So, I listened to this really interesting podcast yesterday, and I can’t stop thinking about it. I wanted to share it and invite you to listen, too. (Listen to it here: https://www.npr.org/2019/04/03/709567750/radically-normal-how-gay-rights-activists-changed-the-minds-of-their-opponents). It’s about gay rights, and it discusses the fact that, in the United States, there has been a relatively rapid change in both…… Continue reading Practical Lessons from the Gay Rights Movement
Category: Social Justice
The Danger of Silence
Here we are, again. Once again, we find ourselves in a place we have been all too many times before, and only too recently. Here we are, again, mourning the tragic, senseless loss of life in a mass shooting. This time, at a mosque. Last time at a synagogue, and before that, at a church, and…… Continue reading The Danger of Silence
Women, Religion, Violence and Power
The title of this blog post is the subtitle of Jimmy Carter’s latest book (well, unless he has cranked out another one in the last year or two–which wouldn’t surprise me!), A Call to Action. It came out in 2014, and mine is autographed–I will always wait in line for Jimmy Carter! I finally got…… Continue reading Women, Religion, Violence and Power
Why Talk about Sin?
So, what are your views on “sin”? Much of how you might answer that question depends on your background–how you raised, and whether you were raised as a Christian (or Jew or Muslim), and what kind. I have written about sin before, but I was prompted to do so again by this article in The New…… Continue reading Why Talk about Sin?
The Parliament of the World’s Religions
I just returned from The Parliament of the World‘s Religions and I’m still processing the whole experience. It was my third time to go, and I think this was the best time yet, because I had six Gettysburg College students with me. I was so proud of them: they engaged the whole experience with enthusiasm,…… Continue reading The Parliament of the World’s Religions
Who Do You Say that I Am?
No, this post is not about Jesus’ identity, but about the identity of roughly 1.4 million Americans who identify as transgender. The story broke on Sunday that the Trump administration is seeking to more narrowly define gender as something immutable and unchangeable, determined exclusively and definitively by genitalia at birth. [Read about it here: Transgender Could…… Continue reading Who Do You Say that I Am?
Reflections on “Just Mercy”
The first year students at Gettysburg College are all reading Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, by Bryan Stevenson. Stevenson is a lawyer who founded the Equal Justice Initiative, an organization that works to defend those most in need of an advocate, especially those wrongfully convicted–including those on death row. It is a powerful…… Continue reading Reflections on “Just Mercy”
