Pro-life science fiction: Seeing the unhuman in ourselves

Last updated on: January 29, 2020 at 12:07 pm By Russell E. Saltzman

Within four years of Roe v. Wade, at least two science fiction writers touched on pro-life themes, favorably and with some boldness. “The Pre-Persons” by Philip K. Dick (d. 1981) is a chillingly blunt story, a direct rebuke of Roe v. Wade. The second, by Larry Niven, now 81, took the pro-life question on the oblique. “Assimilating Our Culture, That’s What They’re Doing” involves an icky-icky-ew-ew factor, upsetting for the squeamish, but it entails a profitable use for partial clones... Read more

The American Solidarity Party Survey Monkey Nomination

Last updated on: October 22, 2019 at 9:03 am By Russell E. Saltzman

Brian Carroll of California is the American Solidarity Party nominee for the 2020 presidential election. Mr. Carroll got the nod from the party’s eligible voters using Survey Monkey last September 9, sometime after which [self-disclosure] I was surprised to find I had accepted the position of (temporary) treasurer for his campaign. Okay, I’m sometimes impulsive. But let’s see: Brian Carroll? Yeah, I didn’t know who he is either. But that’s my fault. A good deal of the business of the... Read more

Confirmation Confusions

Last updated on: September 12, 2019 at 8:39 am By Russell E. Saltzman

A year ago one October Saturday, my wife and I were at Good Shepherd Catholic Church, in Alexandria, Virginia, which is a hop, skip and a couple turns from George Washington’s Mt. Vernon estate. It is a parish of the Arlington diocese. We were there for our nephew’s Confirmation and I was his sponsor (poor kid). He had thought of asking his older brother—mostly, he said, because his off-to-college brother (jab, jab) hadn’t been to Mass in a while. But since this... Read more

Presidential Censures, Impeachments, and Party Loyalties

Last updated on: August 27, 2019 at 11:25 am By Russell E. Saltzman

“The Senate is no longer a place for any decent man,” mourned Senator Henry Clay, January 1837. This was his judgment following a Senate vote rescinding a senatorial censure of President Andrew Jackson. Clay appeared in the Senate dressed in the deep black then affected by grieving loved ones over the loss of someone dear. This all turned on Jackson’s veto of a bill renewing the charter of the Bank of the United States (think of an early Federal Reserve... Read more

Fido at the Communion Rail

Last updated on: July 29, 2019 at 11:36 am By Russell E. Saltzman

There is a Facebook page I follow, Things They Didn’t Teach Us in Seminary! There are a lot of United Church of Christ, Presbyterian, Methodist, Lutheran, a few former Catholics, as well as some others I haven’t doped out. Me, I’m ex-Lutheran pastor come home to Rome, yet I still remember lots and lots of stuff I never learned. This was the topic: A pastor distributing communion at a conference gathering found himself confronted with a woman and her service... Read more

Standard Pagans

Last updated on: July 29, 2019 at 11:39 am By Russell E. Saltzman

James J. O’Donnell’s Pagans: The End of Traditional Religion and the Rise of Christianity (2015) is not a silly book, but it is superficial. O’Donnell is said to have written a contrarian book on pagans and early Christians. We’ll see. He does well describing the nature of traditional religion as Christianity (oddball and very non-traditional) arose in all its varied forms in its first three centuries to challenge traditional Roman religion. What is amazing to me, now that I’ve brought... Read more

Part 8 – What Are We Asking For In the Our Father

Last updated on: April 30, 2019 at 9:44 am By Russell E. Saltzman

For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, now and forever. Amen. We have been asking throughout this series on the Our Father what are we finally seeking by praying these seven petitions. Essentially, we have prayed for our Father’s kingdom against our own; for his will against our own desires. We have prayed for his bread, that we may glimpse creation’s wounded splendor in a life marred by sin. We have prayed for his forgiveness, while... Read more

Part 7 – What Are We Asking In the Our Father

Last updated on: April 25, 2019 at 10:39 am By Russell E. Saltzman

Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil. Though Christ has been raised from death, we still are confronted with evil and, worse, temptation. We continue to deal with the reality of sin, death, and the world. So we turn to our risen Lord in these two petitions and we ask, first: “Do not lead us into temptation.” Say what? We have to ask: God, don’t do that? Every catechism I dig through – Catholic or Protestant –... Read more

Part 6 – What Are We Asking In the Our Father

Last updated on: April 23, 2019 at 10:43 am By Russell E. Saltzman

As we forgive those who sin against us. I knew a man who would clamp his mouth if he had to say “as we forgive those who sin against us.” The woman who had killed his son was a member in the same church. My first week in my first parish as a new Lutheran pastor, I drove out to the small country church, half of the two-congregation parish I served. I wanted to look it over for the first... Read more

Part 5 – What Are We Asking In the Our Father?

Last updated on: April 19, 2019 at 7:55 pm By Russell E. Saltzman

Forgive us our sins This petition in the Our Father comes in two halves. The first half deals with us. The second half deals with us dealing with others. Not unreasonably, I’ll dig into first half first. We ask here “Forgive us our trespasses,” and there is language problem. Catholics use the word “trespasses,” as do many Protestant denominations. Some Protestants, largely Reformed, use “debts.” The Gospels Luke and Matthew dither between both words. Trouble is both are legal phrases.... Read more