The Second Coming of Black Jesus
In the first season of Adult Swim’s Black Jesus, the titular hero discovers that the tomatoes…
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The Sacred and the Dead: Deadheads Are Not a Deviant Subculture
A long time ago in a faraway land, I wrote my doctoral dissertation on Deadheads. …
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The Sacred and the Dead: It’s (Not) Just a Box of Rain
“The Grateful Dead were more than just a band. They were their own planet, populated by…
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Will Women Priests Change the Church?
Catholic women priests are an oxymoron for the Vatican. It considers them automatically excommunicated before the holy oil is dry on their hands. Other Catholics accept them as sacramental ministers and are delighted with the innovation. Still, others, myself included, want far deeper structural changes in the Catholic Church such that priesthood loses its baked-on charm and ministry becomes the expected task of adult members. This is an important theological conversation that the Vatican wishes would go away. Memo to them: it is just starting.
Read MoreIndonesian Volcano Update: Yes, it’s a Religion Story…
Media coverage has focused on the science of eruption, but they missed much of the local story.
Read MoreHow To Engage Politics As A Community?
Maybe I ought to write a book on that. D’oh!
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No Space for American Islam?
The debate has focused on the new Muslim community center’s location in lower Manhattan, but the opposition (who refer to it as the ‘Ground Zero Mosque’) is driven by a deeper, reflexive antagonism. They stand against what proponents of the center are setting out to create: a space for American Islam.
Read MorePlaces of Redemption: Theology for a Worldly Church
When it comes to subtle racism and able-ism in church communities, “even very well-meaning dominant groups are oblivious to their own power.”
Read MoreCreating Together: The Power of Social Capital
We complain about something like the health care debacle, but look at how much sheer force has to be arrayed against progressive causes. Maybe we’ve been looking at things all wrong…
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RDPulpit: Torture Needs You
Relieved that Guantanamo Bay is closing? Don’t rest easy. Until we accept our collective responsibility for torture, and the fact that it requires not just the torturer’s denial, but ours, it will prevail.
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