Rev. Dr. James A. Kowalski

"...God is light and in him there is no darkness at all ... if we walk in the light ... we have fellowship with one another..."
--1 John 1:2

"The central problem is that ... the general public and most academics are entirely comfortable using the kind of...

Authors' note: Faiths for Safe Water is a project that seeks to unite all faiths around the singular religious symbol shared by all: Water. On March 17 at the historic Riverside Church in New York City, the faiths will gather for an informative and entertaining opportunity to learn more about...

"If we're going to have to pay for this -- then we want something in return... And that would be the videos of all this sex posted online so we can see what we're getting for our money... I said if we're paying for this, it makes these women sluts,...

[N]o man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer, on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess,...

The human condition is a precarious one; we cannot separate ourselves from others who are suffering. All of us are vulnerable, and in these particularly vulnerable times, we have to be counted upon to do more to alleviate suffering in the world.

But with all the chatter about religion...

"If we are to keep our democracy, there must be one commandment: thou shalt not ration justice." -- Judge Learned Hand

"When the well is dry, we know the worth of water." -- Benjamin Franklin

"This is the moment when we must come together to save this planet. Let...

"Flaming enthusiasm, backed up by horse sense and persistence, is the quality that most frequently makes for success." -- Dale Carnegie

"Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value." -- Albert Einstein



I'm not the first born, but...

"Treat people as if they were what they should be, and you help them become what they are capable of becoming." --Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"Their love is worth the same as your love. Their partnership is worth the same
as your partnership. And they are equal in...

To figure out how to build freer, better societies, Muslims need not look across the ocean. They need only look back into their own history ... consultation is the magic word. It occurs again and again in classical Islamic texts. It goes back to the time of the Prophet himself...

"If the lost word is lost, if the spent word is spent
If the unheard, unspoken
Word is unspoken, unheard;
Still is the unspoken word, the Word unheard,
The Word without a word, the Word within
The world and for the world;
And the...

If you choose, you can keep the commandments,
and to act faithfully is a matter of your own choice.
He has placed before you fire and water;
stretch out your hand for whichever you choose.
Before each person are life and death,
and whichever one...

"Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace. God is awake." --Victor Hugo

Advent is about waiting. In a sense, it is a four-week course on patience. That's a good...

The midterm elections in the United States and our roles as citizens got me thinking about Ronald A. Heifetz's (co-director, the Center for Public Leadership at the Harvard's Kennedy School of Government), Leadership Without Easy Answers (Belknap Press, 1994).

I know that "followers" often expect solutions from their leaders....

"It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so."
--Mark Twain

For nearly three decades, the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine has celebrated Creation with an Earth Mass and by blessing animals. Pictures of creatures great...