On a bus ride in the 1950s, the brother of Oxford professor, C.S. Lewis, overheard a complaining woman say, as they passed a church with a crib outside it, “They bring religion into everything. Look, they’re even dragging it into Christmas now.” Somehow, then and now, the true message of Christmas gets drowned out in the […]

Read more "The True Christmas Message"

I remember seeing a bumper sticker in the early 1980s that said, “The one who dies with the most toys wins.”  “Very funny,” I chuckled… until I asked myself a not-so-funny question — “wins what?”  Is the pursuit and acquisition of worldly goods really what it’s all about? Is that our purpose in life? Is that what […]

Read more "Holding Our Stuff Lightly"

Worry is a subject I know a lot about. When I was a boy, I had a tendency to worry about my health. I was a classic hypochondriac. One night, about 3 a.m., I crept into my parent’s bedroom, went to my dad’s side of the bed and tugged at his pajamas: “Dad,” I whispered […]

Read more "The Wastefulness of Worry"

Chances are that at some point in your life you have heard someone say, “all roads lead to God” or “there are many paths to God.”   By this they mean that there must be more than one way to find God, and that it is really narrow (even “mean” or “hateful” or “arrogant”) for anyone […]

Read more "All Roads Really Do Lead to God"

No, there’s no typo in the title. I meant to say “fiend,” not “friend.” Why? Because James Taylor has got it all wrong when it comes to God. Unbeknownst to him, there is a fiend at work in his work. Many of James Taylor’s songs reveal his strong atheistic views, often poking fun at believers […]

Read more "James Taylor: You’ve Got a Fiend"

Covid-19 isn’t the only pandemic threatening society. There are dangerous attitudes spreading like the plague. While the postmodern era has promoted tolerance (a good thing), many people are now following an intolerant attitude (a bad thing) called “cancel culture.” Wikipedia describes “cancel culture” as “a modern form of ostracism in which someone is thrust out […]

Read more "The Cure for the “Cancel Culture” Pandemic"

It’s an election year, which means we have a duty to choose the best man or woman for public office at all levels of government. It also means that no matter who wins the presidency, there is a distinct possibility that conversations with family and friends at cocktail parties or around the Thanksgiving table might […]

Read more "God and Governments"

Have you ever forgotten a significant event in your life until someone or something prompted you to remember it? I have. It happened just a few days ago. I had just returned to my hometown of Greenville, South Carolina, to attend my 45th high school reunion. The day before the celebration, a good friend was […]

Read more "Saved By Kudzu"

In the 1974 movie, Towering Inferno, a massive fire breaks out in the world’s tallest building. The inferno erupted because the man responsible for supervising construction, Roger Simmons, cut corners and refused to build according to code. There’s a scene in which Simmons is confronted by his wife, Patty, the daughter of the building’s contractor, who was […]

Read more "Man Bless America"

A new Gallup poll shows that church membership in America has dropped sharply in the last 20 years from 70% in 1999 to 50% today. This trend reflects the fact that fewer Americans have any religious affiliation, and those who do identify with a particular faith group are less likely to belong to a church […]

Read more "Disorganized Religion"