Date: September 8, 2020
Mr. Smith’s Washington, without Destructive Religion
Last week, I took an afternoon to watch Frank Capra’s classic film, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. It was a treat! What I saw in this 1939 film was both […]
RPLI Posts
Date: September 1, 2020
Christianity is Judged in Public by What Christians Do, and That is Good
Protestant Christianity is rooted historically in Martin Luther’s interpretation of St. Paul’s words that followers of Jesus are saved by faith and not works. That theological statement is central to […]
Date: August 25, 2020
The Cost of Craving Power
A cautionary tale. Once upon a time, there was a group of Christians who found themselves in the wilderness. I will call them This Group. And in the wilderness, that […]
Date: August 18, 2020
What Kind of Spirituality Does a Healthy Democracy Need?
Every culture has a spirituality, a spirit, a soul. Spirituality used in the context of culture refers to the life energy, the desire, the aching toward something. A true and […]
Date: August 17, 2020
Committing Faith in Public with author of “The Great Oklahoma Swindle”
Dr. Russell Cobb, currently Associate Professor of Comparative Literature and Latin American Studies at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, is a longtime Tulsan who wrote many essays for […]
Date: August 11, 2020
The Work of Public Health Requires a Public. Do We Have One?
Do we have a genuine “public” in the U.S. or has “the public” (or, the publics) been sold to private interests for the sake of private profits? While one can […]
Date: August 4, 2020
Reckoning with History is Very Different from Erasing History
Throughout history, religious-political regimes have frequently tried to erase conquered rivals from history. Jumping from era to era, and citing just a few examples: Scholars have no idea when Jesus […]
Date: July 28, 2020
Which Civility do You Want?
In Western Europe, the 16th century Reformation and its long aftermath broke the Christian churches’ hope for concord in church and society, if by concord we mean peace based on […]
Date: July 21, 2020
It’s the Economy, Not the Children
What has the pandemic revealed about whom or what we U.S. Americans most value? Whatever the answer, it can’t be “our children.” In a “values clarification” exercise from many years […]
Date: July 13, 2020
Faith Based (and all other) Nonprofit Recipients Should Disclose Why They Applied and What They Received in PPP Funds
How do you feel about Edmond-based LifeChurch.TV receiving in the category of $5-10 million in taxpayer funds? How about the $2-5 million for the Hobby Lobby owner-supported Museum of the […]