politics
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This is the shift
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7 min read
We are shifting toward enlightenment. Not The Enlightenment, for we are leaving much of that behind. But a certain enlightened view of the world that is more than logic and rational, ideological and fearful, more than cynical and compassionate. We’re moving toward being real and being forgiving. I know this sounds pie in the sky…
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Why the lion?
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3 min read
The reason we can condemn an asshole who goes halfway around the world to kill a lion is because it’s a safe thing to condemn. It is safe to say animal cruelty is bad. It is safe to say what he did doesn’t really count as hunting. It is safe to say rich people can get…
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The Sleeping Giant of Progressive Christianity
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5 min read
Is this the end? Phyllis Tickle has long argued that the fight over human sexuality and marriage is the last battle of the culture war. It is the last plank of the cultural conservative political platform; and the plank is crumbling. That is why the fight has been so brutal. She argues that conservative Christians…
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Literal revolutions : The flag, the killer, and a fluctuating view of how to literally “take America back”.
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9 min read
When I hear talk of “taking our country back” I rarely hear the voice of heroes come to save the Rebel Alliance, with Ben Kenobi as “our only hope.” I hear bigotry and division and might. I hear the faint call of the Empire coming to overtake the Republic. I have no memory of…
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Mercy Is What We Love
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3 min read
It strikes me that our society is more interested in public shaming than actually changing the behavior of its people. We are more interested in taking pictures of people watering their lawns during a drought than we are in more effectively curbing the practice, or better, than transforming how Californians landscape. Of course, I’m not…
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What Ben Affleck reveals about our deepest need
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3 min read
When I heard that one of Ben Affleck’s ancestors owned slaves, I didn’t even blink. That he didn’t want to share that on national television surprised me even less. In our gotcha era of dualisms and polarities, an outspoken liberal actor/writer/director would be easy fodder for the outspoken conservative media personalities. His deep shame, perhaps…