Blog

Apocryphal Women in the Early Jesus Movement: Eliciting Fact from Fiction

| Past

In past posts, we have examined women in the first couple of centuries of the Common Era (CE) who may well have been real: Evodia and Syntyche mentioned by Paul in his letter to the Philippians; Apphia, mentioned in Paul’s letter to Philemon; and women mentioned in Chapter 16 of Paul’s letter to the Romans: […]

Index to the Eighth Year

| Future,Past,Present

Thank you for your interest in these blog posts! Here is a listing by topic for posts since October 2022. (Some posts appear in more than one category.) Social and Racial Justice, Diversity Resources and Some Good News For Black History Month 2023, 2/10/23 Celebrating Women’s History Month: A Reading List, 3/24/23 Science Meets Religion: […]

Civics Lessons from the Era of Trump: Part II

| Present

Last time, we examined several ways in which we American citizens have been educated about the workings of our government, in large part because of the words and actions of the twice-impeached, four-times-indicted former President, Donald Trump. We looked at three Constitutional Amendments (1, 14 and 25), laws versus norms, pardoning, the importance of the […]

Civics Lessons from the Era of Trump: Part I

| Present

If we feel sometimes like we’ve gone to law school over the past eight years, it’s understandable. For many of us who have been paying attention, we have learned more than we ever wanted or expected to know about our Constitution and legal system. This is not an entirely bad thing; we citizens should definitely […]

An Excellent Application of the 14th Amendment

| Present

“No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of […]

Undaunted Courage in the Face of Disparagement and Racism: Five Examples

| Present

In our divided, contentious and often violent country, many of us yearn for examples of courage and resilience. We can feel surrounded – not only by social media and news feeds but even in our own neighborhoods – by demoralizing examples of vengeance, fear-mongering, lawlessness, and cruelty. The most egregious, visible, powerful and omnipresent source, […]

Being Alert and Strategic about the Dangers of Moms for Liberty

| Present

The radical right-wing – which includes some of our fellow citizens, even our neighbors – has recently taken up more questionable causes that affect millions of Americans. Whatever their motives, many on the right are spreading very dangerous, anti-democratic disinformation cloaked in innocuous-sounding groups, movements and rhetoric. Moms for Liberty, despite its positive name, is […]

Biden-Harris Rail Improvements in Red States

| Present

Thirty-two states will soon benefit from 63 rail projects funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed in late 2021 by the Biden-Harris Administration. According to a press release by the Department of Transportation (DOT), the “Law includes the first-ever dedicated grant program to help communities eliminate points where railroad tracks intersect with roads, which have […]