We’ve probably all heard by now about Senator Dianne Feinstein’s remarks toward Roman Catholic judicial nominee Amy Barrett: Dogma and law are two different things. I think, whatever a religion is, it has its own dogma. The law is totally different; in your case, Professor [Barrett], when you read your speeches, the conclusion one draws…
Some time back I published an article suggesting that evangelicals should not support Donald Trump. One of the most common responses I received was, “He’s better than Hillary Clinton!” Whether or not that’s true, the Republican primary was still ongoing at the time, so it was not a foregone conclusion that Trump would be his…
Lent is a time for self-examination and repentance. It is a time during which we look for the ways in which our lives are not pleasing to God. During this season, I’ve found it helpful to review some advice from John Wesley on one of the most common sins we find in the life of…
Greg Abbott, the governor of my home states of Texas, recently tweeted the following: BREAKING: Texas will not accept any Syrian refugees & I demand the U.S. act similarly. Security comes first. https://t.co/uE34eluXYd — Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) November 16, 2015 Abbott also recently tweeted this meme: For you were once darkness, but now you are…
There are some professions in which notoriety is simply unavoidable. If you are a pastor, you may stand up in front of a congregation each week and proclaim the Christian gospel. If you are a professor, you have formal engagement with students to whom you impart knowledge and teach the skills of critical thinking. If…
Here is a paradox. Over the last thirty or forty years, we have invested an enormous amount of thought, emotion, treasure, and blood in what we call human values, human rights, the defence of human dignity and of human life. Over the same period, quietly but devastatingly, science and philosophy have combined to undermine our traditional concept…
I have been to Israel three times. I have stayed in the West Bank, and I have stayed in Israel. I have talked with Palestinians in a refugee camp, and I have spoken with Israeli settlers in the West Bank. I have met Palestinian Christians and Palestinian Muslims. I have heard from former Israeli soldiers…
The Independent recently published an article regarding controversy in the UK over the genetic modification of embryos, and the government’s alleged attempts to obscure the nature and consequences of such treatments: The [UK] Government has been accused of misleading the public over the introduction of a new in vitro fertilisation (IVF) technique that some experts believe will…
I’ve always thought it significant that the great creeds of the church are statements of doctrine, rather than statements of ethics. The teachers of the faith who handed on to us our doctrines of the Trinity, the Incarnation, and the Resurrection knew that without a clear sense of who God is and how God has…
A plan has recently emerged to preserve the unity of the UMC. I encourage you to read it carefully and prayerfully. The proposal begins by diagnosing a very serious problem in our denomination: we have reached an impasse on matters related to “self-avowed, practicing homosexual” people. The proposal then offers a potential solution which I…