Decoration Day

That’s what I remember Memorial Day being called when I was a youngster–Decoration Day–at least in my family. My dad would take me with him to where his parents were buried in the Pleasant Hill Baptist Church Cemetery, outside Thompsonville, in...

Sexual Orientation

Journeyman professional basketball player, 34-year-old Jason Collins, recently received his proverbial “fifteen minutes of fame” when he revealed in a Sports Illustrated article that he is gay. So . . . ? What does anyone’s sexual orientation have to...

Mothers Day

I’ve known this young woman, who is now a senior in high school, since I visited her and her mother in the hospital the day she was born. She and her family are dear people in my life. She’s given me permission to publish this essay which won her a trip to...

This and That

WHO’S GENEROUS?  The wealthiest Americans–those in the top 20 percent–give 1.3 percent of their income to charity; those in the bottom 20 percent give 3.2 percent of their income, even though many of them can’t itemize their contributions as a...

A Homeless Veteran

“The last thing I ever wanted to happen would have been to find myself homeless. But it’s turned out to be one of the best things that could have happened to me.” That’s what my friend and colleague said to me recently. He’s a deeply...

A Book Review

When I was a student at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky (1967-71), Glenn Hinson was a seminal figure in the shaping of my life in a number of important ways. Not the least of which I learned from him to think of as “spiritual...

The Answer Depends Upon the Question

I’ve often explained how I went to seminary nearly half-a-century ago looking for “answers.” But instead, was introduced to different “questions.” From which I have concluded, across the years of my adulthood, that the...

What’s a Kid to Do?

A benign incident at church on Palm Sunday was revealing with respect to an important aspect of child development. My daughter, her husband and two young sons were visiting from Denver. The occasion was the baptism/dedication of the younger child–Harmon, 15...

Evolution in the Bible

A “biblicist”–also known as a “fundamentalist”–would never think that “the Bible” and “evolution” should ever be found together in the same sentence. Believing, instead, that such terms are mutually...

Freedom of Conscience

I receive, at regular intervals, a free online newsletter entitled “Religion and Politics” which is published by the Danforth Center at Washington University in St. Louis. A recent article–“Can Atheists and Muslims Support Freedom of Conscience...