Issues associated with tolerance, mutual respect, and understanding among various religious traditions including non-believers
Letters to my Palestinian Neighbor – Yossi Klein Halevi
As the title suggests the author has structured his book as a set of letters he would write to his Palestinian neighbor. The neighbor is not a specific person but an anonymous Palestinian individual with whom he would like to have a dialog.
The Immoral Majority – Ben Howe
Ben Howe is an evangelical Christian, a conservative writer and filmmaker. In the 2016 election he was one of a few “never Trump” Republicans who couldn’t bring themselves to support Trump’s candidacy but felt Clinton did not represent their values either. He says he voted for a third party candidate.
I recently received two Facebook posts blaming President Clinton for Trump’s hard line separation of immigrant families. I replied to both senders that the posts themselves were dishonest hate literature intentionally misrepresenting the truth. In response one of the senders accused me of being a socialist. Not sure exactly how he drew that correlation but it is a perfect example of trying to shift the debate from facts to political bias. Regardless, I decided to outline some of my real fears and frustration with Trump specifically and the Republican Party more generally in this and two companion blog posts.
Those of you who read my blog (blackwhiteorgray.com) know that I have been harshly critical of national evangelical Christian leaders who peddle an intolerant, disrespectful, anti-immigrant, and generally hateful political agenda.
Like many Americans I have been brokenhearted by the senseless slaughter of so many of our young people. I have desperately searched for a common thread in all these violent episodes.
Trump and Netanyahu celebrated the United States moving its embassy from Tele Aviv to Jerusalem with Israeli solders killing Palestinians protesting the loss of their future capital city. That made for great optics!!
On Friday of this week Christine Flowers, an opinion writer, wrote an editorial critical of the City of Philadelphia for severing the contractual relationship it had with Bethany Christian Services and Catholic Social Services.
I recently had occasion to explore the issue of DACA with an evangelical Christian friend I have known for close to 40 years. He is university educated, a good husband and father. I thought I knew him well. I had always thought he had an objective and sincere interest in the welfare of other human beings.
I recently posted my concern about a secret group of national religious leaders exercising what I consider unreasonable influence on the Trump Administration. That prompted one of my readers to claim that I obviously hate Christians.
I recently participated in a geriatric focus group discussing the challenges of aging. At one point the discussion leader asked us how we felt about our spiritual health. Most others talked about the strength of their faith and the comfort that it gave them. I said that my spiritual health had never been better, though I claim no faith. Of course that lead to a longer discussion, but it was all respectful.
Black, White, or Gray?? 