Economic inequality is getting worse in America every day. People are working harder and harder and making less, jobs continue to go overseas and structural unemployment remains high. Thomas Piketty’s “Capital in the Twenty-First Century” confirmed what we already felt, that America is well into its second “Gilded Age” where the divide between the wealthy and the restRead more
Irenaus
In the early part of the second century, Irenaus, Bishop of Lugdunum in Gaul, had his hands full. Christians were being tortured and fed to the lions. The faithful had been scattered to the four winds by the violent Roman reprisals to the Jewish revolt of 66 AD. Jerusalem had been sacked, Solomon’s Temple destroyed and the Jews,Read more
Dealing With Crime
OK, so someone harms another – steals their property or harms their person. That’s not OK, and cannot go unaddressed. But it’s the next series of steps that gets us into trouble. We go through all this falderal to prove these people are guilty and then throw them into prison, as though that were a solution to theRead more
When Did God Become A Fundamentalist? Part I
(Note: This article was written before the emergence of the religious right during the Trump years.) The emergence of conservative religious fundamentalism into the political arena is a subject that has brought everything from joy to concern and consternation to many people. Having stood in the background for years while the political and scientific establishments turned a deafRead more
When Did God Become A Fundamentalist? Part II
(Note: This article was written before the emergence of the religious right during the Trump era.) What is somewhat shocking is that the arguments against gays put forward by the Religious Right today come almost word-for-word from Hitler’s successful and immensely disparaging propaganda program that opened the door for the killing of millions of Jews, gays, minorities, gypsiesRead more