I surf a lot of sites and listen in on a lot of discussion threads about what people choose and choose not to believe. What is interesting is that both sides deny they are making a choice about what to believe. Dogmatism swings both ways, and many loud voices on […]
In the not too distant past I sat listening to a United Methodist clergyperson talk about the gifts of the Spirit — a topic in which I have great interest and long involvement. I truly believe that we are imbued with gifts that transcend mere ability or interest. These gifts enable […]
I have been following this year’s edition of the so-called “war on Christmas” with a mix of amusement and incredulity. Apart from Fox news and a few conservative-fundamentalist TV stations, I’m not hearing too much about it, but what I do hear and see boggles the imagination. My favorite this […]
Four items hit in rapid succession that make me wonder what in the world is happening to Christmas? #1 — I listened to a “secularist” on one of the news channels rant against having to “be forced” to celebrate Christmas. He is heading a group calling for the absolute eradication […]
An email I received today asked a question I am frequently asked, “How could someone who distrusts and dislikes statistics as much as you do have been a researcher for over a decade?” The short answer to this is that it’s not that I don’t like statistics — I LOVE them, […]
Stephen King wrote a novella entitled, The Running Man, about a brutal futuristic society where game shows and public executions were combined to produce the ultimate reality show. Prisoners were given the opportunity to try to escape death — on national TV — by facing unexpected and unimaginable challenges. The […]
The United Methodist Judicial Council has adjudicated the “homosexuality question” for the denomination by deeming the Baltimore-Washington attempt to reframe and redeem the gay-lesbian-bi-transgender issue “out-of-order.” The claim is that homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching. Okay, fine, I accept that — but only if we’re consistent. The ordination of […]
We’re old. We’re dying. We’re decaying. We’re declining. We’re ineffective. We’re irrelevant. Doesn’t that motivate you to do better? Come on, be honest. Don’t such messages just fill you with energy, vigor, passion and hope? Sure they do, otherwise why would we dwell so constantly upon them? Why waste time […]
There is generally a distinct difference between our articulated values — what we say is important — and our lived values — the things we actually do. For example, I say that good diet and exercise is important, but I sit on my butt eating bacon-ranch-cheddar fries and drinking Diet […]
Flipping through TV channels, I paused on a sincere, yet bizarre religious show where in a matter of moments I heard that the devil is working on perverting our children, that there is absolutely no scientific evidence in support of evolution, that all homosexuals are atheists out to destroy the […]
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