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Where At Least I Know I’m Free
As I write this post, a woman walks past my suburban American window in a tank top and shorts walking her dog. Meanwhile the Taliban publicly execute women in Afghanistan for not covering their heads. After almost twenty years, US troops have left Afghanistan. Under Taliban rule, women and girls can now probably kiss goodbye any hint of basic human rights—like education, freedom of expression, and freedom of religion. It’s not just a women’s problem, though. Some Taliban officials even ban TV watching and smart phones; some control not only personal attire, but even beard length. What in the ACLU is happening? And with such rigid control, Afghans fear retaliation…
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Is It Safe to Open My Eyes Now?
I write this post two days before the US elects its next president. By the time you read this, the election would have already passed. The election results won’t make a difference to me. (Translation: I’m jaded.) Too many people have died from COVID, riots, and racism this year. Add to that unemployment, mask wars (a.k.a. selfishness), hurricane after hurricane, and fire after fire. We came into this election season an exhausted hostile nation—already overwhelmed with anxiety and grief. I can picture the devil high-fiving his minions right now over their victory at dividing our nation. There is no real winner here. Because a presidential election can’t buy peace…
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I Was Wrong about Egypt
When I had the opportunity this past March to go to Egypt, I was not thinking of the journey as a trip to the Holy Land…. I mean, talk about the “Holy Land,” and most people will think you mean modern Israel, the Palestinian territories, western Jordan, southern Lebanon and even southwestern Syria. Jews, Christians, and Muslims all regard these parts of the earth as holy. But did you notice Egypt was not on that list? For me, too. In fact, I thought of Egypt as being more like the un-holy land. Wasn’t Egypt where Israel lived enslaved for centuries? Wasn’t that where the plagues happened in response to evil? Wasn’t…
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Star-Spangled Hammer
In 1964 an engineering graduate student sailed on a 1000 passenger ship from Bombay to Genoa. Later that night he caught a train from Milan to London. From London he flew to New York. He took a bus to the Port of Ellis Island to process his immigration. This fourteen day journey began his road to the American Dream. He had eight dollars in his pocket. Years later, my father took his United States citizenship, pledging allegiance to the American flag with tears in his eyes. My father always taught us we should feel lucky to live in America—a nation of liberty and justice for all. He had escaped a…
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For One of the Least of These
Someone call Child Protective Services. Currently over 2000 abused children wait in detention centers at the U.S/Mexico border after separation from their parents who crossed the border illegally. Earlier this year the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) started dividing families caught crossing the border without papers based on a “zero tolerance” policy on immigration. Even breastfeeding infants got snatched from their mothers. As a pediatric healthcare worker I can attest to the fear and anxiety that wells up in a young child detached from a parent even for a few moments to obtain x-rays. The White House (after much uproar)…
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Make (Whose?) Rome Great Again
Happy Fourth of July! Hope you get to savor some apple pie, jump in some water, and see some fireworks. I just returned from teaching an on-site course that traveled through Rome, so I’m taking the week off. But I met the most interesting Christian saint, and I invited him to guest post on our special American holiday. He chose to share this letter he received from the emperor: Rome, AD 249 – Decius to Maximus, grace to you. Last week over a thousand of us light-skinned citizens from across the empire who fly the Roman flag in our houses of worship gathered in Rome. We decked ourselves out in…
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#SCOTUSDecision #ChurchFreakOut
And a decree went out from SCOTUS on June 26, 2015, that couples of the same sex may receive marriage licenses that every state in the USA must recognize as legal. And the church in America freaked out. Yes, perhaps the earth shifted a bit under our feet. But Chicken Little was still wrong about the sky. The true ruler of the world is still on the throne. This decision did not even usher in the last days, as one friend’s hashtag suggested. Indeed, we were already in the last days. I refer readers to 2 Timothy 3:3ff, which describes people in those days as follows: lovers of themselves, lovers…
