Every time the calendar turns I think, now is the time I can get my shit together. The arrival of a new month, quarter or year. The new Lenten season or Easter Sunday or, as of right now, the Advent season. These days on the calendar get me excited that I can stop doing whatever …
Now that I have your attention, let’s define some terms. What I mean by Christmas is what the broader culture means. Santa and sleighs and office events and shopping and gift giving and receiving. This is almost a universal in the U.S. It really doesn’t matter what, if any, faith anyone possess. I know …
Having just passed the extended Thanksgiving Holiday and read many expressions of thanks it seems appropriate to add mine. I am thankful for many things. First, that I was baptized in Christ by faithful parents and thereby marked with the Cross of Christ forever. I am thankful for their continued example of faithfulness …
This past week I had the opportunity to attend a presentation at church from a retired prosecutor who talked about human trafficking. He presented a dire view of this sad phenomenon and stated in no uncertain terms that this was a pervasive and growing problem. The only trouble, is that he never bothered …
Now we know that all taxes violate the 7th. Commandment as I discussed here. What then should we make of the tax “reform” debate? The criticism of the Republican tax proposal from the Left is that it is a massive tax cut for the wealthy, the Right says it will spur the economy forward. …
The Common Lectionary had this text from Matthew (Mt 22:15-22) as the Gospel reading last week. This and the corresponding Mark 12:13-17 and Luke 20:20-26 contains the famous story of Jesus telling the Pharisees to give to Caesar what is his and to give to God the things that are God’s. This is clearly …
I was recently at a ministry program that I am involved in at my local church, the beginning of which involves music and prayer in the Sanctuary. After the music and prayer, when the crowd moved into another room for the rest of the program, the guitarist/singer played the Eagles Song Take It Easy. …
Since we know a bit about how we got here, the question arises where do we go to now. The first thing that I think should be done is to increase the supply of medical providers and medical services. This is likely to be more politically salable and will not risk motivating those politically …
Healthcare Rights & Wrongs Part II:Where To From Here? Read More »
Let’s admit upfront that the U.S. has a violent culture. It is in fact more violent than most nations. This is a nation born of violence that conquered a continent violently, marked by African-American slavery and Native-American genocide. The U.S. then went on to build an empire based on the systematic, violent oppression of …
The dictionary defines a right as “a moral or legal entitlement to have or obtain something or to act in a certain way”. When people speak of a right to healthcare what they really mean is that some individuals have the right to make other individuals pay for their healthcare. If we view this …
Healthcare Rights & Wrongs Part I: How We Got Here Read More »