The Need for a Profound Humility
Giants Engaged in both Science and Religion
New Theists: Knowers, Not Believers
A Review of The New Universe and the Human Future
Where Science and Religion Coexist
Muslims and Evolution in the 21st Century: A Galileo Moment?
Why Americans Love Creationism
The Genesis of International Interfaith Organizing
From Darwin to Zygon – Signs of Reconciliation
The Science of Compassion
Scientists and Mystics Taking Hands
Michael Dowd and "Evolutionary Christianity"
A Salute to America
A Mystic Vision with a Social Conscience
Secular Religion Not an Oxymoron
Is secular religion a contradiction in terms? The popular answer would be: ‘‘Of course! Religion can’t be secular, or it wouldn’t be religion.’’
“Interview an Atheist at Church” Takes Off
A few months ago, a random idea popped in my head: What if pastors interviewed atheists as part of their Sunday service? Having been a youth pastor at one point, and now an atheist, it was as if I was trying to connect two different stages of my life. More importantly, I thought about some of the benefits this might generate amongst atheists, pastors, and congregants alike.
A Faithful Democratic Response to Immigration Reform
The intersection of citizenship and immigration is finally coming to the fore in national conversations. President Obama’s 2013 State of the Union message forcefully addressed immigration. On its heels came the Group of Six’s immigration reform bill. Pieces in The New York Times and The Nation, respectively on immigration and workers’ rights and deportation and detention halts, stand out as worthy markers.
Why Young Adults Are Disappearing from Our Congregations
My work life so far has focused on the youth and young adult communities in Muslim and Unitarian Universalist (UU) settings, and this essay is about the challenges they face. Many American faith communities face the problem of large elderly populations and small to non-existent populations of young people from 18 to 30. The Pew Forum reports that a third of the U.S. population under 30 now identifies as religiously unaffiliated. Clearly, faith communities are having trouble maintaining relationships with their estranged youth communities.
Religious Freedom, Meet Secularism — Your Best Ally
In what could go down as one of its most notable reckonings of the era, the Supreme Court heard arguments next week in two major gay marriage cases. As the advocates and justices prepare to spar over California’s Proposition 8 and the federal Defense of Marriage Act, important constitutional principles had a much-needed day in the sun.
Offering an Overdue Welcome to the Atheist Community
A week after 9/11, on a Monday afternoon, 400 clergy in vestments assembled in Civic Center, San Francisco, a rainbow of color representing an unprecedented diversity. They processed into Bill Graham Civic Auditorium where 5,000 had gathered to mourn the terrible tragedy the nation had suffered. After a long, thoroughly interspiritual service, people streamed out. In a far corner of the green a group of people stood alone, protestors, waving posters.