January 17, 2024

Can Democracy and Evangelical Christianity co-exist? I used to think so. Now, I’m not so sure. Democracy does not matter in that world.   Here is just one of the many sincerely alarmist articles about some plans that Mr. Trump, with the full support of the Evangelical world, has floated to dismantle many of the safeguards to our democracy should he win the 2024 Presidential election. Sadly, these ambitions have been on display since before the 2016 election. Nearly eight... Read more

December 29, 2023

While my son, the migrant, and his family had the time and the means to follow all the rules, Jesus, the migrant, did not. Every stranger is an enemy~Primo Levi A number of years ago, I started reading  The Complete Works of Primo Levi. Levi was an Italian Jew, a chemist, and a gifted writer who spent the last years of WWII in a Nazi extermination camp–and one of the few who came out alive. In his introduction to his... Read more

December 13, 2023

Repeal the 19th Amendment if you really want to stop abortions. Women have no biblical right to the vote anyway. The political news, in addition to being dominated by former President Trump’s hate-filled antics, also now overflows with the agony of the GOP’s dawning realization that their campaign against bodily autonomy for women is not exactly winning the hearts of the US voting public. Now, when I write “bodily autonomy for women,” I mean this: women of childbearing age (that... Read more

December 7, 2023

Let’s face it: Skipping Advent is the real “reason for the season.” The birth of Jesus has nothing to do with it. Immediately after Thanksgiving (and possibly before, but I was not shopping then), walking into a mall or any large store means an assault on the senses with happy, jolly Christmas music, all fine and good when skipping Advent is the goal. Why? Listen to Advent music: It’s pretty well all in a minor key, set to make us... Read more

December 2, 2023

I recently totally shocked a lovely, younger, faithful Christian friend by telling her I thought we should stop teaching the Bible to children. Scene One: The Bible Study The Bible study group was small for our last meeting. I almost wanted to put off the lesson because it was one of my best. I wanted more to know about it (a little personal pride perhaps?) but changed my mind. And so we began that particular lesson on Luke 15. At... Read more

August 21, 2023

It is starting to make sense to see Trump as Messiah. Clearly, I’ve had a change of thought about him and his impact. With a bit of horrified fascination, I have been watching the doubling down of support to return Donald J Trump, the voice and influence behind an armed insurrection against the US, to the Presidency. Even with nearly countless charges against him in Federal and State courts, his followers have not and will not back down. One group... Read more

July 24, 2023

Bad theology teaches us that God is in the business of smiting us whenever God may be, for whatever reason, displeased with us. [Note: names have been changed to protect privacy.] We were heading out for our late afternoon Tuesday socializing-with-friends time. Just over a block from our house, an elderly neighbor waved us down and asked us to help get her dog, currently running loose. We immediately agreed to help. My husband was somewhat acquainted with the woman, whom... Read more

June 30, 2023

I was told today that I could no longer call myself a “biological female” but must use the term, “assigned female at birth (AFAB).” Well, hmmm . . . according to a person whom I respect, I can no longer refer to myself as a biological female and remain sensitive to the transgender community. I am now an “assigned female at birth” (AFAB) person. Would love to know the person who did the “assigning.” What power that person had!!!! I’m... Read more

June 14, 2023

The headline grabbed me the moment I opened the paper as Southern Baptists ready themselves to bar women from pastoral roles and the title. I opened the New York Times today and find, in this prime spot just above the fold, this headline: Baptists Push To Bar Women From Ministry. A few minutes later, the results of the vote came through: Yes, women remained barred from the pastoral title in Southern Baptist churches. Several years ago, I read this story: ... Read more

June 8, 2023

I was sitting at my computer, gasping for breath, trying to contain the internal anguish as I remembered Bill Gothard. That anguish gushed uncontrollably as I finished watching “Shiny, Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets,” now streaming on Amazon Prime. As part of it, I saw some old footage of Bill Gothard teaching one of his many Institute in Basic Youth Conflicts (IBLC) seminars. As the camera panned the packed coliseum, I realized I could be one of the people in... Read more


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