Rising Above the Darkness of These Times

Column by Rev. Dr. Jeffrey Frantz on February, 9 2023

I don’t know about you, but in recent times, I can hardly bear to watch the news.  It’s simply too depressing.  Gun violence continues to spin out of control with scant hope of any sensible resolution in sight. 

A Sobering Tale of the Demise of American Democracy (Part I)

Column by Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox on March, 15 2018

Historian Nancy MacLean’s book, Democracy In Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America, is scarier than a Stephen King novel or a movie such as “The Exorcist.”  Yet the former is non-fiction through and through!  The author declares she is offering up “the utterly chilling story of the ideological origins of the single most powerful and least understood threat to democracy today: the attempt by the billionaire-backed radical right to undo democratic governance.”

The Unlikely Honored Guest at the Democratic National Convention

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on August, 11 2016

He was seated in the VIP box at the Democratic National Convention, held during the last week of July, 2016, in Philadelphia. He was surrounded in that reserved and exclusive …

The Charleston Murders: The Final Battle in the Civil War?

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on July, 16 2015

It was a brutal murder of nine people in an AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina. The victims, including their pastor, who was also a member of the South …

Virginia Politics and the Trial of Governor Robert McDonnell

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on August, 28 2014

On Monday, August 14, 2014, beginning at 9:30 a.m., my wife Christine and I were seated in the Federal District Courtroom in Richmond, Virginia, preparing to listen to the testimony in …

Part XXV Matthew – Atonement Theology, Conclusion: Seeking New Possibilities

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on July, 10 2014

Have you ever wondered why the work of Charles Darwin has been so threatening to traditional Christians and to institutional Christianity? In fundamentalist and Bible belt regions of the …

America’s Health Care Debate and What it Reveals

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on December, 5 2013

Every nation I visited on my recent European lecture tour has a National Health System, paid for by tax dollars and run for all the people by the government …

The Boil Has Been Lanced. A New Consciousness Has Arrived

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on November, 22 2012

The votes have been cast, counted and the results have been made known.  Radio and television stations are no longer relentlessly broadcasting anti-Obama and anti-Romney ads.  The emotions of …

The Race is On: The Theological and Human Issues in the 2012 Election

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on September, 13 2012

The nominating conventions for both parties are visible now only through the rearview window. The banners have been taken down, the balloons have fallen, the local bars are back …

The Health Care Debate: Is It Possible to Reach Conclusions That Are Satisfactory?

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on April, 5 2012

The argument before the Supreme Court as to whether the Federal government can mandate health insurance for all citizens represents a fascinating dance around shifting realities.  It is an …