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In most conservative Christian circles, the importance of belief is talked about
“You’ve got to see God like we see Him — for salvation, you can’t do without!”

What follows is the text of a “sermon” that I gave as a “congregational reflection” to an all White audience at the Bethel Congregational United Church of Christ on Sunday, June 28th. The sermon was begun with a reading of The Good Samaritan story, and this wonderful quote from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah.

Credit for this speech goes to Chaédria LaBouvier, whose “Why We Left” inspired me to speak out about racism; to Robin DiAngelo, whose “White Fragility” gave me an understanding of the topic; and to Reni Eddo-Lodge who said “Why I’m no longer talking to white people about race” long before I had the courage to start doing it again.

Pope Francis and the Environment: Yale Examines Historic Climate Encyclical. What follows are the transcripts from the Panel on the Papal Encyclical held at Yale University on April 8, 2015.

Keynote speech by Jason Silva at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas – which took place at the concert hall of the Sydney Opera House.

Like so many African American women, myself included, Sandra Bland’s death, resulting from police brutality is not new news. The national attention it’s receiving is, however. The reality of unarmed African American women being beaten, profiled, sexually violated and murdered by law enforcement officials with alarming regularity is too often ignored – especially with the focus of police brutality on African- American males.

Three Muslim organizations have raised over $100,000 to rebuild black churches in the South. “We hope this campaign encouraged non-Black Muslims to support the BlackLivesMatter Movement and remain committed to ending anti-Black racism in America,” Sarsour said to HuffPost. “We have a [lot] of work to do. This is just the beginning.”

Recognizing and maintaining and building our spiritual infrastructure is necessary, not a superfluous “bonus” of life. At the conclusion of his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus described this spiritual infrastructure. He said that one who hears his teachings and does them will be like one who builds a house on rock as opposed to another who builds a house on sand. The first house remains standing in the storm and flood, but the second is swept away.

The Cathedral of Hope, a congregation of the United Church of Christ, is based in Dallas, Texas, and is the world’s largest liberal Christian church with a primary outreach to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Local and national church ministries, outreach programs, pastoral counseling, television media and the internet touch thousands of lives each day.

Was … fossil hunting time together of any spiritual value? If we describe a spiritual moment as some portion of our existence where we are lifted out of ourselves to something “higher” than us that is beyond us but paradoxically within us — as well as transforming us — then my answer is a resounding “yes!”

I truly don’t understand racism or violence. But I do understand that the path toward confronting it must begin at the deep levels of vast cultural and socio-political change. When 1% rules the world and owns the media, the government, and the health and energy systems, that leaves a lot of room for angry and disheartened people. When people are angry or scared they look toward that which frightens them to place blame.

9 times out of 10 it is not about explicit individual prejudice. It’s fundamentally not about you as an individual, nor is it about feeling guilty for being “racist” as a white person. It’s about principalities and powers, systems so deeply rooted in us that they shape our very way of life. And those dynamics are built to remain invisible to all those are advantaged by them. Now that’s sin! But it’s so hard to express this in ways white people can hear without feeling like they are under attack.

When it comes to the issues of racism and violence, the question is not whether, but why. Why is it that at least some human beings treat others so horribly?

I have been watching and listening to conversations about this issue, and it has taken me a while to organize my thoughts, but I think it’s time I weighed in, as a Southern White male. So here are a few thoughts: To those who point out that this was never officially the flag of the Confederacy, and rather was the battle flag of Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, I say that this is a specious detail. There is no symbol more widely associated with the Confederacy than the rebel flag, and that is why South Carolina chose to fly it fifty years ago.

I am a child of the Black Church. And like so many of my African American LGBTQ brothers and sisters we continue to have a troubled relationship with our places of worship. But like so many of them, I, too, am unsettled by the news of this recent spate of church burnings. None of the church burnings have been labeled as hate crimes- yet I cannot help but notice these church burnings are occurring suspiciously in rapid succession following the Charleston black church massacre, which left nine dead-including its senior pastor.

We know what to do. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights begins: “Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom.” Unitarian Universalists claim the “inherent worth and dignity of all humanity.” Christians claim the Apostle Paul’s ecstatic revelation that “You are no longer Jew or Greek, no longer slave or freeborn, no longer ‘male and female.’ Instead you all have the same status in the service of God’s anointed Jesus.” Leviticus 19:18 says, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus said, “Love your enemies.”

Once upon an element, a man named Intelligence questioned his own relevance
While his new old friend Wisdom offered his benevolence
You could tell, It was evident, the 2 were a little hesitant
Because their respect and reverence for each other was obviously heaven sent
That’s when Intelligence asked, well why do we Hate
Wisdoms rebuttal
well why do we Love…

Approximately one thousand people gathered for an Independence Day rally to “Take Down the Flag” at the Confederate Memorial on the capitol grounds in Columbia, SC.  There has been hope among the demonstration organizers that Gov. Nikki …

When Atticus in “To Kill A Mockingbird” states to Scout, “Why reasonable people go stark raving mad when anything involving a Negro comes up, is something I don’t pretend to understand,” as a thoughtful and measured response decrying racial prejudice, no one would imagine Lee’s second novel “Go Set A Watchman,” to reveal the blight of racial strife in Atticus as an aging angry bigot and separatist. And news of Atticus taking a 180-degree turn has sent shockwaves across the Internet.