Bill Ellis

One of the things I have heard quite often over the past 31 years I have been in parish ministry, is that congregations are supposed to be places where everyone loves each other. Until very recently I have agreed with that; I have pictured that as an ideal toward which we all ought to work. These days I am not so sure that this is the goal of Christian community in general...

The entire Bible is full of “creative liberties.”

Take for example only the Gospels.

A further thought on God and violence. One of the common responses to the belief that God is not violent, especially among those who are not so religious, is that God must be violent because the whole universe is violent.

In another post on this website Eric Blauer has shared his struggle with the relationship between violence and faith. If you haven’t read it, please do; it is an important statement.  My own journey has led me to a conclusion that might or might not be different from Eric’s, but it feels to me like it is in the same neighborhood.

I am a golfer; of course I swear. I know only one golfer who doesn’t.

The horrible killings of last Friday in Newtown, Conn. instantly elicited a huge range of responses, as it should. It is a tribute to our collective psyche that we continue to be shocked, outraged, stunned by such events. In spite of their frequency we are not yet inured to them, but their frequency is growing. 

No, the measure legalizing pot smoking does not change my mind about the morality of either Cannabis Sativa or its use. I don’t think any drugs are in and of themselves moral or immoral, but the purposes for which they are produced tell a different story.