“Religion and the First Amendment” May 3 appearance
For friends in Ft. Payne, Collinsville, and nearby, I will be speaking in Collinsville, Alabama on Sunday, May 3 at 2:30 pm at the invitation of the Collinsville Historical Association. Collinsville, nestled between Sand Mountain to the west and Lookout Mountain to the northeast, is a small town with a long and interesting history. I will be speaking on “Religion, the First Amendment, and the Shape We’re In,” as part of the Decoration Day Observance at the historic Collinsville Cemetery. All are welcome. It will be outdoors, but the weather is predicted to be favorable. Continue reading “Religion and the First Amendment” May 3 appearance
War and Peace
President Dwight Eisenhower said, “I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity.” Our veterans among us who have lived through wars can alone remind us that until we speak louder and fight harder for peace and life than the profiteers of death and destruction beat thehypnotic drums of war, we will resign ourselves to its extravagant costs in blood and treasure. We must debate and contest those who so easily commence it and watch it from safe rooms on televisions and satellites as their … Continue reading War and Peace
Truth Decay
From the, “The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same Department.” Central Alabama’s water board announced they are going to stop fluoridating the water. Reporters discovered they haven’t actually been doing it for years. See? All that worry about communist infiltrators, when our own apparent ineptitude took care of it. Reminded me of the movie scene in 1964. General Jack D. Ripper: Have you ever heard of a thing called fluoridation – fluoridation of water? Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: Jack, yes, I have heard of that, Jack. Yes. General Jack D. Ripper: Well, do you know what it … Continue reading Truth Decay
The Disregarded Longing
Disaffiliation is such a strange phrase. After a career as a pastor among Baptists who spent most of my career tearing ourselves to bits with anger, division, and preacher fights over theology and politics, your story is so reminiscent of my journey and observations—that God often is not to be experienced in our institutional thrashing about. A staff member we interviewed once asked me, “Who do I have to hate to be part of your church?” I was stunned, but it was such an honest and revealing question. I recall the twelve who walked with Jesus—envious, politically divided, so different, … Continue reading The Disregarded Longing
The Flatpickin' Pilgrim's Progress 