On June 14, 2022, Margaret Huang, President and CEO of the Southern Poverty Law Center, sent an email to supporters about the hearings of the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack. Here are some of the important take-aways from that notice as to what we citizens of the US must do in light […]
Blog
Thoughts, Prayers and Activism
More gun violence in the United States of America – truly a public health epidemic. There are outcries from liberals and progressives for action – as there should be. There has also been criticism of the pat – almost routine – offering of “thoughts and prayers” in the wake of tragic, unbelievable mass shootings. What […]
Christian Practices and Their Indebtedness to the Goddesses and Gods of Antiquity, Part II: Miscellaneous Liturgies and Practices
In our previous post, we examined the pagan backgrounds of Christian practices that take place most often in Sunday worship services. Here we will look at special liturgies of the Christian church and miscellaneous Christian practices that have roots in the goddess and god cults of antiquity. Special liturgies Weddings and marriage. According to the […]
Christian Practices and Their Indebtedness to the Goddesses and Gods of Antiquity, Part I: Sunday Liturgies
As we have noted on several occasions, Western civilization as we know it emerged in a polytheistic (multi-deity) environment from the earliest times. The beginnings of the West as we know it today can be traced to the Middle East. The Jewish man Jesus of Nazareth lived from about 4 BCE (Before the Common Era) […]
Current Poll Numbers in Close Senate Midterm Races
Earlier we discussed Democratic Senate candidates for some of the close contests in the 2022 midterm primaries and November election. Here we will revisit those candidates vis-à-vis current polling and fundraising. Pundits routinely predict that Democrats will lose both the House and Senate: some of us hope they are dead wrong in their predictions. If […]
Nurses, Ancient Goddesses and Healing: Reclaiming the Power of the Feminine Principle
Introduction Nurses throughout the United States, and indeed throughout the world, have been on the front line of care during the pandemic. They are among the heroes in our communities, but we know that they are facing severe challenges as individuals and as a profession. There has been a nursing shortage for years, and that […]
Persis: Another Female Colleague of St. Paul’s
Previously we have examined the women around St. Paul, noting that, contrary to comments about women incorrectly attributed to him that have been used to oppress women in both church and society, Paul actually worked closely with many women in leadership positions and had great respect for them. Most of the women in these positions […]
In Solidarity with Ukraine
The thoughts and prayers of Americans and citizens around the world are with the Ukrainian people in their time of crisis. With the news changing almost hourly, we cannot begin to chart in this space what is happening on the ground. Instead, we will here try to offer some perspective on their very ancient and […]
The Letters of St. Paul, Authentic and Inauthentic: Lessons from the Household Codes
We have examined the legacy of St. Paul and his letters to the early Christian communities several times in the past. We have noted that one of the ways that Paul communicated with original Jesus followers in the first century was through his letters (epistles) and that a number of letters in the New (Christian) […]
Suggested Readings for Black History Month: The Self-Education of White Americans
Some of us believe that much of the onus for solving the problem of racism in the United States should lie with those of us who are white. If slavery is our “original sin” as a nation (or, perhaps a better term, an “unforgivable crime against humanity“), we cannot sugarcoat the fact that it was […]