I consider myself to be a fairly open-minded individual who is willing to offer a listening ear to anyone on matters of faith and philosophy. But with that said, I am primarily focused on taking thoughtful action in the “here-and-now” to nurture and protect life in the “here-and-now… Read full post »

Right now, we are temporarily separated. I needed some space. I still spend a lot of time thinking about the things she’s taught me and I might occasionally check on her from time to time, but we don’t spend time together like we used to. And lately I haven't felt the… Read full post »

 

I was restlessly searching through the iTunes music database when I stumbled across one of the most moving and majestic songs I’ve heard in quite a while. It is a song written and performed by Joni Mitchell called “Woodstock” from her 1970 album, Ladies of the Cany… Read full post »

 

 

Part 1:

A few weeks ago, after coordinating a news conference in the lobby of a local hospital, I had a peculiar interaction with a grandmother whose daughter gave birth on Mother’s Day. This grandmother was a friendly and soft-spoken middle-aged African-American woman with/… Read full post »

Right now, out here in the world we consider “real,” two thoughtful and concerned individuals from polar views about the nature of reality are transcending the merely transactional exchanges of our commercial culture and are participating in a mutually transformative and paradigm-shifting… Read full post »

 

All the recent news surrounding Catholicism and President Obama’s visit to Notre Dame brought to mind some of my own fond memories of Catholicism. I’m more of a humanist now, but at one point in my early childhood, I wanted to be a Catholic. Badly. 

Looking back now, it s… Read full post »

 

As you may know, I don’t believe in the popular, biblical portrayals of a personal God who communicates with human beings and intervenes on their behalf, but I still attend weekly worship services at a primarily African-American Missionary Baptist church with my loving wife- who i… Read full post »

A brief departure from my regular subject matter... 

Yesterday, I was at a restaurant and saw a young person that looked just like I did when I was a teenager. It was eerie. I mean he could have been my twin. Nearly identical.

My friends who were with me also noted… Read full post »

From an undisclosed location in cyberspace...

 

Churchgoing Agnostic: Well James, let me start by saying that- based upon your posts, comments and ideas- I truly consider yours to be a fascinating mind, and I feel inadequate when it comes to asking such questions- knowing that they can… Read full post »

 Will Durant (1885-1981)

 

Around this time last year, I had a private e-mail correspondence with Mary Jean Irion, a now eighty-something poet and author of the 1968 book, From the Ashes of Christianity (a little-known text that I just so happened to come across while I was in semin/… Read full post »

 

Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960)

A few months ago, I picked up a copy of African-American Humanism: An Anthology (1991) edited by Norm R. Allen Jr. It is a fascinating collection of essays and works written by some famous (and some lesser-known) Black humanists, rationalists and free/…

Read full post »

Dare I ask…
…when I don’t expect an answer?

But sometimes...sometimes...
asking and knocking leads to unlocking
So I dare.

Here I am, Lord.
A heretical human engaged in honest prayer

Are you a divine creative essence
or are you a created being?
Are you the ageless mystery born of myth?
Or… Read full post »

 

In contemplating the most accurate way to describe my own religious affiliation (should I be asked by fellow churchgoers), I have given long thought to one my good friend's approaches of responding according to the primary religious model and/or framework that has shaped one's outlook o… Read full post »

I’m "stepping out on faith" here, but is there anyone out there who could offer some helpful advice and suggestions for “coming out?”

I am a “Jesus-admiring, agnostic humanist” who has long agonized over the idea of announcing my philosophical position to my Ch… Read full post »

ACT 1

Scene 3

[The phone conversation continues between the devoted Christian wife and the secretly agnostic husband...]

WIFE:
“I’m so glad to hear you opening up more.” 

HUSBAND:
“Well…you know…it’s just…I take the idea of God seriously and I real… Read full post »

ACT I 

Scene 2:
In the car, on the way to work on a chilly morning, 9:07 a.m.
A discussion from the previous night is revisited during an in-depth telephone conversation between a devout Christian wife and her secretly agnostic husband. The husband calls the wife on her phone after dropping… Read full post »

ACT I 

SCENE 1:

The master bedroom, 11:53 p.m. on a sub-zero, Midwestern night.

A devout Christian wife and her secretly agnostic husband engage in the type of late-night pillow talk in which one spouse can easily implicate themselves or inadvertently insult their partner because only one of them… Read full post »

    

Dear God, 

It seems that, throughout human history, certain individuals have experienced what they consider to be special epiphanies about the nature of reality and- in their enthusiasm- have felt compelled to share their insights with other people. These individua… Read full post »

Dear God, 

Call it blasphemous, but I am unable and unwilling to cast aside my growing suspicions that those lofty claims that so many pious believers, prophets, shamans, ministers, preachers and evangelists declare about You and Your will actually reveal more about their minds than Yours. 

C… Read full post »

 

Have you ever heard bizarre, nonhuman screams coming from the other room? Have you ever had that eerie feeling in the waking hours where your mind is alert but a heavy pressure on your body prevents you from moving? Have you ever felt a haunting presence closing in on you… Read full post »

  

Dear God, 

Pardon me for the ramblings, but I thought it best to reach out to You through the form of a letter since I seem to think best when I am writing. As You may know, It’s been nearly two years since we last talked; and when I say talk,… Read full post »

Chances are I probably won’t make it to Heaven with you. You see, I’m not sure I believe in it anymore, but I sure as hell hope it exists.

While I like the thought of Heaven, I’ve personally never been too attached to the idea. I mean that to say, the/… Read full post »

As many of us celebrate the New Year, we mark a transition from one period to another. This is the time of year when countless individuals declare their commitment to keep resolutions that they hope will improve the quality of their lives.

This is a time of reflection when we ask… Read full post »

The idea of a personal, loving, intervening, responsive, and self-revealing God has never seemed farther for me than it is right now. It is becoming less and less-convincing for me.

Over the past few years, Christianity (as is often preached) has become almost impossible for me to believe. I can unde… Read full post »