Grace. Some say it before meals. Some have it for a name. Grace-ful people have grace in abundance. It’s also theological concept, and that’s where I run into trouble. When people learn that I’m not a theist, I’m sometimes told in a very knowing way that only theists have a theory of grace. The reason lies in the definition of grace that many use: “God’s unmerited favor, love, or help.” When it’s put it that way, I suppose there’s no... Read more
“The one most frequently repeated command in the Bible is not “love your neighbor,” but “fear not.” And if there is one thing that we need in our world, if there’s one thing that we should write on our mirror and see every morning when we look into the mirror, it’s “fear not.” If we went into the day with that command deeply tattooed on our heart, “fear not,” we’d be completely different people and create a completely different world—a... Read more
Apparently, some people are hoping for Adele to come to their Thanksgiving dinner and soothe angry arguments between family members. For the rest of us, preparing for tough conversations is one way to make them a little less difficult. One of those conversations in many families this year will be about the Black Lives Matter movement. I know a lot of other white people who don’t talk about race in their families because they don’t want tension. I understand the... Read more
Nothing like a crisis to clarify values. If the terrorist attacks in Paris have clarified the dominant values of Western civilization, those appear to be such things as self-absorption, border restrictions, and violence. These are the values of nationalism, not Humanism. Sure, it’s true that Paris is the world’s number one tourist destination, so lots of people all over the world have some sort of French connection. It that way, it feels personal to lots of people. Still, the disproportionate... Read more
In the Ruins A man sits on the rubble— not just in the rubble, but on the pile of what remains. No people in the bombed-out houses. No dogs. No birds. Just ragged hunks of concrete and loss. And on his perch he is playing an instrument constructed of what is left—an olive oil can, a broom handle, a bowed stick and strings. It sounds exactly as it is supposed to sound. The instrument cries, but the man sings.... Read more
So much heartbreak, so many dead, so many injured. This is what evil looks like—people who would willingly, even eagerly, fire into a crowd or into a plane, who would even use their own body as bomb. Evil lurks in the eyes of those who would look full in the face of another human being who is begging for mercy and pull the trigger or strike the blow. It is everything that stands counter to mercy, to empathy, to the... Read more
Psychologist Gordon Allport argued that there are two types of religious experience—the extrinsic and the intrinsic. Extrinsic religious orientation has little to do with religion and lots to do with social norms, rules, and regulations. Allport said extrinsic orientation functions “to provide security and solace, sociability and distraction, status and self-justification.” This sort of religion is a means to an end. (Sound familiar?) Intrinsic religious orientation, on the other hand, is the end in itself. For those oriented toward intrinsic... Read more
What makes you come alive my friend? This week I grateful to bear witness to people coming alive in the world: The Swarm, our affectionate nickname for the group of Unitarian Universalists from two congregations in Massachusetts who have been coming to New Orleans for service every November since Hurricane Katrina and the Federal Flood of 2005, are back in town and have spent days working with a couple trying to get back into their water damaged home. The volunteers... Read more
The Daoist philosopher Zhuangzi (370-287 BCE) told this story: Once three friends were discussing life. One said: “Can people live together and know nothing of life, work together and produce nothing? Can people fly around in the air and forget to exist, forever and ever?” The three friends looked at each other and burst out laughing. They had no explanation, and so they were better friends than before. Then one of the friends died. Upon hearing of the death, Confucius... Read more
It’s been interesting watch the dialog about ethnic Halloween costumes go by on my Facebook page. It has ranged from a Chinese-American friend posting a picture of a “Chinese” costume that featured yellow face paint (Really? Have you ever seen a Chinese person who was actually yellow?) to a friend who was genuinely bewildered that people were offended by a group of university administrators dressed up as “Mexicans” in sombreros and fake mustaches. That post with the sombreros inspired a... Read more
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