Just Keep Swimming Religion Category
Religious Liberty in the U.S. and cat pictures
Posted on November 19, 2020 1 Comment
I ran across this paper I wrote for a Religious Liberty class at McAfee School of Theology, Mercer University. I didn’t think it was half bad, so I’m posting it in my blog. It’s a little thick, so I’m adding some cat pictures. Historical Context of the ControversyThe religion clause of the U.S. Constitution states, […]
The Promise of Forgiveness & Reconciliation, part 3
Posted on December 7, 2019 Leave a Comment
I call this last post The Promise Forgiveness & Reconciliation because I want to end on a hopeful note. The Mystery of Forgiveness & Reconciliation, part 1 The Limits of Forgiveness & Reconciliation, part 2 I believe it is justifiably hopeful given the theory, theology, and practical parts of the topics. If I were going to […]
The Limits of Forgiveness & Reconciliation, part 2
Posted on December 6, 2019 1 Comment
I have heard horror stories of people in abusive relationships who have sought spiritual advise from their church leaders, only to be told that they should forgive their partners–forgive the verbal, psychological, physical abuse and/or infidelity, for example. They are told to forgive as God forgives (remember the theological model I mentioned in my last […]
The Mystery of Forgiveness & Reconciliation, part 1
Posted on December 6, 2019 2 Comments
Growing up, when I thought about forgiveness–which is ever present in a practicing Fundamentalist Christian’s life–I thought first about God so loving the world that he sent Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. For our forgiveness. When I thought of forgiveness apart from the Cross, I thought about Jesus’s quip to Peter […]
“White Savior Barbie,” Not me!
Posted on October 25, 2019 Leave a Comment
I really love my seminary, the McAfee School of Theology, Mercer University. Faculty and staff there are committed to issues of justice and spiritual growth. It is also a place where only about 45% of the students are white. I want to support a place like that and more important, learn from the variety of […]
Race, Religion, and the Lost Cause: Observation from the National ONA Gathering
Posted on June 19, 2019 Leave a Comment
Today is June 19th, Juneteenth, the day in 1865 when news of Lincoln’s signing of the Emancipation Proclamation two years earlier finally reached enslaved persons in Texas. It coincides with the National Gathering of the UCC Open & Affirming National Gathering and a Race and Religion course assignment on whether the Lost Cause still exists […]
Was St. Thomas Aquinas in My Head? A Very Fitting Study Prayer to Mary
Posted on April 30, 2019 Leave a Comment
Here is a prayer by St. Thomas Aquinas, addressed to Mary, whom he called on for inspiration and strength in school. Thank you to my McAfee Classmate Benjamin Smith for sharing it: O Mary, Seat of Wisdom, so many persons of common intellect have made through your intercession admirable progress in their studies. I hereby […]
Inflaming the Christian Right: Franklin Graham, Pete Buttigieg, and Changing Our Mind
Posted on April 29, 2019 2 Comments
It should come as no surprise that they’re coming for Pete Buttigieg. He’s smart, frank, funny, personable, courageous~~everything in a politician that would constitute a threat to the one of the least popular incumbent presidents history. Strategically that’s why he’s already under attack. How he’s under attack represents low hanging fruit politically. Pete Buttigieg is […]
A Parenting Psalm: Wisdom Prayer for My Children
Posted on April 24, 2019 5 Comments
I remember as a young girl my Daddy pointing out the difference between knowledge and wisdom. Wisdom comes with age, he said. Well, he finished, it ought to. It occurs to me—I am trying not to worry about it, really—that because of life’s circumstances, there are many “words of wisdom” I have not taught my […]
Remembering Sri Lanka on Earth Day 2019: A Lament Psalm
Posted on April 22, 2019 Leave a Comment
Update: CBS News confirmed that an Islamist extremist group claims responsibility as retaliation for the NZ Christchurch bombing. Seems ISIS and the locals are vying for top spot. So my musing is this: if “Islamic Extremist Groups” are terrorists, then are white nationalists who wear red MAGA hats also? They’re playing with and off each […]
