Category: Blog Posts

I think we should expect public health to be premised upon some version of utilitarianism, promoting the greatest good for the greatest number and minimizing pain and suffering. I think what we have seen is a principle of “my freedom” exercised without regard to the freedom of anyone else–as long as the freedom we’re talking about is the freedom to remain unmasked.

It was both disheartening and angering to see Christian pastors denigrating public health practices as secular tyrannies and attacks upon freedom. If Christian principles meant more, at least the way that Paul wrote about Christian principles, we would have seen much more concern for the weakest and most vulnerable. Instead, we saw and still see something that looks a lot more like Nietzsche’s world where are the strong scoff at the vulnerable. No person invoking religious principles should resonate.

The most recent statistics are these. Worldwide, while the official death total is around 6 million people, it is estimated that up to 20 million people have died from COVID-19. […]

The following is an excerpt from Patriarch Kirill’s sermon on “Forgiveness Sunday” on the Orthodox Church calendar. For eight years there have been attempts to destroy what exists in the […]

Movements and ideas travel history in loops that end in different places from where they began. Sometimes the loops are virtuous and sometimes they are vicious. Today, I am afraid […]

In cities such as Tulsa and states such as Oklahoma, drivers are used to bouncing on the roads. Potholes, cracks, and crumbles are everywhere. When I drove Oklahoma’s roads often, […]

“I’m going to teach you a lesson!” exclaims an angry stranger who felt disrespected by another driver right before he pulls the trigger. Why do we punish? Even if we […]

With our behavior, Christians have sullied good words over time. Evangelism should mean “good news” rather than aggressive proselytizing. Missionaries have been colonizers and imperial agents. Evangelicalism is in danger […]

Oklahoma’s children need to be taught that “America is the greatest country in the history of the world because of the principles this country was built upon because we believe […]

Some lawmakers in Oklahoma and elsewhere are either banning or “researching” which books they’d like to ban. In Oklahoma, a bill currently still alive in the legislative session would make […]

The Greek philosopher Aristotle believed the human animal is a political animal. He meant that we are a communal species, formed in the “polis,” through interaction with each other. Those […]