Category Archives: The Spirit

A Mourning Meditation On Miserable Melancholic Multi-Millionaire Mitt

 

This map tracks the rise and fall of empires and once-great nations; it hangs on Mitt Romney’s Senate office wall.

As a Mormon, Mitt Romney presumably does not believe in Karma. But maybe, more informally, he could nod glumly at  the non-theological adage that what goes around comes around.

Or, more biblically, does he acknowledge that the scripture says we reap what we sow?

I have a feeling he does, now.

Or he should, at least when his money manager passes on the invoices for the $150K+ monthly he’s paying for 24/7 security for his four houses and his family. 

And what about when he ponders the fact that all his five sons have already quit the GOP.

(The figures come from published excerpts from the forthcoming book, Romney: A Reckoning,, by reporter McKay Coppins.)

Continue reading A Mourning Meditation On Miserable Melancholic Multi-Millionaire Mitt

A Conservative’s Startling Wisdom on Abortion Post-Roe

[NOTE: David French is a conservative; I would differ with him on many issues, including Roe. But what he writes here about who is the most “pro-life” president (prepare for a surprise) and the crucial place of hope regarding abortion (and life generally!) is dead-on and relevant every day.]

The Importance of Hope in the Pro-Life Movement

New York Times —June 22, 2023

David French

Hope, not power, is the key for the pro-life movement

This newsletter is ultimately about hope. But I want to start with something else, a question that’s deeply relevant to the Republican Party and its 2024 presidential primary. The perceived answer to this question will likely swing the evangelical vote and decide the nomination. Continue reading A Conservative’s Startling Wisdom on Abortion Post-Roe

Bible Study: Two Subversive Parables

[NOTE: This is the substance of a message offered at Spring Friends Meeting this morning, March 5 2023.]

“[T ]he one thing about Jesus that can be known with certainty,” wrote the late New Testament scholar William Herzog II, “was that he was executed as an enemy of the state and the Temple.”

Yes. We’re talking about the Roman imperial state, and the Second Temple of priestly Judaism. Continue reading Bible Study: Two Subversive Parables

Good News: Guinea Worm Disease Is Almost Eradicated

[Note: Forty three years after leaving the White House, Jimmy Carter & the Carter Center are still achieving mostly unheralded landmarks of positive change.]

The Guardian — Wed 25 Jan 2023

Guinea worm disease could be second ever human illness to be eradicated

As cases fall, the condition that once affected millions of people in Africa and Asia could also be the first to be wiped out without medicines

Lizzy Davies 

The number of cases of a painful and debilitating tropical illness fell last year to a record low, fuelling hopes that it will soon become the second human disease in history to be eradicated.

Continue reading Good News: Guinea Worm Disease Is Almost Eradicated

Pearl Harbor, Pope Benedict & the Contested Catholic Discovery of Religious Liberty

Jesus bestowing the “Keys of the Kingdom” (aka, the control of the brand-new Catholic church to Peter, the first pope) in Matthew 16:17-19.

I missed a significant anniversary last month, on December 7.

No, not Pearl Harbor Day, December 7 1941, when a deadly Japanese surprise attack on American bases in Hawaii pulled the U. S. into World War II.

Nor was it December 7, 1973, my son’s birthday. Continue reading Pearl Harbor, Pope Benedict & the Contested Catholic Discovery of Religious Liberty