On Nov 5, 2010 ⋅ 2 comments
11/5 The mid-term elections are written in the Book of Life and now Congress will return for the lame duck session. The House has already passed the bill to end Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT) and the Senate leadership has promised to pass it before the end of the year. If all goes well, lesbian, […]
On Oct 29, 2010 ⋅ 13 comments
10/29 When I was a child in Sunday school, I was taught that “justice” was a quality of God’s kingdom manifest in acceptance and equality. As the years have passed I have become dismayed by how, both in the church and in our national discourse, this beautiful word has seemingly lost its meaning. Instead of […]
On Oct 22, 2010 ⋅ No comments
10/22 I’ve written before about what I believe it means to “Believe Out Loud.” Well, two weeks ago I was blessed to attend the Believe Out Loud Power Summit, hosted by the National Gay and Lesbian Taskforce. This news clip from the conference gives you some sense of what was so transforming about these days […]
On Oct 8, 2010 ⋅ No comments
10/8 “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus speaks of this command in Matthew, Mark and Luke as joining “Love the Lord your God” at the heart of faithful living (Mt 22:39, Mk 12:31, Lk 10:27). Paul in Romans (13:9) and Galatians (5:14), as well as James (2:8), cites “Loving your neighbor” as the fulfilling of […]
On Aug 13, 2010 ⋅ 11 comments
8/13 I paused for a good while when I came to one of the comments on my answer to the On Faith question last week. In his response, Danny (PILOTER101) references Jesus’ farewell discourse to the disciples before his arrest: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15). I agree completely that we […]
On Jul 30, 2010 ⋅ No comments
7/30 I admit that as I prepared to moderate the panel on Common Values: Building Bridges with People of Faith to Win Progressive Change at Netroots Nation, one of my assumptions was that progressives might be uncomfortable sharing their “tent” with people of faith. I heard these same thoughts from the panelists the night before […]
On Jul 10, 2009 ⋅ No comments
7/10 In response to several overtures concerning marriage and families, the 2008 PCUSA General Assembly did the very Presbyterian thing: they asked the Moderator to appoint a Special Committee to study the matter. That committee was formed in the winter and began its work with a strong desire to take advantage of modern technology to […]
On Jul 3, 2009 ⋅ No comments
7/3 On Wednesday, July 1, the Council of Allegheny County of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania became the third county in Pennsylvania to pass into law an anti-discrimination ordinance that will establish a Human Relations Commission to protect the housing, employment and due process rights of vulnerable groups in our community. The County Executive has said […]
On Apr 3, 2009 ⋅ No comments
4/3 I spoke a few days ago at the Six O’Clock Series, a monthly public lecture program at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. I was excited to learn from the young man who greeted me when I arrived that there had been a lot of talk around the student union anticipating my topic: Marriage on Trial: […]
On Mar 19, 2009 ⋅ No comments
3/19 Every morning I confess “I have sinned in thought, word and deed, by what I have done and by what I have left undone,” and I ponder for a bit how that is true in the past stretch of my life. I have been thinking a lot of all that happened at the Pittsburgh […]
