I am from a family so eccentric, I missed the Religious Right frequently denounced. Evidently there existed a movement when I was kid that continues to this day interested in power, money, and jingoism cloaking its nefarious plans in Christian jargon. Christians can have power, but don’t seek it. Christians don’t love money. Christians love their country, but not without balance or reason. We are part of a cosmic church. Growing up my church, and my family, worked to protect... Read more
We are about to enter the generation that did not know Eisenhower. My parent’s like Ike, but my children have no memory of my World War II era grandparents. They live in a culture created by that Greatest Generation, but they have no memory, not even a borrowed one, of that time. I grew up hearing stories about the Great Depression. My children did not. As a result, the old rules, long taken for granted, that created the post-War polity... Read more
This year for Christmas I received stock in the Green Bay Packers. I am now an NFL owner with all the rights and privileges this status demands. I receive no dividend. I have no real voice in team decision making, but I have a stock certificate that I cannot sell and I cherish it. When my heart says “resign Donald Driver,” they will not pay attention, but I can feel that they might, because I have ownership in the Packers.... Read more
Rome was not built in a day and it did not fall in a day either. A philosopher sat in a city surrounded by social decay, but also promising religious developments and wrote learned books. Read those books and you realize that Saint Augustine did not know if he lived at the edge of great cultural revival or the end of Rome. Rome had been sacked, but this could have led to renewal. Eastern Rome would buy itself another thousand... Read more
It is a truth too little acknowledged that movie villains laugh too much. In reality, Stalin and the gang were not engaged in hi-jinks in the Kremlin. Hitler in the bunker was rarely merry and I am told that in North Korea the Dear Leader was rarely jolly. Yet in movies villains cannot stop laughing. This is unrealistic, not in a good lasers make noise in space way, but in a “wait how come Hermione’s bag suddenly has all that... Read more
Times being what they always are: times are hard. Christians are not discouraged for the simple reason that we have lived in hard times for two thousand years. We look in our own hearts and see a culture war: we are always choosing moderation over excess and God’s will over our own. Or not. Romans killed us and then nearly killed us by converting. Barbarians killed us and then introduced their heresies. The American Christian majority has been the shame... Read more
My mother is one of the wisest women I know. Many people will say that today, usually because we are so formed by a good mother that failure to recognize her wisdom would be self-loathing. To have given her full time and intellect, formidable gifts, to raising my brother and me gave us a heritage, but to have given us her wisdom was greater style. Mom knew what to do and when to do it: the very definition of practical... Read more
I could remember him from pictures of his Oxford days. My favorite shows him punting with a lovely blond looking relaxed and happy. I could remember him from his book on Romany magic, a fascinating read that changed my view of the “gypsies” forever. I will not remember him spat on and harassed by college students for his faith. There is no need for those he helped, including me, to remember his endless acts of kindness and courtly behavior. If... Read more
At the start of year I made ten predictions. Here they are with how I think they are looking: 1. President Obama will lose his reelection. The economy dooms him. There will be ups and downs, but Mitt Romney will be President-Elect Romney. I got the Republican nominee right. Romney is already in a tie with Obama. I am betting the race will be 52-48 Romney at this point. The electoral college will not be particularly close. 2. There will... Read more
I can’t prove it was racism, but it looked like it. While getting my shoes shined, a pleasure I rarely get, I was behind an African-American gentleman waiting for the same service. The attendant finished his first costumer, left to take care of some “business,” and only came back when the other gentleman was gone. I don’t see slights everywhere but something about the body language of both men suggested I had seen an old and ugly American story. It... Read more
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