(OPINION) I’ve seen a whole bunch of religion, good and bad. Maybe the one thing I’ve come to understand is what good faith looks like. You may or may not agree, which is your privilege, but here are my signs any particular religious organization — megachurch or storefront, famous or obscure — is spiritually healthy:
Read More(OPINION) Usually, if we focus on the commonalities, we begin to find the hand of God working among us. If we major on our differences, we not only help the devil, but may come to imagine the other person is the devil.
Read More(OPINION) Allow me to direct your attention to a long, thought-provoking article that appeared in the New York Times recently under the headline, “‘A God Who Continually Surprises Us’: A Q&A With a Theologian Who Changed His Mind About Gay Marriage.” Changing your mind about what the Bible, the church and God have said is always complicated.
Read More(OPINION) And so, friends, we find ourselves again amid the season when we’re called to give thanks, to celebrate joy unspeakable and full of glory, to count our blessings. Of course we might give thanks and be filled with joy the whole year. But we forget. We get distracted. We grow tired, cross and hard-bitten. Irritations grind us down.
Read More(OPINION) When Jesus told Pilate, “My kingdom isn’t of this world. If it were, my followers would be fighting,” he was saying, in effect, there’s no kingdom on this planet — including yours, Pilate — that operates according to the rules of the kingdom I proclaim. Today we fail to see how cosmically revolutionary Jesus, his kingdom and his early followers were.
Read More(OPINION) So what are we to do? Wring our hands and swallow nerve pills like they’re Pez? Stay hopping mad at those on the other side of our political barricades? That’s sure no way to spend the next four years. That’s a recipe for madness, both personal and societal.
Read More(OPINION) After researching everything I could find about supposed miracles — from books and articles, doctors, religion experts, skeptics and, naturally, dozens of people who’d claimed they’d run smack dab into the hand of God — here are three conclusions.
Read More(ANALYSIS) A native of Fairmont, West Virginia, Paul Quenon entered Gethsemani as a novice in 1958. Thomas Merton was his novice master. “A Matter of the Heart” draws from Quenon’s experiences and observations over five of his more than six decades inside the cloister. Paul Prather recently spoke to him via email.
Read More(OPINION) Every day when I read or listen to the national news, I want to drive over to the public square and shout, “You kids stop it! Stop it right now!” So, before things get any further out of hand, let me offer up some thoughts on the election for all of us who are civically involved but not fanatics.
Read More(OPINION) I’m getting inquiries from folks about the broadening war among Israel, Hamas, Hezbollah and now Iran. Folks are asking, Is this it? The Big One? The End Times? My typical answer, year after year, crisis after crisis, is “Not to worry.” But this time I’m not saying that. This time might — I emphasize the “might” — be different.
Read More(OPINION) A lot of people — hordes, in fact — feel some amorphous pull toward the spiritual. There’s the old saying that all people are born with a God-shaped hole in them and only God can fill it. At some point in their lives many folks become seekers. But just as we all have to start at the beginning, we all have to grow.
Read More(OPINION) More than anybody I’ve ever known, Dad loved God. I mean, he really loved God, as if God was as real and tangible as a puppy or my mom. Meanwhile, he fought a probable emotional disorder on his own, the best he could, with no counseling and no medication, just him and the Holy Ghost waging war with his demons.
Read More(OPINION) If you haven’t read Ruth recently, or ever, you should. It’s a classic romance. I should say, it’s a romance among other things. That’s what intrigues me about the Bible, Old Testament and New. Nothing is ever just one thing. It works on a straightforward level, but it’s also full of allusions to other biblical passages and buried meanings and, well, there’s no end to it.
Read More(OPINION) As I’ve argued for years, being spiritual on your own isn’t enough. I located a column I wrote in 2015 — speaking of repeating myself — that outlined a half-dozen arguments for why believers need to join a congregation of like-minded pilgrims. Here’s a lightly edited version of that.
Read More(OPINION) For men and women alike, choosing to remain childless used to be a decision frowned upon by the larger culture. Now, childlessness is rapidly becoming our culture. Look, I get it. Yet I don’t get it. Having kids might be only a choice, but it’s a choice I can’t imagine having forgone.
Read More(OPINION) During the lengthy pandemic lockdown, I decided to take advantage of all that unforeseen solitude by developing my spiritual life. Among other things, I studied the works of Roman Catholic mystics. One sublime idea they sometimes express is that each of us — indeed, God’s whole creation — is one with the Maker of everything.
Read More(OPINION) I love a good story about grace. And if the story of Stephanie M. Raglin is about anything, it’s surely about grace. She might strike you as the poster child for some elite circle of saints who made the right choices and excelled at them all. But talk to her and you’ll quickly encounter another section of her vita.
Read More(OPINION) We who’ve entered our so-called golden years can recite for you the usual prescriptions for extending our lives and for improving the quality of those lives while we’re here. But there’s something else, less cited, that apparently can add years to our lives: our attitude.
Read More(OPINION) I’ve got important things I want to tell my grandkids. I’m older. I’ve learned stuff. I could save them lots of problems and disappointments. Some years ago, I decided to write a book I’d call something like, “Things I Want to My Grandkids to Know.” I’d self-publish it and provide a copy to each of the kids.
Read More(OPINION) I’ve come to believe lizard brain/reactive thinking explains much about why religion and politics — not to mention, say, family quarrels — turn irrational and toxic. Your first reaction is to assume the worst. We’re born ready-made with a predisposition toward the negative, which motivates us with an urgency the positive rarely equals.
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