reflecting on various topics
I have a problem. It’s something I’m working on. Whenever I start to feel happy, like really, really happy, a “voice” starts talking in the back of my mind. It reminds me of flaws, problems, and primarily things on to-do lists from years past. It reminds me of things I told someone I would do at one point in life, and then never did, and now there is no way I can do them. It reminds me of all kinds of little things I still feel guilty for that I …
One thing that has been bothering me a lot has been the claim that there is a clear political affiliation that Christians should have- that God has a political party, and that religion and politics are synonymous. I want to share a challenge to that view. No political party is perfect, because we, as humans, are not perfect. Many issues that are hot in politics right now are nuanced, with many variations of grey in terms of possibilities of ways things can move forward. Gun rights In general, Democrats have …
Yesterday, one of my all-time favorite journalists, Nicholas Kristof, wrote “Progressive Christians Arise! Hallelujah!,”an opinion column in the New York Times that I found super inspirational. I’m sure it’s being discussed in many Christian circles, and I wanted to chime in on that conversation. He mentions that many of our elected democratic leaders are either Christians, or seem to espouse Christian culture: “Enter Joe Biden, one of the most religious presidents of the last century, along with Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush. Biden attends Mass regularly and inhabits faith as Donald …
Hi. So… I reached a writer’s block. Maybe six months ago, I started a series on race. My goal was to support the Black Lives Matter movement by taking a centrist position and describing underlying definitions of race and race relations. I’m going to admit that I bit off more than I could chew. I was trying to approach things from the middle- from a perspective that wouldn’t offend anyone, and would bring everyone together. As time went on, I started to feel my whiteness increasingly keenly. Someone seemed to …
A couple years ago, on Donald Trump’s first official day as elected President of the United States, I participated in the Womens’ March in our town. It was comparatively small (maybe 300 people), and it wasn’t an “official” march, but it was affiliated. It was very exciting to me to be able to actually do something to voice my dissent over Donald Trump’s election, and to stand up for basic human values of respect and tolerance. I went with a really good friend, and with my mom. I had to …
Hi. I want you to know that if you are a Christian who is distraught over the way other Christians, as a group, are responding to current events, you are not alone. If you believe that love is the way forward, not hate, you’re in good company. If you believe in the separation between church and state, you’re not the only one. It’s a pretty hard time nowadays for most people. We are in the middle of a pandemic, unemployment is skyrocketing, and people are getting sick and dying everywhere. …
