In this season of Thanksgiving, and as we head into the holiday season, two recent developments from the little state of Vermont are noteworthy. Earlier this year, the Vermont Legislature passed a law designating the second Monday in October as Indigenous Peoples’ Day, replacing the traditional designation of Columbus Day. Republican Governor Phil Scott signed […]
Present
Blog posts relating to the present such as social justice issues
Religious Literacy Guidelines for College Students – and the Rest of Us
Religion is frequently in the news, whether we are hearing about shootings at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Mother Emmanuel Church in Charleston, SC, or Sutherland Springs, Texas; differences between Sunni and Shiite Muslims in the Middle East; objections to abortion by leaders in the Roman Catholic Church and conservative politicians, including Vice […]
Index to the Fourth Year
Thank you as always for checking in with WisdomWordsPPF! Below is a guide to the past year of blog posts. Here are the other indices: First year (October 2015-October 2016); Second year (October 2016-October 2017); Third year (October 2017-October 2018). US Politics, Trump Administration, 2018 and 2020 Elections Buyer’s Remorse and Self-Forgiveness: Humble Suggestions for […]
A Virtual Pilgrimage to Civil Rights Sites in Alabama II: Montgomery and Concluding Thoughts
In Part I, we laid out the basics of a “virtual pilgrimage” to civil rights sites in Birmingham and Selma, Alabama. Here we will visit sites in Montgomery. One in particular was rather disturbing for its pro-Confederacy perspective; all provide food for thought. Notes from Montgomery Equal Justice Initiative, including the National Memorial for Peace […]
A Virtual Pilgrimage to Civil Rights Sites in Alabama I: Preparation, Birmingham and Selma
Making a pilgrimage to a sacred or special location is an age-old practice; practitioners of most religious traditions and many others have undertaken spiritual journeys to seek meaning, look “for their heart’s desire,” to heal, and to “find a more authentic home” (Kujawa-Holbrook 8). How, though, can someone with limited funds, mobility issues or other […]
Buyer’s Remorse and Self-Forgiveness: Humble Suggestions for Trump Voters Reconsidering
The majority of the blog posts on this website are addressed to progressives and those on the political left. This is a departure. Here we will offer some thoughts to citizens who voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 election, who may be reconsidering, and who may be reluctant to admit – to themselves and/or […]
When the “Bad Guys” Commit Suicide: Insights from Paranormal Research
The death by apparent suicide on August 10, 2019, of sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein has again raised the issue about how victims achieve justice when the accused perpetrator kills him- or herself while in prison. Epstein may potentially have more victims than most serial killers: dozens (?) of women whom he trafficked for sex, assaulted […]
Questions to Ask Ourselves about our Presidential Candidates
Our Head of State – our President – differs in several ways from that of many of our sister nations. Advanced democracies like the United Kingdom, Japan, Sweden and Canada have a constitutional monarchy where political power is shared between a king or queen (usually) and a parliament or similar body. In the Republic of […]
The Legacy of Slavery, Part II: The “Lost Cause” Narrative and Confederate Symbols and Monuments
In our previous post, we examined some of the current discussion around reparations for slavery. Many factors are coming together in our society that make it apparent that our “original sin” of slavery still has serious ramifications more than 150 years after the Civil War, ramifications that need addressing sooner rather than later because of […]
The Legacy of Slavery, Part I: A Look at Reparations
The issue of reparations has lately become a fairly significant part of our national conversation. The fact that we are even discussing this in 2019 shows that the legacy of the enslavement of African Americans still persists – 156 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, 154 years after the end of the Civil War and the […]