Sacred Stories – The hard problem of RACE

Every Black History Month for the last 20 years I have deliberately sought to circulate articles from my blog “The Half Not Told” in an attempt at kindling a conversation, hopefully a balanced conversation, an honest conversation, a hard-to-have conversation about race … and race like family, like nationality, like social group and faith community … More Sacred Stories – The hard problem of RACE

Heroes Day Reflections

Having just watched our own national ritual of ancestor worship, I am reminded of Jesus’ frustration: “In vain do they worship me teaching as doctrine the commandments of men.” The New English Translation says “Their teachings are merely human rules/commandments. Jesus knew that for worship to be effective, it has to be both sincere and … More Heroes Day Reflections

It’ll take a miracle

A friend sent me two blog posts from Frank Viola, one of the top Christian bloggers on the internet. The first: To my miracle-obsessed Friends, the second: To my miracle-doubting friends. Should I summarize and de-theologize his main argument? ‘Character is more important than spiritual power’. However, Frank is talking to church people, who by … More It’ll take a miracle

Who is we?

There is no grammatical mistake in the title. I am not asking us to identify ourselves. I am asking us to identify our ‘we’. When you say ‘we’, who is that? ‘We’ is not a plural pronoun. (Forget what you learned in school. It’s wrong.) ‘Us’ is a singular entity. A union. An amalgam. A … More Who is we?

God and Politics: Trinary thinking

In my article Defining Observations, I stated, “The political dimensions of religion are often ignored. However this renders both at best anemic, at worst evil. ” For all the practical and valid reasons that the movement towards clear distinction and separation of Church and State was historically both clearly progressive and  purgative. and that moment … More God and Politics: Trinary thinking

Winning hearts

Most people are not interested in changing their minds, whatever their present orientation – Jew or  Catholic, Democrat or Republican, same sex marriage advocate or anti-abortionist. Whatever the issue, people generally tend to change their minds only when compelled to do so by circumstances, or after a lengthy process of evaluation gradually convinces them of  … More Winning hearts

Vistas

One of the things I like about the throne of God and the creatures that guard it is they are surrounded by eyes on every side – perfect metaphor for circumspection. No wonder they cry  ‘holy!’ Interestingly, deception is first represented in scripture as the opening of the eyes. Gen 3: 5-7.  Perhaps then this … More Vistas

Unity in Diversity

In my  article, What do you think about Jesus, I expressed serious doubt  that Science could replace Scripture as a source of inspiration. The notion that String Theory….even Super Unified String Theory might contribute to, clarify or even support Christian Theology however, is not an idea to be scoffed at without a hearing. I made … More Unity in Diversity

To bow or not to bow?

Is that the question? For the record, she is in fact reverentially kneeling before Pastor/Prophet Alph Lukau. Black people, generally speaking, are not easily impressed. Myles Munro said it best. Should someone come to him walking on water, he’d fold his arms and say, “Well, what else can you do?” He would turn the performance … More To bow or not to bow?