WWJD? What Would Jesus Do? How about this? What would Jesus want us to do? Anyone who seriously reads the New Testament gospels will be uncomfortable when they realize what Jesus actually wants from his followers. The following is a text version of this posting. Some years ago, there was… Read More »What Would Jesus Want?
I sat with a small group of colleagues one Saturday to engage in the discussion. We describe ourselves as “Progressive Christians,” but we wondered: what does that really mean? As expected, there were a wide range of opinions and insights. It helps to know that all the members of the… Read More »What Does It Mean to Be a Progressive Christian?
Many of my childhood Christmas memories blend together. Generally, I have happy memories of Christmas with family as a child. There were some funny moments, like when the artificial Christmas tree was taken from a storage closet and the box opened. In an instant, a mouse came running out the… Read More »Ethics. The Common Good. Personal Freedom. Vaccination.
[SPOILER ALERT: Stop reading if you have not watched the finale of Breaking Bad.” This entry contains discussion of plot points.] On Sunday, September 29, AMC aired the final episode of the series, Breaking Bad. The protagonist in the series, Walter White, was a high school chemistry teacher diagnosed with… Read More »Breaking Bad: Lessons in Morals and Ethics
It’s happening – and happening around the world: an increasing number of people no longer participate in traditional religious groups and label themselves as not affiliated with religion. It’s not a new trend. In Europe, the shift became noticeable after World War II. However, people in the United States are… Read More »Church Participation and the Growing Number of Unaffiliated
How do you want to live? What values do you aim to hold as guiding principles for your life? What makes for a good society in which to live? Most of us were raised with a set of values. As children, we were taught that we should share our toys,… Read More »Values to Live By
We stood in line and waited. And we waited. And we waited some more. The wait was almost three quarters of an hour. While time passed as we talked and laughed, waiting marked most of the day. It was our last planned summer outing: a day at a water park… Read More »Ethics and Class
It’s a course I usually don’t teach. But an instructor was needed. While it’s outside of my program (graduate psychology), I agreed to be available for this undergraduate course because of the topic: ethics. As the course began, I explored the differences between ethics, morality and law. People understand law,… Read More »The Way We Live – and Views that Divide
