Posts by D C

I grew up in a time when most people in my town were members of one local church or another.  I recall this with no intention of romanticizing an era when participation in religious life was so assumed that asking for one’s religious affiliation could be found on job applications.  In that environment, I remember…

I begin by apologizing to all the military balloon experts who will be insulted by my flippant attitude, but I have to admit that my first reaction to the Chinese balloon that floated over the country was to smile and say, “Really?  You sent a balloon to spy on us?”  I thought immediately of a…

“You’re really going to put the fox in charge of the henhouse?”  That’s the question that struck me when I read recently that the United Nations appointed Sultan al-Jabar, a Mideast oil executive, to lead the climate talks this fall in the United Arabs Emirates.   Rightly, the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance expressed its outrage…

My parents moved to another city when I was away at college.  On my first visit to our new home, I discovered that my Dad had thrown out my collection of baseball cards in the move.  Ever since then, I have wondered if there were some rare and valuable cards that ended up in the…

What are people of faith to do when others who claim to have the same faith use that faith against democracy?  This is the question I wrestle with more and more as advocates of “Christian nationalism” seem intent on subverting our democracy in the name of God.   There are examples all across our country of…

This might seem a strange question to ask, but it needs to be asked anyway.  “What is the greatest problem that our country—no, not just our country, but the whole world—needs to tackle in 2023?”   Sadly, we have a long list of problems to choose from, but there is one problem that is hardest to…

Once I retired, I knew that I’d finally have the time to read books that were on my “need-to-read” list.  Recently, I accidentally or providentially ran across the name of Dr. Howard Thurman, an author whom I always intended to read but, for some reason, hadn’t managed to.  But once I discovered that Martin Luther…

It is a Christmas tradition in our family to watch the film version of A Child’s Christmas in Wales.  The film is a sentimental window into Christmastime a hundred years ago in a different culture, but not so different as to confuse American viewers.   The film, based on Dylan Thomas’ poem of the same name,…

I will admit to having a mild case of World Cup fever.  As is true of most Americans, I had seen soccer, or what the rest of the world calls “football” or “futbol,” played before.  But my passions when I was growing up were basketball and baseball, and I am positive that my high school…

I was watching a movie version of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol with my wife recently when I had a strong feeling that I’d encountered this story before.  No, I’m not talking about earlier film versions of Dickens’ classic, but something far more ancient.  Growing up the son of a minister and ending up teaching…