Glimpsing the man behind the mural Some days he looks weary. Occasionally it seems he might be the tiniest bit angry. But most of the time, the man in the mural with the piercing yellow-hazel eyes who stares across the trashy vacant lot at the corner of Lake and Damen looks like he’s got something to say. Something wise. His disembodied head floats there on the side of a building like a modern Wizard of Oz. Like an urban oracle.... Read more

Blessed are the peaceniks and their soldier sons, too Let’s say you’re a big peacenik. Card-carrying. World class. You marched in anti-war protests and sat in sit-ins when you were a college student during the Vietnam War. Maybe you even got tear-gassed while holding hands with Mary from Peter, Paul and Mary during a particularly nasty protest in front of the Conrad Hilton back in ’68. You’ve been arrested dozens of times for civil disobedience, continue to march, or sit,... Read more

Merappy Chrismahanukwanzakah, everyone! I’d like to think it all started with Festivus. Way back on Dec. 18, 1997, when “Seinfeld’s” loony Costanza family introduced the rest of the world to the peculiar, nonreligious holiday they celebrate Dec. 23. The pole. The airing of grievances. The feats of strength. Patriarch Frank Costanza explained the genesis of Festivus thusly: “Many Christmases ago, I went to buy a doll for my son. I reached for the last one they had, but so did... Read more

Why don’t more evangelicals care about AIDS crisis? Even though Wednesday was World AIDS Day, I had decided not to write about the AIDS emergency in sub-Saharan Africa — an oft-visited topic in this column. And despite inquiries from readers about my thoughts on the spiritual content of U2’s newly released album — another favorite subject — I promised myself I wouldn’t mention anything about, um . . . “yer man,” as the Irish say. Having surmised that the plight... Read more

In its many forms, grace is life’s almightiest gift When I left the office on the eve of Thanksgiving, it was sleeting sideways. I had neither gloves nor a hand-held windshield scraper thingy, but I did have writer’s block, a screaming headache, and a zit between my eyebrows. Mired in the self-pity ring of my own private Inferno, I was feeling anything but thankful. The worst part of what could have been dismissed as a simple pre-holiday funk was that... Read more

Pretty lies and the moral of the story Morality seems to be the talk of the nation at the moment. What is morality? Who is moral? And whose morals are we talking about anyway? As just about every newspaper columnist in the free world has offered his or her opinion on The Great Moral Debate of ’04, I will demur. But I will beg your indulgence in order to share a moral tale I heard recently. It came from a... Read more

Keeping the faith, and walking the walk Talk about voting with your feet. . . . After church last Sunday, I was walking down Melrose in Los Angeles with the friend I was visiting, bemused by the artsy boho and scary goth types who were trying out their Halloween costumes a few hours early, when something even more unusual in a shop window caught my eye. No, it wasn’t one of those, erm, adult-themed retailers. It was a shoe store.... Read more

Collection of eulogies breathes life into death I rather dislike funerals. When the time comes for me to leave this world, I don’t want one. I’d much prefer my friends and family to gather for a clambake and a long after-dinner stroll on my favorite beach in Connecticut where they can trade embarrassing stories about me. I hope they play music and dance and sing and talk about how hot-headed yet tender-hearted their dearly departed was, and how much she... Read more

Liberal evangelical voters come out swinging How would Jesus swing? Much effort has been devoted to tracking the behavior of the peculiar voting blocs that could sway this year’s presidential election. NASCAR dads. Soccer moms. “Sex and the City” women. Angry white men. Missourians. Ah, but what of that most elusive of voters — the liberal evangelical Christian? These are Jesus-loving, church-going, Bible-believing Christians who take their faith seriously but don’t let Jerry Falwell set their agenda. Call them Jesus-centric... Read more

Will Episcopal Church split? Bishop thinks he knows One Friday night not so long ago, as a bunch of us deconstructed world events around a wobbly table down in the Billy Goat Tavern, conversation wandered, as it does, to religion — in this case, the current woes of the Episcopal Church. A friend of mine entered the verbal scrum, explaining the various machinations he and his bride were undertaking to formally become Episcopalians. “What an interesting time to be doing... Read more