What would it look like if we lived like we are children of God? Wouldn’t everything look different? Our culture, relationships, even our politics? Each week, I do at least one interview about my latest novel, Plausible Liars. There is a commonality among the interviewers’ questions about the unusual title: my explanation of its origin […]
What would it look like if? Read More »
War Dogs, Brad Pitt, and Eden Brad Pitt’s latest film, Heart of the Beast, correlates two antithetical concepts: war dogs and Eden. More on that unusual coupling of Eden and war dogs momentarily. Filmed in New Zealand, the magnificent cinematography and absence of dialogue impose a quiet that approaches reverence on movie theater viewers. Pitt
War Dogs, Brad Pitt and Eden Read More »
Quo Vadis America? “Our nation is too full of those that are crying Down…Down with schools. Down with the churches. Down with teachers. Down with government. Down with the police. Can you build anything down? You cannot!” Archbishop Fulton Sheen exclaimed to his TV audiences about America during his popular TV show in the mid-1960s. He honed in
Quo Vadis America: Thomas Jefferson’s Revolution or St-Just? Read More »
Language: not so subtle pervisions One of the last classes I took to satisfy the number of courses needed for my undergraduate major in English was Linguistics. Taught by the head of the English department in the small college, it was, by far, one of the tougher courses for me. Not because the material was
Language: Not So Subtle Perversions Read More »
If you are angry… Take a look at his face, a close look at pure, undiluted rage and fury. Although it’s tempting to feel superior and judgmental at such complete loss of self-control, I can’t. I’ve been there, precisely where that enraged man is. And it seems as if many of our fellow citizens live
If You Are Angry, Let it Be Without Sin Read More »
Suffering: Should doctors fix it? Back in my secular days, I viewed the suffering of the dying as unnecessary-an enemy requiring intervention. In fact, I wrote my doctoral dissertation on the medical decision-making surrounding the withdrawal of extraordinary treatment for the terminally ill. I’d been disturbed by medical doctors’ fear and resistance to letting patients
Suffering: Should Doctors Fix It? Read More »
Happiness: Feeling or decision? “So, how exactly, do you decide to be happy?” My friend looked bemusedly at me as she replied to my statement that I thought happiness was a decision we made. “LOOK at that tree!” I exclaimed loudly and with vehemence, knowing that my reply to her question required more than a
Happiness: Feeling or Decision? Read More »
Religion begins with experience Religion does not start out with the notion of God. It starts with a personal experience, the overwhelming experience of ultimate belonging. Religion of the Heart Two pictures side by side in one frame hang on the wall of our Texas home. They reveal two views of a snowy cross-country skiing mountain
Revealed to the Childlike: Religion Begins with Experience Read More »
Defining freedom: The old/new lure of socialism On this July 4th weekend, we ponder the origins of American exceptionalism and consider the warnings of the founders about democracy. This old/new lure of socialism is antithetical to what we stand for in these United States, a nation founded under God. But for a growing number of
Defining Freedom: The Old/New Lure of Socialism Read More »
Politicians have a patron saint: It’s a joke, right? The young couple’s reaction could well be anyones’ in this muddled, politics-soaked early twenty-first century, when told there is indeed such a person: It’s a man from the sixteenth century. On their minds might be two questions: It’s next to impossible to miss the parallels between
Politicians Have A Patron Saint: It’s a Joke, Right? Read More »