News & Articles
Cherished Traditions
The winter holidays including New Year celebrations are days steeped in traditions, traditions that hold together memories of the past and hopes for the future. It isn’t really Christmas for my wife until she makes the traditional Swedish Christmas cookies that her grandmothers and their grandmothers made. Part of my wife’s joy is anticipating the…
Does Everyone Pray?
Whether you pray often or not at all, your first response to the question, “Does Everyone Pray?” might be “no.” If we think of prayer as thinking or saying certain words to a Divine Being, I would agree that not everyone offers that kind of prayer. But there are two dimensions to prayer, with our…
A Baby Is Born With A Note Attached
Americans like their religious leaders to be non-controversial and non-confrontational. When they upset us, we feel a foul has been committed, a kind of “roughing the believer” infraction. This is especially true in sacred holiday seasons, when we’d rather see children dressed as shepherds and singing about peace on earth than hear our religious leaders…
Grounded, But With Heart Open
As a professor of religious studies, I had several options about how I would present the religious diversity of our world. I could take the stance that I was raised in, which stated that only my religion held the truth and people of other religions needed to change. If I took this approach, I would…
Some Inconvenient Truths About Truth
I’ve recently been thinking about truth. This focus on truth has happened seemingly by chance, but one of the things I’ve learned over my seventy-odd years is to note when life seems to be saying “Pay attention.” It was a clue to a crossword puzzle that started my recent pondering of truth. Until I was…
Adding A Bit Of Leaven
Our country has been through another election cycle, and once again campaigning has widened the gulf separating us. We’ve endured months of vitriol from both sides, which leaves us asking, “Where do we go from here?” I believe one answer to that question lies outside of politics. Each side has said everything it can to…