As the Christmas season arrives, the icon of the Virgin Mary enters the consciousness of the Christian world in a significant way. She is universally recognized with her …
If, as I have argued, organized religion is almost
universally anti-female and even misogynistic, was Jesus
different? Did he stand outside that pattern? Certainly, the
religion developed by …
We began this series of columns by searching for the
source of the almost universally negative definition of women
that is held in religious circles. Somehow it has …
Last week I began an exploration of the origins of that
incessant religious negativity toward women. I located its
deepest root in the evolutionary process where survival
becomes …
Have you ever noticed that organized religion has
historically been a major force in the oppression of
women? Have you ever wondered why? The battle over
abortion being …
It all began on October 6, 1968. On that day, twelve
people gathered in a house in Los Angeles in response to an
advertisement in a four-page magazine for homosexuals …
A well-known and oft-quoted verse in Matthew’s Gospel
portrays Jesus, responding to a question designed to trap him
between competing loyalties. Where does the line fall between
what …
Nothing forces an awareness of the passing of time into
one’s consciousness quite like a school reunion. Recently my
classmates from our seminary days gathered to recognize the
50 …
“Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat
it.” These words of philosopher George Santayana are
terrifyingly true. Recently, I have looked again at what
happened …
Recently Christine and I spent fifteen days on a lecture
tour across the beautiful, gracious land of Sweden stopping
in the cities of Vasteras, Rattvik, Stockholm, Uppsala and
…