The meaning of life is perhaps the most important question that a human can contemplate- actually, it is the only question. Everything we do from the moment of birth onwards is an attempt to answer that question, whether consciously or not. Those who do not spend much time consciously reflecting on the question have a sort of luxury- to just be able to wake up, go about our work, come home to our loved ones, and sleep sweetly at night... Read more
To be honest, I didn’t want to write this post. But after sharing a little of my experience on social media, a number of folks reached out asking me to talk about my potential experience with COVID-19 and anti-body testing. This is obviously not my usual content and I am certainly not a medical professional. But I offer the following as one more story of just how pervasive this virus is and why we need to continue to fight hard... Read more
The world is facing an unprecedented moment of crisis as COVID-19 spreads to every corner of the planet, threatening the health of the entire human population and the economies of virtually every nation. In moments like these, it is understandable that large swaths of humanity turn to their faith communities for hope and direction in desperate times. As most faith communities around the world have responded to the COVID-19 by closing our doors and streaming our services online, there have... Read more
In our current political moment, there is a lot of talk about the division in the Democratic party about the “moderate” versus the “progressive” wing of the party. Moderates, according to the progressives, are folks who just want to keep the corrupt establishment working on behalf of themselves and are unwilling to enact real, transformative, change that is essential to make our government work for all of the people. Progressives, according to the moderates, are those who simply want to... Read more
As a faith leader and a progressive activist, I have always found that my faith fuels my drive to create a better world. It gives language to the inner moral compass that I have which makes me outraged at unjust systems and the oppression of the vulnerable. So I have been perplexed for years as to why my fellow progressive activists and political leaders have more often than not shied away from faith. After all, a majority of our country... Read more
The most disheartening reality about the election season is the amount of division and uncivility that arises between people who are otherwise united in terms of values and vision for our country. Most of us who would identify as moderate to progressive look at the current state of affairs in American politics and know that there needs to be some serious changes to the way our government works. We all deeply desire a more just and equal society for... Read more
In our modern era, we are experiencing a level of political and cultural divisiveness like we have not seen in recent history around the globe. Our divides have been highlighted and the fabric of human unity seems to have been shredded almost entirely. It feels as if there is a great gulf affixed between “us” and our “others”, so much so that we feel like we’ve been living in completely different realities. As followers of Christ, these times are especially... Read more
It’s far too easy to demonize from a distance. It’s easy to paint caricatures of people we do not know and project on to them all sorts of negative ideas, forcing them to become the scapegoat for all of our problems. If we can get rid of “them”, then we can at last achieve peace, justice, and a good life, the thinking goes. But what happens we begin to demonize those who are close to us? What happens when we... Read more
Last week my colleague Richard McCullen and I posted a call to our denomination to reconsider how we posture ourselves on the topic of LGBTQ+ inclusion as a denomination. This public post emerged out of a sincere desire to cultivate conversation about how we could be truly inclusive of the vulnerable and marginalized in our midst. I have written extensively about the tangible psychological harm that is caused to LGBTQ+ individuals who find themselves in non-affirming enviornments- they are five times more... Read more
One of the critiques often leveled at progressives- particularly in the religious realm- by our conservative counterparts is the fact that we claim to be “tolerant” but we’re not willing to tolerate them and their perspective. When I initially began receiving this critique, I was taken aback. Afterall, it seemed to be fair. Isn’t tolerance a major part of what it means to be progressive? Isn’t advocacy for marginalized voices, ensuring they have a place at the table the fundamental... Read more
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