Date: June 16, 2021
God Blesses… and Condemns
This is the third of four sermon starters for the 4th of July weekend. I’m taking common Christian religious claims about the U.S. and re-examining them. Readers are free to […]
RPLI Posts
Date: June 11, 2021
Committing Faith in Public with the Rev. Dr. Charisa Hunter-Crump
“What were the challenges of doing and being church during a pandemic? How prepared was your congregation? What were the learning curves you embraced? What did you learn about church […]
Date: June 8, 2021
Canceling “Chosenness”
This is the second of four sermon starters for the 4th of July weekend. I’m taking common Christian religious claims about the U.S. and re-examining them. Last week was “In […]
Date: June 1, 2021
In God We (Don’t) Trust
This is the first of 4 sermon starters for July 4th weekend. Preachers are free to use them. In each sermon, I endeavor to interpret this moment in the nation’s […]
Date: May 25, 2021
As Sick as Our Secrets
There is a true truism among family therapists and recovery groups: a family is as sick as its secrets. In this week during which the eyes of national reporters, and […]
Date: May 18, 2021
Creating Hell One Punishment at a Time
We live in a punishing society. We are a society that supports and tolerates a great deal of inflicting pain for moral reasons. Lots of us feel justified in pronouncing […]
Date: May 12, 2021
Will Finding Our Roots Change Us?
“Finding Your Roots” is a PBS series hosted by Harvard historian Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. In each episode, Gates interviews celebrities while he presents to them always-revealing information about […]
Date: May 5, 2021
Committing Faith in Public with Phillips professor Dr. Lisa Davison
In October 2020, Center for Religion in Public Life director Gary Peluso-Verdend interviewed Dr. Lisa Davison, the Johnnie Eargle Cadieux Professor of Hebrew Bible and Director of Christian Church (Disciples […]
Date: April 23, 2021
Committing Faith in Public with Cartoonist Marlin Lavanhar
Many listeners and readers will know the Rev. Dr. Marlin Lavanhar as the senior pastor of All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Marlin is well-known in Tulsa and, in […]
Date: April 20, 2021
Disappointing Civil Religion
In researching a book on campus ministry at the beginning of my academic career, the lead author (the Rev. Dr. Sam Portaro) thought about calling the book The Dis-appointment of […]