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January 2017

January 10, 2017

Huston Smith — A Spiritual Companion to Millions

By Barbara Falconer Newhall Huston Smith was well into his 90s. His mind was sharp....

December 2016

December 24, 2016

Last-Minute Gifts for the Worried Progressives on Your List

It might be Christmas Eve right now at your house, or Hanukkah could be already underway,...

November 2016

November 06, 2016

Am I Trump’s Idea of a Pathetic Loser?

Am I a pathetic loser? Someone who trusts too much? "In God We Trust." You'll...

September 2016

September 06, 2016

Is That Perfect Rose Too Perfect? Is God?

By Barbara Falconer Newhall It’s September, which means it's still summertime in California and things...

July 2016

July 26, 2016

My Mother’s Stuff — Is That All That’s Left of Her?

By Barbara Falconer Newhall My mother isn't here anymore. She died. But like most people...

July 20, 2016

How George Leonard Showed Me the Tao

By Barbara Falconer Newhall My one and only flesh and blood brush with the ancient...

July 12, 2016

If God’s in It, Is It Art?

By Barbara Falconer Newhall It's the twenty-first century. Skepticism and secularism abound in the modern/post-modern West...

July 05, 2016

Do Plants Have a Will to Live? These Did

By Barbara Falconer Newhall It was done. Those ugly, maroon snapdragons had been banished from our front yard, despite...

June 2016

June 28, 2016

Floricide at My House — I Offed Those Awful Snapdragons

By Barbara Falconer Newhall I did it. I committed floricide. I killed those snapdragons. I...

June 14, 2016

Religious Pluralism at the Hagia Sophia — Where Christianity and Islam Meet

Note: I wrote this post a few years ago after a trip to Turkey and...

June 14, 2016

I Kill Plants. Do You?

By Barbara Falconer Newhall Is it OK to kill plants just because they are ugly?...

June 08, 2016

Why It’s Better to Receive Than to Give — Reflections of a Former Atheist

By Barbara Falconer Newhall Samir Selmanovic grew up atheist. His family, like so many Croatian intellectuals...

May 2016

May 31, 2016

‘God’s a Loser and So Is Jesus’ — ‘Onion’ Founder Channels Trump

God is a Grade-A loser who can't control his brand. And so is Jesus, for that matter, a...

May 24, 2016

Emil Cioran, Lena Dunham, Per Petterson — Do I Really Want Them Hanging Out in My Psyche?

Try this thought on for size: “It is not worth the bother of killing yourself,...

May 17, 2016

How Did That Star Magnolia Get to Be? It’s Blooming Amazing

By Barbara Falconer Newhall They emerge from mud, manure, leaf rot, earthworms, sow bugs. They take...

May 03, 2016

Yosemite’s Rocks — How to Roll With Them

By Barbara Falconer Newhall Rocks. There is something about rocks that speaks to me these...

April 2016

April 26, 2016

I’m Not a Sinner and Neither Are You. Here’s Why

By Barbara Falconer Newhall Am I a sinner? I don't think so. Lots of traditional...

April 19, 2016

Is There a Heaven? Yes, and It’s in a Back Yard Up North

By Barbara Falconer Newhall Lots of folks are claiming to have been to heaven and...

April 12, 2016

Sex and the Single Evangelical — A Hot Topic

By Barbara Falconer Newhall For the young evangelical Christian, chastity before marriage seems to be...

April 05, 2016

Punishing the Woman Who Gets an Abortion — Why Not?

The pro-life/pro-choice conversation has been going on for decades. But I can't think of a...

March 2016

March 29, 2016

It Wasn’t Enough to Enjoy Those God-Given Wildflowers. I Had to Give Them Names

By Barbara Falconer Newhall Were those wildflowers purple? Indigo? Cerise? Or what? It was impossible to...

March 22, 2016

Miracle on Planet Earth

By Barbara Falconer Newhall Want to experience a miracle? Take a walk on one of...

March 15, 2016

Do Trees Have Souls? Do We?

Photo by Barbara Newhall Photo by Barbara Newhall By Barbara Falconer Newhall Do trees have...

March 08, 2016

Atotonilco, Mexico: High Art, Folk Art, Hot Springs — and the Gospel

If you’re into Mexican art or the Christian Gospel — but especially if you’re into...

March 01, 2016

The Truth About Torture — A World War II Vet’s Story

Does brutality beget brutality? What are the long-term effects of torture on the person tortured?...

February 2016

February 23, 2016

In Austin, Texas — A Check-Cashing Jesus and a Laundromat Mary

Gandhi overlooking a parking lot, a front yard Virgin Mary, Jesus on a fuse box. Where am...

February 15, 2016

Seeing Christianity in a Radically New Way — The Formidable, Saintly Simone Weil

I had heard good things about Simone Weil for many, many years. I suspected she had...

February 09, 2016

Do Dogs Have Souls? This One Might

By Barbara Falconer Newhall Do dogs have souls? Can they embody the divine? A dog named Bunker...

February 03, 2016

‘Wrestling with God’ Celebrates Its First Anniversary

By Barbara Falconer Newhall I'm celebrating today: "Wrestling with God: Stories of Doubt and Faith" has been...

February 02, 2016

An Imperfect Death — My Mother’s Last Words to Me Before She Died

My mother died five winters ago. As her death approached, I imagined a poignant death-bed...