unfairy Tales
When I was young, I never prayed. I never understood what prayer was for. If god were omniscient, he should have already known what I was thinking and doing. Plus, he should already have known whether I was repentant or not. There was nothing I could have expressed through prayer that god wouldn’t already have … Continue reading Taking Action and the Limitations of Prayer
I tried to steer clear of the Meme Wars over Syrian refugees on Facebook last week. I saw things on both sides that irritated me; from friends on the right I saw things that were occasionally racist, and from friends on the left I saw things that mocked both religion and culture. I learned a … Continue reading Syrian Refugees, Meme Wars, and Ethical Imperatives
In the summer, I saw a link to a news article about the civil war happening right now in Yemen. I had known for a few months about the fighting there; the BBC World Service covered it on Newshour when it really kicked into gear in February. I was aware of it, I could tell … Continue reading Embracing Refugees and Our Common Humanity
Friday night, shortly after I got home from work, my mom called me. She wanted to know what was happening in Paris. My sister had called her, and since she was out and away from any news source, she thought I would know. I gave her a quick rundown of what I knew at the … Continue reading War with Jihadists and the Republican Outrage
Sometimes I wonder if humanity is worth saving, that maybe the time has come to pull the plug and turn out the lights. My morning began with a review of my Twitter timeline, and this was near the top. The 100-plus-day bombardment of Yemen included the use of cluster bombs made in Massachusetts. http://t.co/vYStX627YH pic.twitter.com/5k7JkeM9tX … Continue reading A Little Girl in Yemen — And What Matters In Life
I feel that I need to say something about the act of domestic terrorism that happened in Charleston, South Carolina yesterday evening. I use the term “domestic terrorism” deliberately. A man went into a church, sat with twelve people for an hour, and murdered nine of them, reloading his weapon, according to a surviving witness, … Continue reading Charleston and Empathy
The Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on CIA’s torture of prisoners in the “war on terror” was released today. We’re far past the euphemisms that have been used for years — we didn’t subject people to “enhanced interrogation techniques.” No, we tortured people. Torturing people didn’t produce the results that we wanted. Torturing people didn’t produce … Continue reading The Senate Intelligence Committee and Its Torture Report
I hadn’t heard of Brittany Maynard until about three weeks ago. I was at the grocery store, standing in the checkout line, and there, on the cover of People, was a lovely young woman and the headline, “Inside her controversial choice to end her life” (or words to that effect). When I got home and … Continue reading Brittany Maynard and the End of Life Conversation