As a proposed step in our continuing struggle to address gun violence in schools, President Trump has called for “highly trained” schoolteachers to carry guns in their classrooms. If they were armed, they could fire back immediately at school shooters like the young man with an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle who took 17 lives in Parkland, Florida. Beyond that, the President tweeted, the knowledge that teachers have guns of their own would deter “the sicko” from heading to a school in... Read more
I grew up in the world of evangelical Christianity, and have spent much of my adult life grappling with it, ultimately embracing and being thankful for some of what I carried out of my religious upbringing, while rejecting other parts of it. One of the pieces of the religious world of my youth that was most incompatible with my nature was “Evangelization”—the requirement that one “share” (read “force down other people’s throats”) one’s faith. For an extremely introverted and socially... Read more
The year anniversary of the horrific massacre at The Pulse in Orlando a week ago, as well as the shooting of Rep. Scalise and others last week, has placed the issue of gun violence and legislation back into public dialogue. Here's something each of us can do to change the conversation about gun violence. Read more
A few months ago, the gospel reading from Luke prompted our rector and my friend Mitch to suggest that Jesus is not someone you would ever want to invite to dinner. Why? Because Jesus’ behavior and the stories he told indicate that he had little interest in or patience with the way things are “supposed to be done.” For instance, Jesus suggests that when you throw a dinner party, you should not invite your best friends and closest family, the... Read more
One sunny morning in September 1983, when I was struggling in my late twenties with serious financial problems, a failing marriage, and a general malaise both spiritual and physical, I wandered into a Sunday morning service at Saint Matthew’s Episcopal Cathedral in Laramie, Wyoming. In a rush of emotional response to the beautiful organ, the stately procession of choir, crucifer, deacon and priest from back to front, and the overwhelming expressions of welcome from dozens of strangers, I felt that I... Read more
So here we are again, seeking as a country to deal with the latest horrific mass shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. I suppose everyone has their own internal space where they go when the frustrations of living in a world in which problems that clearly could be effectively addressed (because other countries have effectively addressed them) continually remain unsolved because . . . you fill in the blank. I’m beyond trying to make arguments concerning... Read more
Almost every Sunday during the months I spent on sabbatical a few years ago in Minnesota, I saw a canine in church—I didn’t know the dog’s name, but it looked like a Ralph. I learned several months later that the dog is a female named Caritas, but in my imagination she still is Ralph. Ralph was in church because she was a service dog—now enjoying retirement—for a regular parishioner who is profoundly deaf. The woman sat at the end of... Read more
This year, for the first time since 1945, Ash Wednesday and Valentine’s Day fall on the same day. And I think they belong together. My lovely wife Jeanne and I have had occasional conversations over the years about Lent that have, gradually, caused me to think differently about my least favorite liturgical season. It all started early one Saturday morning. It’s 5:30 g (on Saturday, mind you), my eyelids are resisting the inevitable and Jeanne asks me, “What is Your... Read more
Last Thursday morning, the President tweeted the following: Will be heading over shortly to make remarks at The National Prayer Breakfast in Washington. Great religious and political leaders, and many friends, including T.V. producer Mark Burnett of our wonderful 14 season Apprentice triumph, will be there. “This ought to be good,” I thought, in the same way that a multiple-car crash on the interstate is “good.” This is not the first time that the annual prayer breakfast and “The Apprentice”... Read more
What happens when a perfectly good virtue gets turned into not only the most important virtue, but in many cases the only virtue? I have come face to face with this question in the early weeks of this semester with twenty-five juniors and seniors in a section of General Ethics. We find ourselves in a world of competing religious, moral, and political claims shouting at each other across various divides, claims that are both incompatible with each other and resistant to... Read more
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