To join in the conversation about Living by Faith, Dwelling in Doubt, or to order a copy, go here. Christians often behave as if they’re afraid of their own questions. Perhaps this comes from preachers to don’t want to face the same questions in themselves and who attempt to answer the anguished “Why?” of a suffering parishioner with platitudes or, occasionally, accusations of a lack of faith. But the truth is, there is a reasonable basis for these questions. “Life,”... Read more
Nigerian Christians have suffered a decade of murderous attacks from militant islamists, in particular the killer cult of Boko Haram. At the same time, Christianity has been growing. The Pentecostal movement is flourishing in Nigeria with all night prayer services drawing thousands of worshipers. The old saying is, “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” Present-day martyrs for Christ are no exception to that. From PRI The World: Under an open-air pavilion built to seat a... Read more
The debate is boiling down to a wall-punching, head-butting disaster. On the one side, there are gay marriage advocates who decry religious freedom and personal conscience exemptions to participation in gay marriage except for the most isolated cases, and even that quickly comes into question as discussions proceed. On the other side, are gay marriage opponents who decry the loss of personal freedom of expression and religious liberty. They quickly move to a position of banning gay marriage to... Read more
A small group of members of the United States Congress announced plans today to introduce a bill that sounds as if it would completely federalize abortion. The proposed legislation, by Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn) is designed to override state regulations on abortion clinics. Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Representatives Judy Chu (D-CA, Marcia Fudge (D-OH) and Lois Frankel (D-FL) are backing the bill. I know this is going to sound odd, but the thing that disgusts... Read more
Jesus Christ was a revolutionary. Not, mind you, the gun-toting, building-blowing-up, people-killing kind of revolutionary. If we would just pull the shades off our eyes, we’d see that killer revolutionaries are old hat, trite and not really all that unusual. People have been killing people since Cain and Abel. Jesus was the kind of revolutionary who lights the spark of ideas that wind through the centuries, slowly elevating all of humankind. He was the counter-cultural, upside-down uber revolutionary of all... Read more
God love Cardinal Timothy Dolan. He took the podium at the annual fall assembly of Catholic Bishops to speak out for our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ. Public Catholic reader, Manny, sent a wonderful letter to Cardinal Dolan a few weeks ago, encouraging the Cardinal to do all that he could to help persecuted Christians. Perhaps we should all take to our word processors and send letters. Christians need to stand in unity with persecuted Christians and not... Read more
Oklahoma’s Supreme Court overturned a second pro life bill this week. This one concerned trans-vaginal ultrasounds. I’ve been waiting for this decision before I commented on all this. Now, I’m going to wait and get my head organized. Then, I imagine I will have a few things to say. Here is the CNN Report: Washington (CNN) — Oklahoma lost another round in its effort to restrict abortions when the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday declined to hear an appeal in a case... Read more
Typhoon Haiyan was one of the worst storms ever recorded. America dispatched forces, at the request of the Philippine government, to help with the devastation caused by Hurricane Haiyan. From NBC News: American forces were dispatched to the Philippines as the Pacific island country struggled to cope Sunday after one of the most powerful storms in recorded history killed thousands — possibly as many as 10,000 — and wreaked damage far worse than expected. “At the request of the government of... Read more
Remembering those who serve. Read more
Pope Francis gave a hard-hitting homily during his daily morning mass. “We are all sinners,” he said. “But we are not corrupt. The corrupt remain in a state of self-sufficiency and don’t understand humility.” This is a homily for the “Christian” West, if there ever was one. Read more
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