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Select a Month August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

August 2017

August 17, 2017

#Charlottesville and Getting Real

I spent some time in the Czech Republic not long after the Wall fell. One...

August 10, 2017

On the Suppression of Knowledge

This week a New York Times headline reads “Scientists Fear Trump Will Dismiss Climate Change...

August 03, 2017

#Epicurus and Atomic Moderation

Working out the implications of what it means that “mind” is a function of the...

July 2017

July 27, 2017

Steal Your Fire, Drink Your Tea

In the late nineteenth and into the twentieth-century a good many Unitarian congregations sponsored Prometheus Clubs....

July 20, 2017

The Danger is in Not Being You

There is a story that has been told in various ways about a rabbi named ...

July 13, 2017

A review of Why God? Explaining Religious Phenomena by Rodney Stark

Before I say anything else, I should say: Read this book. Whether you agree or...

July 06, 2017

Until the Cows Come Home

(being a personal summary of the Zen story of the Ten Bulls*) As the youngest,...

June 2017

June 29, 2017

Loving What Happens

Amor fati. The love of (your own) fate. The Stoic philosopher Epictetus appears to have...

June 22, 2017

The Lesson of Sunday School Cards

My dad was out of work a lot when I was a kid, so we...

June 15, 2017

The Stories We Listen To; the Stories We Tell Ourselves

Our elders teach us things. Sometimes, later, we change our minds about those teachings, sometimes...

June 08, 2017

Murder and What’s in a Story

Why do we kill each other? I have to admit that when I walk along...

June 01, 2017

Getting Tough

So, apparently the current administration has pulled out of the Paris climate accord because they...

June 01, 2017

An Improvisational People

True confession: I don’t know a chancel from a narthex. This can become a liability...

May 2017

May 25, 2017

On Knowing What We Don’t Know

Knowing that you don’t know what you don’t know. Socrates declared that supreme knowledge a...

May 18, 2017

I’m an Atheist! Now What?

As I mentioned in my last blog post, unlike progressive traditions such as the United...

May 11, 2017

Could It Get Better? The Problem of Progressivism

I am writing this morning at a McDonalds in a small farm town near my...

May 04, 2017

The National Day of . . . Counter-Narratives #NationalDayofReason

Dominant narratives. They dominate. They tell a story that most people in a group want...

April 2017

April 27, 2017

Ashes to Ashes, Humus to Humus, and Humility

Humility. Everyone knows it’s a virtue, since its opposite is . . . what? hubris?...

April 20, 2017

Savoring The Milquetoast: Why This Humanist Remains a Unitarian Universalist

Why would a Humanist want to be a Unitarian Universalist? As the president of the...

April 13, 2017

Getting It Right Like the BCE

There was an important question that the older Greek and Roman philosophies asked that stopped...

April 06, 2017

Hey, UU, Time For a Redo

Fear. Anxiety. It’s free-floating among those of a liberal bent these days. This week has...

April 04, 2017

In the Name of Love

There has been a lot to process in the Unitarian Universalist world over the past...

March 2017

March 30, 2017

Assumptions are Imaginary But They’re not Social

In Notes of a Native Son, James Baldwin wrote, Society is held together by our...

March 24, 2017

Smells Like White Racism

A friend posted on Facebook, upset that a qualified person of color had been overlooked...

March 23, 2017

An Antidote to Racial Theatre

Review of Democracy in Black: How Race Still Enslaves the American Soul by Eddie S....

March 16, 2017

Dreaming White

An acquaintance (who is white) once related one of the nightmares of his life. He...

March 14, 2017

Shine on! Faithful living in a breakable world

I spend a lot my time and life energy organizing with the New Orleans community...

March 09, 2017

Bad Theology=Bad Politics

I hear an undercurrent of assumption in much of the current liberal rhetoric—a mythology that...

March 02, 2017

Meaning, Purpose, and Individualism: Thinking Our Way Out of Self-Reliance

We human beings appear to be the only animals that become confused about our meaning...

February 2017

February 23, 2017

A Toolkit for Resisting Totalitarianism

For my money the philosopher Hannah Arendt offers the most profound analysis of the causes...