If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
When Billie Sol died, a door closed in a religious tradition that nurtured many and promised more than it could deliver.
There are those who maintain that you have to make impossible promises in order to get elected or stay in business. However, we should always ask whether a promise is at least plausible or whether it deserves to be denounced as a shevuat shav -- a vain oath.
Dr. Kermit Gosnell, the former Philadelphia abortionist, has avoided the death penalty with a promise not to appeal his May 13 murder convictions in a Philadelphia courtroom. That's good. The violence of the death penalty is not a way to end violence.
Religious ideas, leaders, institutions and communities are missing links in much of the public conversation about public integrity. That is not as it should be.
Catholic teachings affirm the importance of religious pluralism. Prime Minister Kenny's presence at the Boston College graduation is just the sort of conversation-starter that Catholic higher education needs. At best, Cardinal O'Malley's exit from the proceedings only touched off more debate among Catholic school students who have been well-prepared for the challenge.
It has become a rite of spring in the past decade: the commencement speaker controversy involving a U.S Catholic bishop and a prominent Catholic political figure upon whom an honorary degree will be bestowed by a Catholic college.
Woodward and Bernstein seem like two Talmud study partners who continually probe each other to ascertain the truth. Each questions the other, and is unafraid of challenging or criticizing his friend.
"Star Trek Into Darkness" does what Star Trek has always done best: holds up a mirror to the United States and asks, "Are we the moral people we want to be?"
Ruksana lives on the streets of Kolkata, India. Despite this, she excels in school, particularly in mathematics and geography. Photo provided by 10x1...
We have not repented of the torture that we facilitated after 1993 and implemented after 2001. Because we have not repented, we are all the more at risk of doing the exact same thing under new conditions or a new president.
While international efforts establish legal protections for freedom of expression and other freedoms, it is important not to end the discussion there. We must promote engagement and dialogue that remains focused on matters of human dignity.
In the face of the climate crisis, many express panic. The biblical story of the years in the Wilderness, in which the fractious and "stiff-necked" people of Israel agreed to a covenant with God and created a new way of life, offers solutions to the challenge.
Like many nurse practitioners, my mother declined to work in the for-profit sector and instead devoted her life to public health. She believed strongly in the need for universal health care -- a cause she felt was a deeply moral issue.
Right now, the Jewish community is finishing up its annual marking of days, as each night we count the Omer, the 49 days between the second night of Passover and the beginning of Shavuot. Immediately after, we'll mark another set of days, one with only despair and no celebration.
I know in my heart and in my cells that we are going to make it. It will happen. Right here in Minnesota, there will be marriage equality.
If there can be no legitimate disagreement, even acrimony, there can be no dialogue and potential for mutual acceptance and genuine respect. Criticism can be unfair, disingenuous, inaccurate and even offensive, without being anti-Semitic.
Most Popular
