What's usually called the "theodicy" question asks why there is suffering and evil in the world if God is both good and ...

In this time of rising Christian Nationalism, we Americans need examples of people who can help followers of any and all ...

A month or so ago, in this blog post, I raised questions about the essential purpose(s) of religion and shared some possible answers. But it's a question that doesn't easily go away. In fact, in some ...

I began a strange and wobbly effort to write a book I tentatively called The Unauthorized Autobiography of Jesus Christ. It ...

Patriotism, meaning a commitment to one's country, is quite different from a commitment to one's faith tradition. But they share at least this in common: Both require an unswerving willingness to ...

As I've done on a few Christmases here on the blog, I'm resurrecting a Christmas story that I wrote for the now-defunct Sunday magazine of The Kansas City Star in 1982. It draws on the characters in a ...

One of the most dangerous aspects of religion is the willingness of some of its adherents to imagine that they can grasp the fullness of God and understand how, where, when and why God acts in human ...

There are many ways to count the costs associated with the various sexual abuse scandals that have happened over time within institutional religion. Perhaps the most important way is somehow to take ...