Beliefs are an important part of religion, but they are by no means its only — or often even its central — element. Mormonism also represents a community, a set of social practices, a set of moral strictures, a set of aesthetic responses, a sense of historical identity, a set of friendships, a series of covenants or commitments, in many cases a set of family relationships, a liturgy, an institutional structure, a set of overlapping intellectual discourses, and so on.... Read more
The following is the text of my letter to the editor, which was published in today’s Frederick News-Post: I am writing in response to an article published on Sept. 29 — “Area congregations weigh in for, against same-sex marriage.” As the new minister of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Frederick, I was encouraged to see a number of my colleagues publicly supporting same-sex marriage rights in Maryland. The Unitarian Universalist Association has an ongoing public advocacy campaign called “Standing on... Read more
I have been trying to find a way of being religious that’s still possible (or maybe the word is “decent”) for us. What would it be like to be religious without fudging our best thoughts, without repressing anything we have learned…? What would it be like to be religious when we can’t really believe any of that glorious stuff — creation ex nihilo, virgin birth, bodily resurrection — we used to believe? It’s not decent, I think, to pretend to... Read more
I want to like Paul Thomas Anderson’s new film The Master, and perhaps my expectations were too high. If so, they were high for good reason: Anderson has set such a lofty bar with his previous work. I haven’t seen his first feature-length film Hard Eight (1996), but since seeing Boogie Nights (1997) on DVD, I’ve eagerly anticipated each of his subsequent theatrical releases. I loved both Magnolia (1999) and Punch-Drunk Love (2002). And 2007’s There Will Be Blood was easily my... Read more
The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness, with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells Wakan-Tanka , and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us. This is the real peace, and the others are but reflections of this. The second peace is that which is made between... Read more
Like many fly fishermen in western Montana where the summer days are almost Arctic in length, I often do not start fishing until the cool of the evening. Then in the Arctic half-light of the canyon, all existence fades to a being with my soul and memories and the sounds of the Big Blackfoot River and a four-count rhythm and the hope that a fish will rise. Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The... Read more
Jesus is usually so mind-blowingly impressive that we can forget he did not emerge from the womb fully grown. In his encounter with the Syrophoenician woman, Jesus’ heart seems hardened when he refuses to heal a child in need. But isn’t Pharaoh supposed to be the one with the hardened heart?! I explore this dynamic in my new post at [The Hardest Question] on “Jesus Getting Caught with His Compassion Down”: http://thq.wearesparkhouse.org/featured/ordinary23bgospel The Rev. Dr. Carl Gregg is a trained... Read more
As a religious people who affirm human compassion, advocate for human rights, and seek justice, we must never make the mistake of confusing a legal right with a moral right. The forced removal of Native Americans from their land and onto reservations was legal. The importation and sale of African slaves was legal. South African apartheid was legal. The confiscation of the property of Jews at the beginning of the Nazi regime was legal. The Spanish Inquisition was legal. Crucifying... Read more
Representative Todd Akin, a six-term member of Congress and the Republican Senate nominee from Missouri, said on Sunday: “It seems to me, from what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare [pregnancies from rape]. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” These comments produced a firestorm of backlash, prompting Rep. Akin to release a statement saying, “I misspoke in this interview.” Reading between the lines, it seems important to me not... Read more
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Is The Book of James Proto-Marxist?
If someone is naked, starving, and wrongly imprisoned, your faith and beliefs are barely relevant, if at all, to their plight. As The Book of James argued two millennia ago, “faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.” I explore this idea further in my new post at [The Hardest Question] on “Luther Was Wrong: Behavior Is Believable”: http://thq.wearesparkhouse.org/featured/ordinary23bepistle The Rev. Dr. Carl Gregg is a trained spiritual director, a D.Min. graduate of San Francisco Theological Seminary, and... Read more