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August 2017

August 16, 2017

President Trump’s Religious Advisory Council Stands Firmly With Him

Correction: I included James McDonald as a member of this Advisory Council. I was wrong:...

August 15, 2017

I swim in white privilege and there is no excuse for racism

I am a recipient of white privilege. I know it. Frankly, I'm more than a...

August 13, 2017

The President Panders to His Alt-right Base

Let us speak the truth: our POTUS supports the alt-right and the most racist elements...

August 09, 2017

Has God cursed my family for generations?

But it is a curse, and thus ordained by God. Or is it part of...

July 2017

July 18, 2017

What the UMC can learn from the GOP health care debacle

The GOP just doesn't care about health care and the well-being of millions. And the...

July 17, 2017

Musings on Texas Bathroom Bills: The Universal Need to Urinate and Defecate

May those who think they are doing good and being "biblical" by supporting these unimaginably...

July 06, 2017

Holy relics, skepticism and the power of shared liturgy

I am a hearty skeptic of such things as Holy Relics. I dismiss them as...

July 05, 2017

Ask the Thoughtful Pastor: do you believe anything in the Bible is true?

I believe Bible is true. But that doesn't mean it is historical in the sense...

June 2017

June 23, 2017

Unanswered Prayers, God’s Silence and the Demand for the Instantly Miraculous

We demand in our prayers instant healing, instant riches, instant love, instant solutions to all...

June 23, 2017

The lives of the rich and privileged: a Christian conundrum

We are currently in St. Petersberg, Russia. This is the city that Peter the Great,...

June 15, 2017

What if Adam had beaten up the serpent? Questions Children Ask

What would have happened if the story of Adam and the serpent had a different...

June 11, 2017

Politics, world travel and a universalist faith

My ten-year-old grandson is already a universalist. I suspect he’ll never understand the way the...

June 06, 2017

How Do We Know the Bible is True? Questions Children Ask

We take the horrifying stories in the Bible, water them down to make them palatable...

June 05, 2017

Let’s be fair, UMC, and exclude ALL the unclean, not just the homosexuals

Jesus broke the rules of the holiness code, rendering himself ritually unclean, with great regularity....

May 2017

May 31, 2017

How do we know God is real? Questions children ask

"How do we know God is real? How do we know he's not someone that...

May 30, 2017

Could Diverse and Especially Female Clergy Be What Is Killing the UMC?

A third reason the UMC is dying may be because of a thorny issue we...

May 24, 2017

Wild dogs, babies and betrayed trust: why the UMC is disintegrating

Trust serves as the glue that holds any society together. We trust that others will...

May 23, 2017

Unanswered prayer, lies and more lies

I left Evangelicalism mostly because of lies about how God answers prayer and keeps all...

May 21, 2017

The Megachurch Infection

The megachurch infection may lead to the eventual death of Christian connection, also known as...

May 20, 2017

Do We Want Tight Doctrinal Standards Or Do We Want To Follow Jesus?

After spending much of 2014 and 2015 visiting churches, I have become increasingly aware that people...

May 18, 2017

Help! Did Jesus ever laugh?

The audience, weary of burdens and regulations laid upon them by pompous Pharisees, would have...

May 18, 2017

Hypocrisy, shame, politics and religion

Hypocrisy is the ultimate death blow, whether it be politics or religion. And in the...

May 09, 2017

Help! Is the End Times near as the Bible promises?

To those who hold to literal end times prophecies, the earth, as a living entity,...

May 07, 2017

Seven pieces of institutional clutter the UMC needs to leave behind

Right now, the UMC, bound by institutional clutter, is unfree, rigid, divisive and has regulated...

May 03, 2017

Help! Do abusive people keep power by defining forgiveness?

When abusive people, those who misuse the power entrusted to them, face accusations of misconduct,...

April 2017

April 24, 2017

It’s time. Blow up the UMC. My own breaking point.

These responses may be the breaking point for me. A church based on a theology...

April 19, 2017

Sexist pastors, sexist news commentators: losses and wins

Today: a possible victory for women subjected to sexist practices partnered with the long-running "Christian"...

April 19, 2017

Help! I’m peace loving and don’t WANT to fight wars for Jesus

Did Jesus finish the work of defeating evil or did he not finish the work...

April 17, 2017

When women finally get fed up, stuff happens

When women finally say, "I'm not going to let these guys continue to ruin my...

April 14, 2017

Darkness came over the whole land–and we prefer the darkness

As we repeatedly mend the curtain, as we reinforce the barrier with each stitch, we...

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