Jeffrey Small

Too often we see media reports about the violence and intolerance that religious fundamentalism engenders. Religion is used to justify terrorism, to discriminate against those who are different and to resist scientific advancement inherent in our modern lives.

Religion can reinforce tribal mentalities. Some identify with their faiths as...

On Jan. 9, Pope Benedict XVI told a gathering of diplomats that family is only "based on the marriage of a man and a woman" and then went on to say that "policies which undermine the family threaten human dignity and the future of humanity itself." (See report...

This Christmas season Rhode Island joined a controversy that has brewed for years in local governments across the country: how appropriate is the installation of religious decorations on public property? Governor Chafee's solution to call the spruce in the State House a "Holiday Tree" has elicited howls of outrage from...

Does God answer our prayers?

A popular conception of prayer is that if we have faith in God, pray diligently and if the cause we are praying for is a righteous one (like the health of another person), then God will intervene in a supernatural way to make our wish...

In my last post ("Tough Lessons from a Debut Novelist, Part 1"), I shared eight lessons I learned along the difficult road to publishing my debut novel, The Breath of God, that I wished I'd known prior to starting my journey. Here, I conclude with eight...

After six years of writing, receiving rejections, rewriting, receiving more rejections, getting an agent, even more rejections, losing my agent, and rewriting again, my first novel, The Breath of God, finally hit bookstore shelves a few months ago. The Breath of God follows grad student Grant Matthews on...

Which is more truthful: science or art?

On its face, this question presents a false choice. Science and art belong to two separate realms. Both express deep truths about existence, but in very different ways. Science uses the symbolic form of mathematical equations to describe the mechanics of reality. Art...

When you hear the word "myth" associated with the Bible, what is the first thought that comes to your mind?

Many use the term myth in a pejorative sense to mean that the stories described are not factually true. Others define myth as non-historical tales that contain a moral...

In the musical Les Miserables, the main character Jean Valjean sings a gut-wrenching song (some might say melodramatic!) called "Who am I?" as he struggles with his self-identity. I pose that same question to you now: Who are you?

For many people -- especially those in successful careers --...

A quick quiz:

Name this religious figure: A shimmering spirit appears to a young wife in a dream, tells her that she will give birth to a son who will change the world and then enters her womb. When the boy is born, wise men proclaim that the child will...

Two recent events that have dominated the news -- the death of Osama bin Laden and the tornadoes that ravaged the southeast -- have brought to light one of the fundamental questions humanity has struggled with since the beginning of civilization: Why do we have evil, suffering, pain, illness and...

Last Easter a poll by the Barna Group found that "fewer than half of Americans mentioned Jesus' death and resurrection when asked about the significance of Easter." Yet the key event that defines Christianity is neither the life nor teachings of Jesus, but rather it is this strange event that...

A rock band, a priest and a psychologist.

No, this isn't the beginning to a joke that has these characters walking into a bar. Rather, each of these has an interesting statement about the importance of celebrating our uniqueness and the corresponding dangers of conformity.

A few months ago...

Since the beginning of the history of human civilization, religion has been used to justify war, intolerance, injustice, murder and torture. The Crusades, the Inquisition, the history of violence in Northern Ireland and the Middle East, the ethnic cleansing of Bosnia and 9/11 are just a few examples. This sordid...

The current uproar over Rep. Peter King's (NY) hearings on Islamic fundamentalism is yet another example of the tribal mentality that too often goes along with religion. Rep. King makes the underlying assumption that American society is a Christian one. In other words, because certain terrorist attacks were carried out...

Close your eyes and conjure up the image of a creative person. Who comes to mind?

Do you see a woman wearing coveralls splattered in paint, standing in front of a canvas, a paintbrush dangling from her fingertips? Maybe you picture a sinewy man whose long dark hair has...

Unlike the age of the Biblical writers, we live in a world ruled by science, technology and secular thought -- a world that is interconnected in ways that a few decades ago was unimagined. Today we understand that our world is governed by physical laws from the subatomic realm to...

When you think of God, what images come to mind?

Do you think of a supernatural being who sits outside the four dimensional (space + time) universe who created us as a potter might? Do you picture God as a supreme designer who built the intricate laws of the universe...

Are you a believer?

Have you ever been asked this question before? Did the question and your search for an answer make you uncomfortable? Did you wonder to yourself what does this question really mean? For me, the answer to all these questions is "yes."

When I was growing up,...