We all have our prejudices. To think that we don’t is to be willfully blind, prone to believe that the way we perceive the world actually is the world. To deny our prejudices leads to an unwillingness to listen to others. It leads to an unwillingness to open up to the possibility that we might … Continue reading I Pledge Allegiance: Part 8–And Now…The Apocalypse
I Pledge Allegiance
I Pledge Allegiance: Part 7–They Wore Diapers On Their Heads
In the early 1970s, in an effort to quell the unrest in Argentina, General and President Rafael Videla took matters into his own hands. First, he labeled his enemies in this way, “A terrorist isn’t just someone with a gun or a bomb. (A subversive is) anyone who opposes the Argentine way of life.” And … Continue reading I Pledge Allegiance: Part 7–They Wore Diapers On Their Heads
I Pledge Allegiance: Part 6–The Spirituality of Pledging
For most of civilization, no one pretended that their political and spiritual lives could be compartmentalized. There was no pretension over thinking you could pledge to this or that over here, and then turn around and pledge to this or that over there. For most of history, there was no sacred here, secular there, divinity … Continue reading I Pledge Allegiance: Part 6–The Spirituality of Pledging
I Pledge Allegiance: Part 5–Jesus and Genocide
Whoever claimed that the Hebrew Scriptures were without internal conflicts never truly read the Hebrew Scriptures. For thousands of years, the Hebrew people knew quite well that their Scriptures were full of competing narratives. It wasn’t just that Ruth seemed to be challenging the narrative of Joshua. It was that Jonah and Isaiah did, too. … Continue reading I Pledge Allegiance: Part 5–Jesus and Genocide
I Pledge Allegiance: Part 4–I Thought You’d Never Ask
Maybe you find it hard to swallow that there is a God who is intimately involved with the world. Maybe it is stuck in the back of your throat that this God would ask us to put down our weapons. And maybe you are choking on the idea that God would put down His. And … Continue reading I Pledge Allegiance: Part 4–I Thought You’d Never Ask
I Pledge Allegiance: Part 3–The Divine Rule
In the really old stories, pledging allegiance was shaped by your understanding of beginnings. Many people know of the Genesis creation story, the one that Jews and Christians look to to shape their understanding of who the Divine is, who we are, and what we should be giving our lives to. But before the Hebrew … Continue reading I Pledge Allegiance: Part 3–The Divine Rule
I Pledge Allegiance: Part 2—Just Like Everybody Else
There are a lot of religious people right now that seem genuinely disturbed that other religious people are becoming just like everybody else. And in lots of different ways: in their sexual ethic, their political priorities, their vision of what it means to protect life. And while these are important concerns in their sacred texts, … Continue reading I Pledge Allegiance: Part 2—Just Like Everybody Else
I Pledge Allegiance: Part 1—Everybody Wants a King
We have always wanted a political leader to save us, and that has always ended badly. Even when the leaders have seemed good. In the first century BC, a man by the name of Julius Caesar led the Roman Empire to a series of victories that brought a peace and unity to an empire that … Continue reading I Pledge Allegiance: Part 1—Everybody Wants a King