Religion

One of the greatest enemies Judaism and Christianity have ever known has undoubtedly been socialism. Socialism threatens the very moral fabric of our society. It oppresses the masses with heavy taxation. It undermines free enterprise. It defies the democratic spirit. It champions bloated government bureaucratic programs that are ineffective and crippling on the economy....
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Growing Up Catholic (1952 – 1971) Although my soul is no longer in her keeping, I owe my physical existence to the Roman Catholic Church and her pro-life teachings. I was born the second of five children into a traditional Catholic home in 1952. My Mom once told us, “If it weren’t for the...
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Maybe God isn’t dead. Maybe he’s just...
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My interview with Steve Douglas, Matthew Raymer and Travis Jacobs from Christianity is now online. Click here to go to the Christianity Podcast blog page for our interview. To directly download the MP3 file, right-mouse click and ‘save as’ right here.
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If it weren’t for Facebook, I would have missed the flap over Rob Bell this past weekend. Here’s the story in a nutshell: Bell’s publishing company released a trailer for Bell’s forthcoming book, Love Wins: A Book about Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Everyone Who Ever Lived (one assumes he is speaking generally), in which...
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I’ve started and stopped writing this post at least half a dozen times. I’ve invested something like 10,000 words into it and here I am starting over again.  I’m not a perfectionist or temperamental, I just haven’t found a message I felt worth sharing with you all. I think I’ve found it now. What...
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Why do I remain in the Church? When this question was posted to me, I was taken aback for a moment. When one endures, survives, ekes out an existence on the fringes for so long, the question of “why” often becomes moot. Why do soldiers survive in the mayhem of battle? Why do parents...
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When and if I arrive at heaven’s gates, I will have so many questions prior to entry that I can imagine the other tired and weary souls in line behind me will undoubtedly become irritated. I will ask about the true tenets of godliness, and more importantly, a great deal on what horrible things...
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Introduction After briefly situating sociologist and theologian Ali Shariʿati historically and geopolitically within the context of pre-revolutionary Iran in the 1960s and 70s, this paper will proceed to evaluate the work of Ali Shariʿati in two movements. First, Shariʿati’s use of the Qur’an and traditional Islamic symbols in his writings and public performances will...
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When the applause died down and the lights went up, I sat in my seat at the center of the front row spellbound by the performance of Judith I had just seen. I’d heard her anxiety, her prayers, and her courage. I’d heard the words of the dying Holofernes. But how? The biblical text doesn’t...
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