The words “women, female, and immigrants” are no longer permitted in Trump’s America: it is time to do a major editing of the Bible. Guess what? If you are a woman, you no longer exist in parts of Trumpworld!! How about that? Now that’s power: his edicts have just erased one-half of the human race ..read more

Check out your fear level right now. If you see it rise in one of these difficult conversatioins, observe what it does to you. It wins if it shuts you down and keeps you from loving and generous actions toward yourself and others. When that happens, the relationship chasms caused by the religious divide will grow even more dangerous ..read more

So when I am at my best, I make one resolution, “Take the time to acknowledge those new mercies every single day.” Over the years, I've learned that rejoicing each morning in this newness of the Presence of God is a far more critical task than "make myself better than ever" type resolutions, especially the "exercise more and lose weight" ones ..read more

So the absolute absence of God is . . . absolute hell. That is the place where love cannot be, where all justice is twisted with the guilty rewarded and the innocent punished, where grudges are held forever and mercy never granted, where kindness makes no appearance, where the oppressed are further trampled and the privileged live without accountability, where music is forever silenced, where hope may no longer poke its head above the ground and breathe freely.  ..read more

With Christmas fast approaching and the season of too much spending, too much food and drink, and too many parties accompanying it, I turn my mind to Mary’s Magnificat. I am in danger. I was in the middle of my usual retired person’s morning routine: the dog stretched out in my lap (we call this ..read more

Women working in sugar fields in India are getting unnecessary hysterectomies in order to keep working, essentially as slaves. How are you doing with keeping your baptismal vows? Do you think about this one very much: Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you to resist evil, injustice and oppression in whatever forms ..read more

I do not blame those who voted for this sexual predator. They had their reasons, and many of those reasons were valid. I simply want some truth so we can all be set free. The memories swamped my brain and whacked my generally stable emotions into incoherence. The rape, the handsy gropes, the slam against ..read more

The GOP and much of the Christian world has embraced a man who is morally, spiritually, emotionally, educationally, and temperamentally unfit to be President of the US. This is a man who operates solely out of the basic principle of revenge/hit back harder and nastier to anyone who doesn't suck up to his massive ego ..read more

Donald Trump governs on “feral instinct.” Believe it. The “I’ve never met a Republican I didn’t like” Wall Street Journal thinks so. This quote is from an opinion piece in the Wednesday, July 31 edition of the Wall Street Journal: Mr. Roberts explains in a letter to the editor nearby that Project 2025 was an attempt to ..read more

Despite what Trump voters think, I contend Mr. Trump was extremely lucky. I also know that anyone alive is extremely lucky because bad stuff is just around the corner for anyone.   Eight years ago, while writing a newspaper column called “Ask the Thoughtful Pastor,” I received a question about Trump voters. The original column ..read more