Month: July 2025

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Love Your Neighbor–part 1

Gary Furr

The phrase “love your neighbor as yourself,” which appears in nearly all religions as what we often call the “Golden Rule,” is the rule of reciprocity—love as you wish to be loved, treat others as you wish to be treated. Now this seems almost imbecilically obvious except that we are living through a ghastly moment of stupidity in our public life. “Strength” is exalted across the world by rightward mobs in reactionary anxiety of cultural and societal erosion. These changes, in my view, are mostly our own creations due to endless speeding up of life, isolation by our technologies of … Continue reading Love Your Neighbor–part 1

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ACHMC and Sowing Seeds of Hope Ignite Collaborative Partnerships for Health and Well-being in Perry County

Gary Furr

A significant step towards fostering improved health and community well-being in Perry County was taken on June 13 at the Community Conversation Dinner held at Lottie’s Restaurant in Marion, Alabama, jointly sponsored by the Alabama Coalition for Healthy Mothers and Children (ACHMC) and Sowing Seeds of Hope. The event brought together key community leaders, including members of the Social and Spiritual Task Force of Sowing Seeds of Hope, to lay the groundwork for impactful collaborative initiatives. Attendees included pastors, lay leaders, and notable community figures such as Judge Don McMillan, Perry County Circuit Court Judge, and Jennifer McMillan, Perry County … Continue reading ACHMC and Sowing Seeds of Hope Ignite Collaborative Partnerships for Health and Well-being in Perry County

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AI, Social Media and the Future of Us

Gary Furr

Chris Hayes, The Sirens’ Call: How Attention Became theWorld’s Most Endangered Resource. Penguin Random House, 2025 and Nicholas Carr, Superbloom: How Technologies of Connection Tear Us Apart, W. W. Norton & Company, 2024. The latest issue of Christian Ethics Today has come out. I wrote an extensive twin review in the issue about these two excellent books that are well worth your time. A couple of short quotes from the review. Chris Hayes is the well known host of MSNBCs All In. From Hayes’ book: Nicholas Carr has written another book that profoundly shaped my understanding of the current technological … Continue reading AI, Social Media and the Future of Us

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Wisdom from the Prophets

Gary Furr

 Hear this, you who trample the needy    and do away with the poor of the land, 5 saying, “When will the New Moon be over    that we may sell grain,and the Sabbath be ended    that we may market wheat?”—skimping on the measure,    boosting the price    and cheating with dishonest scales,6 buying the poor with silver    and the needy for a pair of sandals,    selling even the sweepings with the wheat. 7 The Lord has sworn by himself, the Pride of Jacob: “I will never forget anything they have done.                      Amos 8 Continue reading Wisdom from the Prophets