Last year brought yet another extremely disturbing statistic: 2017 marked the highest increase in antisemitic incidents in the US since the first Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents was taken in 1979. In a statement, Jonathan A. Greenblatt, CEO and National Director of the Anti-Defamation League, stated, “A confluence of events in 2017 led to a surge […]
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Reasons for Hope
In the midst of disheartening news in the trying times in which we live, it is important for our national conversation and personal well-being that we bring to mind the positive things that are happening all around us. Here’s a sampling. DACA stays the law of the land! “The Supreme Court on Monday [Feb. 26] […]
HarvardX: Online Course on Religious Literacy
Do you want to learn how to interpret the roles religions play in contemporary and historic contexts? Would you like to explore the internal diversity of various religions? Are you curious about how religions evolve and change and how religions are embedded in all human cultures? If so, you might want to check out “Religious […]
Statement by Bishops United Against Gun Violence
Over 70 bishops of the Episcopal Church have organized against the epidemic of gun violence in our country. Following the horrific mass shooting on Valentine’s Day in Parkland, Florida, the bishops issued yet another plea for action; the statement was distributed in our local parishes the following Sunday, February 18, 2018, the First Sunday in […]
Ancient Corinth II: Women in St. Paul’s Time
Last week, we examined the deities worshiped in ancient Corinth and saw how influential goddesses, as well as gods, were before, during and after the time of St. Paul. Here we will look at the status and role of women at Corinth, especially how their involvement in society and local cults may have influenced Paul […]
Ancient Corinth I: Gods and Goddesses
Ancient Corinth, on the Peloponnesian peninsula in Greece, is known primarily to moderns as one of the cities visited by St. Paul and the setting of Paul’s pair of letters to the Corinthians. (First Corinthians is abbreviated I Cor., and Second Corinthians is abbreviated II Cor.) One of the most familiar passages of the Bible, […]
Revisiting Quality-of-Life Issues in Our Sister Nations
Earlier posts have looked at quality-of-life statistics of the United States compared to other advanced democracies, especially in the European Union. As we have noted, a number of European nations have far higher standards of living than the US. By many measures, Finland consistently ranks as having one of the best education systems in the […]
First Lawsuit Filed to Challenge Trump Medicaid Attack
Certain Republicans and conservatives would love to damage, severely weaken or kill off Medicaid (and other social safety net programs that have been in place for decades). A first step was recently taken in Kentucky and approved by the Department of Health and Human Services. According to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, on January […]
Immigration Lessons from the Bible
We in the United States remain in a season of partisan contention, angst, uncertainty, resistance, divisiveness, and a recent government shutdown. One of the major issues of disagreement between our political parties is that of the “dreamers,” those young people brought to the US illegally as children by their parents, and the Obama-era measure put […]
Better Reasons to Look at Norway
Now that President Trump has mentioned Norway (!), let us take the opportunity to reiterate some of what we have already discussed about that very progressive nation. It is quite certain, contrary to Trump’s desires, that we will not soon see an influx of Norwegian immigrants to the US: while Trump presumably wants Norwegians primarily […]