I’m at the Wild Goose Festival in Hot Springs NC where I’m speaking 6 times. One session on grief and loss was the most helpful moment I’ve had in beginning to process the loss of Mom and my close friend Holly Mead. Found myself more ministered to than ministering, though I was supposed to be leading the session. You don’t “lead” through tears, just are. Found myself weeping with an 8 year old child who just lost her grandmother, and... Read more
The reason so many liberal churches are empty or mostly populated with aging rationalists who seem to have a somewhat embarrassed attachment to religion, is that trying to reduce spiritual experience to something verifiable is a dead end. It’s a dead end for fundamentalists too. Fundamentalists wind up defending myths as historically true. That’s as futile as it is for the theological liberals that seek to demystify myths and render the life of the spirit tangible. Join me at the... Read more
Huff Post Live has given me a platform to talk about issues like becoming a father at 17, babies, grandchildren art, life and love… Watch! http://live.huffingtonpost.com/r/segment/real-biological-clock/51f009f6fe34441a2000025d Read more
The conservative Bible Belt is bad for the economy. Most of the time, the more liberal, secular and less conservative or religious a state (or a part of a state) the better off it is. No kidding. Just look at the map! Location Plays Major Role in Climbing the Income Ranks According to a new study that has provided the most detailed portrait yet of income mobility, the odds of rising to another income level are notably low in certain... Read more
“Night” is a book by Elie Wiesel about his experience in the German concentration camps. “One day,” writes Wiesel, “as we returned from work, we saw three gallows… The SS [guards] seemed more preoccupied, more worried, than usual. To hang a child in front of thousands of onlookers was not a small matter. The head of the camp read the verdict. All eyes were on the child. He was pale, almost calm, but he was biting his lips as he... Read more
Here’s what I’ll be speaking on at the Wild Goose Festival. Please join me. SESSION INFO Frank Schaeffer – The Triumph of Life Fri. Aug. 9th 11:30am – 12:30pm Community Center Frank Schaeffer talking circle on remembering to loved ones who have died Fri. Aug. 9th 2pm – 3pm Quiet Space Darkwood Brew Unplugged: Frank Schaeffer and Eric Elnes with guests Thurs. Aug 8th 8pm – 9:30pm Darkwood Brew Performance Cafe Darkwood Brew Unplugged: Eric Elnes & Frank Schaeffer... Read more
Love is the only path to immortality. And love has a name: Grandchildren. Everything else is just a footnote. For the women and men under 40 who naively think that their big choices relate to college, career and when to start a family I have news: It’s the entire cycle of life that counts. What matters is what lasts. And my definition of “what lasts” is what still matters most to you after you turn 60 when you have lived. How you... Read more
Right and left have denied accountability through a trick of the mind that lets us all off the hook. So who will take responsibility? Please watch this (blessedly short) clip from Darkwood Brew where I (think) I (maybe) said something (almost) worth hearing. PS see you at the Wild Goose Festival a few weeks from now! Please join us. Read more
When frightened evangelical and Catholic anti-gay bigots like Franklin Graham and the so called Catholic League get together to try to hang onto their traditional power, here’s what they produce in the name of Jesus. I’ve annotated their latest anti-gay screed with a few admittedly smart ass remarks to expose the hidden truths in their otherwise meaningless far right “document.” In a letter more than 200 conservative know-nothing activists — ranging from the Catholic League’s Bill Donohue to Oklahoma State... Read more
Facebook and Google are the human trafficking highway. They have allowed their sites to be used for promoting the modern slave trade. Here’s my Huff Post LIVE segment on this issue. It’s time to shame Google and Facebook into doing more than promising they’ll do something. Please watch. HERE Read more
Why I Still Talk to Jesus -- In Spite of Everything
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