Why I Care About Judaism – Shabbat and interrupting habits of the brain
There is an old saying that being a rabbi is not a good job for a nice Jewish boy because it means you have to work on the Shabbat. In fact, when I was a congregational rabbi that is how I felt....
View ArticleLegislation creeps in that erodes religious liberty
The dust has barely settled on the 2012 election, yet the jockeying for political contests in 2014 and 2016 has already begun. It seems we have become so enamored with the election process itself that...
View ArticleCivil unions, contraception, gun control and the “glorious” lost art of...
Once upon a time, so memory suggests, politics often meant negotiation and compromise. Once upon a time, the Catholic Church (that supposed bastion of inflexibility) was quite expert in the pastoral...
View ArticleWhy I care about Judaism: Theology grapples with the unknowable
Jewish theology is a huge topic and I could not possibly do it justice in a short piece. In this series I am trying to give a personal account of why I care about Judaism, so here I will explain...
View ArticlePassover: Its spirit of freedom makes it a great American holiday for Jews,...
As an immigrant to the United States — having moved here from the United Kingdom in 2005 — I have a deep appreciation for this country. Despite the fact that some in government want to place...
View ArticleSpiritual practices to nurture the soul drawn from religious, humanist...
It’s always a joy to receive and recommend a new book by a friend, perhaps especially when the author is a Denverite. The author is Rev. Jane Vennard, a local liberal Protestant author with a growing...
View ArticleJudaism is the opposite of a cult — every individual counts
“Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood and the Prison of Belief” by Lawrence Wright is a truly troubling book. It details the “religion” of Scientology from its founding in the 1950’s to the present day....
View ArticleTo cite or not to cite sources: Historic roots of rabbinic plagiarism
There have been a number of serious scandals recently involving rabbis who have been less than honest when it comes to their scholarly work. First, the chief rabbi for France, Rabbi Gilles Bernheim,...
View ArticleThe gun as anti-sacrament: Passion over gun control distorts realistic fears,...
I am writing this essay in an effort to understand the passions of many gun-rights advocates in this country – passions I find quite terrifying. In trying to understand the outrage of some at efforts...
View Article“Women of the Wall” fight: Neither side wins until the Torah, not trends,...
The saga about the Women of the Wall, where a group of women are fighting for the right to to pray at the Western Wall (The Kotel) in the same way men do -including reading from the Torah – is a recent...
View ArticlePatriotism: After the Fourth’s fanfare, mixed feelings about U.S. militarism
I write after the Fourth of July from Grand Lake, where the holiday was marked by celebrations culminating in glorious fireworks over the water. It really has been fun, but also cause for reflection...
View ArticleSpirituality, but not religion – a religion professor’s open letter to former...
Polling data suggests what I often witnessed in the college classroom. Many thoughtful people these days, especially younger adults, no longer identify with organized religion. Rather they find...
View ArticleWould Daddy drop the A-Bomb? Moral choices in a time of perpetual war
It's been suggested that a generation has grown up in this country in continual war. The author was thinking of the most recent generation; I can make a case that even the Baby Boomers are that...
View ArticleCalvary and capital punishment: Perpetual evil and provocative goodness
For the most widely remembered death penalty in human history is the execution of Jesus of Nazareth.
View ArticleA progressive Christian's catechism: Good questions, few answers
Does God know all things? God knows all things, even our most secret thoughts, words and actions. And if that doesn’t make you afraid of God, the old catechism isn’t working.
View ArticlePope Francis'"no" to death penalty and inhumane imprisonment
I have written before about the “the remarkable shift in Catholic teaching about the death penalty.” Now, courtesy of Vatican Radio, comes a major address by Pope Francis to members of the...
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