A friend of mine recently picked up my cell phone and said, “Stop and think about it: Your phone is only as valuable as the network to which it’s connected.”   That’s true – we have a phone to call other people or to make it easier for others to connect with us.   Result: The wider…

If you read the papers, you know the front pages have been singularly focused on reporting the catastrophic Asian tsunami and its aftermath.  Experts are now saying we’ll be looking at over a quarter-million deaths when the rubble is cleared — maybe more.  As natural disasters go, this easily surpasses the 1883 volcanic explosion of…

Piss Christ, Andres Serrano’s photograph of a crucifix immersed in his own urine, thrust Serranos into the culture wars of the 1990s.  During that period, Serranos touched on social and religious themes, using bodily fluids such as milk, menstrual blood and semen.   Many art critics praised his works as expressing “concern about the Church’s position…

Do you remember the flap in 1989 when Andres Serrano unveiled his highly offensive Piss Christ?  The problem was that those in the arts community weren’t offended!  “Art is expression.”  “He has a right to paint what he wants to.”  Christians were rightly offended; but pretty much mute as to why Serrano’s art could not…

Do you remember the flap in 1989 when Andres Serrano unveiled his highly offensive Piss Christ?  The problem was that those in the arts community weren’t offended!  “Art is expression.”  “He has a right to paint what he wants to.”  Christians were rightly offended; but pretty much mute as to why Serrano’s art could not…

Thanksgiving is a good time.  It’s a time for family, a time for celebration and a time for reflection. Most cultures celebrate a thanksgiving — an autumn festival where friends and family come together to thank God for plentiful crops, good fortune and other blessings received during the year.   So too in America.

Joseph Stalin once remarked, “We can always find another widow for Lenin.” There is no doubt that Joseph Stalin’s threat caught the attention of Vladimir Lenin’s real widow, Krupskaya.  Stalin detested her and had a habit of ‘whiting out’ those he hated. Over 200 people fell from favor with the dictator, as their names and…

If you believe the political pundits, in a matter of days half the country will think the sky is falling and the other half will act as if it’s The Second Coming. The good news is that neither winner nor loser is likely to take to the streets and rant for revolution — though some…

When was the last time you heard a sermon praising the virtues of getting rich?  I’ll bet it’s been quite a while!  According to one survey, 99% of sermons reflect negatively on wealth accumulation, affluence, and success at work.  Why?

If you stand on the steps of the U.S. Capitol Building and look two miles due west, you can see the Lincoln Memorial.  Two miles is the same distance the Gobi Desert in central China creeps toward Beijing every year (it is now less than 200 miles away).  Sandstorms now buffet the city every summer,…