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Tammeus
Kansas City, Mo.
Recent Activity
Working on racial justice issues requires deep honesty
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In a few weeks we will mark the one-year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. It was the event that kicked off a long series of protests around the country by people... Continue reading
Posted yesterday at Bill's Faith Matters blog
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Remembering the gifts trees have been
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As my wife and I prepare to downsize from our house to a nearby apartment later this month, I've been going through boxes and bins full of evidence that I've been a professional writer for well over half a century.... Continue reading
Posted 5 days ago at Bill's Faith Matters blog
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Religious liberty is under threat around the world
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One of the indications that religion is a powerful force is that governments around the world try to suppress or control it, thus violating a foundational human right, religious liberty. To keep track of all those violations, each year the... Continue reading
Posted Apr 27, 2021 at Bill's Faith Matters blog
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Why authoritative, not authoritarian, religion is needed
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Some religious traditions -- or, more accurately, some branches of some religious traditions -- are more authoritarian than others. Which means those others tend to allow for more open discussion of difficult questions and aren't quick to declare someone a... Continue reading
Posted Apr 23, 2021 at Bill's Faith Matters blog
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Ramadan is a chance to learn about Islam in the U.S.
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In this month of Ramadan, it's helpful to think about the history of Islam in what eventually became the United States and about how this ancient religion (ancient, but younger than Judaism and Christianity) is negotiating its place in the... Continue reading
Posted Apr 20, 2021 at Bill's Faith Matters blog
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A story that challenges a stereotype
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National Public Radio's religion reporter, Tom Gjelten (pictured here), is retiring. Before he wrapped up his long NPR career (the last six years covering religion), he did an interview with Michel Martin for the "All Things Considered" show. Primary questions... Continue reading
Posted Apr 16, 2021 at Bill's Faith Matters blog
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Returning to the cross of Good Friday
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Since Good Friday almost two weeks ago, I've been thinking about something familiar that Jesus is reported as having said from the cross: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" You can find it in Matthew 27:46. As... Continue reading
Posted Apr 13, 2021 at Bill's Faith Matters blog
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Preaching must be political -- just not partisan
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In some ways the jobs of opinion columnists and preachers are quite similar: Both must try to find what is -- or at least seems -- true and share it with readers, listeners or viewers. Columnists, however, are rarely obligated... Continue reading
Posted Apr 9, 2021 at Bill's Faith Matters blog
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Is religion slowly disappearing in the U.S.?
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The American religious landscape, once a landslide for Christianity, especially Protestant versions of it, continues to change, and only God knows what it will look like in 50 or 100 years. What we do know is that the number of... Continue reading
Posted Apr 6, 2021 at Bill's Faith Matters blog
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Can the Abrahamic faiths lead to Middle East peace?
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Easter/Passover weekend -- which this year come just a week after Muslims celebrated Shab-e-Barat and about a week before Ramadan -- is a good time to think about what it will take, finally, to reach something like a peace agreement... Continue reading
Posted Apr 2, 2021 at Bill's Faith Matters blog
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The end of QAnon extremism isn't yet in sight
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As much as we would like to imagine that the 1/6 domestic terrorist attack on the Capitol in Washington, D.C., marked a high point for such extremism and that it's now slowly going away, the evidence suggests that would be... Continue reading
Posted Mar 30, 2021 at Bill's Faith Matters blog
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Again the ancient question: Who do you say Jesus is?
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It should be no surprise to you that just as there are thousands of divisions within Christianity, so are there thousands of images of and ideas about who Jesus is. One oversimplified way to think about that is to imagine... Continue reading
Posted Mar 26, 2021 at Bill's Faith Matters blog
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As the pandemic recedes, will faith communities adjust?
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For several Sundays now, a few worshippers have been present in person in the sanctuary of my congregation, and it looks as if the switch from the all-virtual service of the past pandemic year to a hybrid may be able... Continue reading
Posted Mar 23, 2021 at Bill's Faith Matters blog
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Are religion and secularism in a U.S. battle to the death?
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In terms of participation in religion, the United States is not Europe -- at least not yet. Americans are much more likely than people on that continent, especially in western Europe, to be adherents of some form of religion, especially... Continue reading
Posted Mar 19, 2021 at Bill's Faith Matters blog
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Uncovering a German town's hidden Nazi story
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About a year and a half ago, I reviewed here a Holocaust-related book by journalist D.Z. Stone, which I found both intriguing and, in its style, surprising. Now Stone is back with another Holocaust book, and she continues to offer... Continue reading
Posted Mar 16, 2021 at Bill's Faith Matters blog
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How wealth is dividing American Catholicism
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It has been clear for several decades that American Catholics do not vote as a bloc in national elections. Indeed, they have been pretty well evenly divided in presidential races. But that division seems to be hardening, and as this... Continue reading
Posted Mar 12, 2021 at Bill's Faith Matters blog
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How do we explain 'moral' atheists?
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An old question that seems to have as many or more lives than a cat goes like this: Can you be good without God? What the question aims to reveal is whether atheists are less moral than believers. It's an... Continue reading
Posted Mar 9, 2021 at Bill's Faith Matters blog
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A new effort to unplug religious extremism
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We are now two months out from the 1/6 domestic terrorist attack on the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., but clearly we aren't past it. And may not be for some time. Not only are law enforcement agencies and courts... Continue reading
Posted Mar 5, 2021 at Bill's Faith Matters blog
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Religious ideas can be both generative and dangerous
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Religion has shown itself capable of producing beauty, comfort, enlightenment, healing acts, generosity, compassion, mercy, justice and love. The bad news is that it also has shown itself capable of producing pain, suffering, war, prejudice, anger, violence and blind hatred.... Continue reading
Posted Mar 2, 2021 at Bill's Faith Matters blog
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We can't fix conditions about which we lie
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Before Black History Month ends, I want to say a few words, within the context of religious history, about the value of history itself in understanding not just where we came from but where we are today. To do that,... Continue reading
Posted Feb 26, 2021 at Bill's Faith Matters blog
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Taking new looks at the Black Church
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A couple of months ago, the weekly Bible study group that I help to lead took several weeks to look at the Black Church in the U.S., focusing especially on its theological approaches and the passages of scripture that have... Continue reading
Posted Feb 23, 2021 at Bill's Faith Matters blog
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When faith needs to be torn down and rebuilt
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A few days ago, at their invitation, I spoke to members of the faculty of Central Baptist Theological Seminary about my new book, Love, Loss and Endurance: A 9/11 Story of Resilience and Hope in an Age of Anxiety. Our... Continue reading
Posted Feb 19, 2021 at Bill's Faith Matters blog
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Are we surrounded by true prophets?
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Something odd but intriguing has been happening pretty much under the radar in American Christianity. As this New York Times article reports, "in recent years, self-described prophets have proliferated across the country, accelerating in stature over the course of the... Continue reading
Posted Feb 16, 2021 at Bill's Faith Matters blog
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Will Biden help protect international religious freedom?
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Each year the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and the U.S. State Department issue reports (here and here) describing how religious liberty is being restricted -- sometimes brutally -- in countries around the world. One reason they do that... Continue reading
Posted Feb 12, 2021 at Bill's Faith Matters blog
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Has California's diversity training become antisemitic?
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It appears that in an effort to do something good -- teach California high school students about ethnic diversity -- state officials have made some bad judgments, at least one of which has resulted in what the author of this... Continue reading
Posted Feb 9, 2021 at Bill's Faith Matters blog
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