Category Archives: Current Affairs

Quick status report on Diocese of Rhode Island

Posted on October 30, 2012 by

So far today we’re not hearing of any significant impact to the people or property of the Diocese of Rhode Island. Linda Grenz has been working the phones along with the rest of the staff at Diocesan House and seems to have made contact with most every congregation. Continue reading →

Posted in Current Affairs, Rhode Island | 2 Comments

Prayers for the injured in Colorado

Posted on July 20, 2012 by

There are no answers now. Even if answers are found for our questions in the next few weeks, I’d be surprised if they were sensible, or even helpful. Terrible things seem to be like that; they exist outside of sense and reason. They happen and we struggle to find categories to understand. Continue reading →

Posted in Current Affairs | Leave a comment

Put it in a special drawer…

Posted on January 24, 2012 by

Yesterday there were a series of rallies at the State Capital. The Latino community joined by the Democratic caucus held a rally complaining about SB1070 and the way it has harmed the state and “poisoned” relationships. The Republicans promised to resist all efforts toward repeal. The new State Senate President is quoted as saying to effect, “Any bill that I receive to repeal SB1070 is going into a special drawer in my desk. And it’s not coming out.”

In other words, the minority can expect no hearing of their concerns by the legislature. They should not expect the government to act in their interest. It will only act in the interest of the majority. Continue reading →

Posted in Centrists, Current Affairs, Religion | 2 Comments

The need to build bridges

Posted on June 28, 2011 by

Years and years ago, I was at a clergy retreat at the Antiochian Orthodox Church Center in Western PA. It was the annual clergy retreat for the Diocese of Pittsburgh, and it was back in the days that Alden Hathaway … Continue reading →

Posted in Centrists, Current Affairs, Religion | 1 Comment

The App you ought to have

Posted on June 4, 2011 by

Do you have an iPhone? An iPad? Do you support the One Campaign? I spent time in Swaziland. Many of my friends are either from the Sudan or work with people in the Sudan. Here in Phoenix we have a … Continue reading →

Posted in Current Affairs, World Mission | Leave a comment

Volf: Fear and relief

Posted on May 3, 2011 by

Many of my friend and my favorite blogs have been posting their thoughts on the news that Osama bin Laden was killed by the US military on Sunday. I’ve not said anything because, frankly, I’m not sure what I think … Continue reading →

Posted in Current Affairs | 3 Comments

It’s time to rethink America’s policy on nuclear weapons.

Posted on March 7, 2011 by

There’s an article in the Wall Street Journal today by a number of former Cold War leaders (including George Schultz, Sam Nunn and Henry Kissinger) that calls for the U.S. to rethink its M.A.D. nuclear weapons policy. Not a dove … Continue reading →

Posted in Current Affairs, World Mission | 1 Comment

“The dagger at the throat of the old regimes”

Posted on February 20, 2011 by

My sermon this morning touched on the history we’re seeing unfolding before our eyes as population after population rises up against its government in the Mid-East. I pointed out that the part of the reason this seems to be happening … Continue reading →

Posted in Current Affairs, Web/Tech | Leave a comment

Nuclear weapons test ban

Posted on January 20, 2011 by

When I was studying physics back in the ’80s the vast majority of job opportunities for PhD’s and Masters folks were being found in weapons research contained under the SDI (strategic defense initiative or “Star Wars”) umbrella. The only serious … Continue reading →

Posted in Current Affairs | 1 Comment

Walter Russell Mead: The Crisis of the American Intellectual

Posted on December 8, 2010 by

Mead writes in an essay that discusses why American society seems so committed to restraining the full power of the information revolution to transform itself: “Almost everywhere one looks in American intellectual institutions there is a hypertrophy of the theoretical, … Continue reading →

Posted in Current Affairs | 1 Comment