Christian nationalism that had led to the first world war, was now leading to the second. Almost all of the 60 million Germans in 1933 were Christians. The country was suffering in the aftermath of WWI, and it was ready for a new “Leader” who would restore the economy and national pride.

Will there come a day when all human behavior can be understood as clearly as natural disasters? Will these behaviors still be considered evil?

So, how did Christianity become so mean? Although many factors contribute to mean Christianity, the primary culprit is that large numbers of American Christians, both Republicans and Democrats, care more about partisan politics and culture wars than they care about following the example and teachings of Jesus.

The fact is that civil-minded folk outnumber the forces on the other side. There are just more of us than there are of them. The problem is that we have not recognized the current existential threat. We slide along the path we are on, pretending as though next year will be the same as this year. It will not.

The central focus of Jesus’ message was to announce the imminent coming of the kingdom of God. This is what he was sent to do. (Luke 4: 43-44) This kingdom would be on earth for the people of Israel. (Matthew 10: 5-8) Although Jesus gives few details on how this kingdom would operate.

So what about loving our enemies? What do we normally feel, what do others who have modeled destructive behavior and attitudes expect us to feel and what can we possibly feel? Why should we choose not to feel what virtually everyone expects us to feel?

When the intellectual history of the 20th century is written, a few achievements will tower overall. Einstein’s theory of general relativity will be one; the laws of quantum mechanics will be another. The Big Bang Theory of the origin of the universe will be a third.

I’m not sure why we can be so idealistic about human love when human love is profoundly imperfect and so often unreliable.

What I know is that I need to not beat myself up for having a hard time when I’m having a hard time.

Our perceptions of gender are changing. The role of gender in our society is changing. The relationship between gender and sexuality is changing. It’s a paradigm shift that has crested and simply will not be rolled back.

Saint Paul is often regarded as a particularly troublesome writer for those who try to reconcile animal liberation and Christianity.

One of the most challenging things in life is to stay engaged in a conversation when there are clearly very different ideologies at play.

Vigils are being held regionally and all over the world to protest the horrific war in Israel. Pro-Israeli and Pro-Palestinian advocates are demanding their people’s plights be heard.

We recently celebrated the life, faith and non-violence of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The moment triggers within us a host of emotions-thankfulness for heroes such as he, distress about the state of our country, anxiety about the future, and fear for the present.

Spirituality is all about seeing, inclusivity, and reconciling apparent opposites via the "narrow way." The strait gate/kingdom that the spiritual Janus (Jesus) holds the keys to.

Neil deGrasse Tyson is reported to have said that “the universe is under no obligation to make sense to you.” No doubt true, but how about the inverse: are we under any obligation to make sense out of the universe?

Decades ago, I wrote a blessing prayer for this season that began with a reference to nothing but a flicker of hope in “the fading glory of these autumn days, when night creeps early on to darkness; and leaves us, bound in shadows, longing for the light.” And yet, it remains that flicker of hope that I want to write about.

The Bible is a very human book with differing positions on who Jesus was and what he said. The result is you can find a passage in the Bible to support any political position you choose to take.

O come, O come Wisdom from on high – Send your wisdom and cast aside the myopic stupidity that comes from thinking only of ourselves, only of our own species, only of our own wellbeing, only of our own country, only of our own religion, only of our own historical moment.

We stand on the brink of everything collapsing. The entire world. It's unraveling.

So why do we persist in comparing ourselves to others? And suffering the frustration that results?

The mystic seeks direct experience of the divine to explore its perceptual, emotional, and metaphysical nature. For the mystic, the entire universe is conscious and alive, saturated by an all-encompassing eternal and loving Presence.

What I am saying is that if we are not looking at the whole reality of being human, the good the bad and the embarrassing, then we simply will not have the wisdom to know how to make use of, them in, or regulate AI.

I’m currently sitting in the 10+-year-old chair, listening to the sounds of rain on the top of the tent, and writing the words that will turn into this very article you are currently reading. It is my tradition to spend the evening and the day of Yom Kippur in a tent.

  The luminous web.  What quantum physics suggests is that everything in life--molecules, particles, and sub-atomic particles--is inter-connected.  We are all caught up

How about the “me” that I think I am? Is that a constant? Not really. The person that I thought I was a decade or two ago, is not totally the person I think I am today.

It can be scary to have doubts because we imagine that we are moving away from God. In reality, we are only moving away from our comfortable and established ideas about God.

At church inside the women’s prison last Sunday, Pastor Samm raised her hands after communion and said, receive this blessing. Immediately a roar of feedback from the mics and monitors behind her angrily filled the room.

Global warming is the latest proof that we have crossed a boundary into a truly apocalyptic age, for we now live in a period when anthropogenic change is overpowering nature and life itself.

A lot of flawed people are modeling lots of flawed behavior for us every day. We don’t have to become so indignant or angry or even violent after we feel frustrated or offended. We can choose something else.”