The Unclad Soul

A fundamental truth in the teachings of Jesus was that the wicked are not as dangerous as those who pretend to be righteous. In fact, the only group that Jesus ever publically rebuked, and he did it more than once, was the Pharisees. Their self-righteousness and religious intolerance of anyone breaking their rules angered Jesus because he saw it as a mockery of the love God had sent him to live and share. The recent vote at the global United Methodist Church conference, which affirmed and tightened its ban on same-sex marriage and gay and lesbian clergy, is, in my opinion, a sad continuation of the Pharisees of old who used their faith to exclude and judge others. Let’s not forget that Roman emperor Constantine, who converted to Christianity and hailed himself as bringing it to Rome, was a more than compromised leader. He had his own son killed and boiled his wife in hot water. And yet he remains in history an icon of Christianity. The Crusades, which lasted 200 years,...

The movie Bohemian Rhapsody looks at the 70s rock band Queen and its lead singer, Freddie Mercury, played brilliantly by actor Rami Malek. The critics panned the movie saying it played too safe with the complex real-life story of Mercury, his flamboyant life as a gay man, his long relationship with Mary Austin (Lucy Boynton), his Parsi or Persian family, and his death from AIDS. I thought the film provided an important portrayal of Mercury and Queen. It showed the human side of the band members and their struggle with success, with sharing the limelight, and with Mercury’s moods and genius. The sexual revolution of the 1960s and 70s, the Hippy Movement, and the rise of heavy metal music, rock, funk, and disco were all transformative. Janis Joplin, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Queen, and of course the Beatles all shaped not just the music scene, but society, in extraordinary ways. Queen, though, had Freddie Mercury and that made them unique. I found a distinct sadne...

I am mourning our country. Not the sham that is our politics. That stuff infuriates not saddens me. Not the pathetic Donald Trump. His dysfunction is real and alarming but he’s not the source of my grief. Not Hillary Clinton with her chameleon masks, her endlessly lavish suits, and her highbrow ownership of the Democratic Party. What a disappoint she has turned out to be. But I don’t weep over her. Not the professionally and morally bankrupt media either. Their selling out, their cowardice, their trivial pursuits drive me to scorn but not sorrow. No, I mourn for the real people in this country who desperately need a reliable government. I mourn for our veterans sent off to missions of disgrace and outrage only to return to us maimed, ruined, and dead. And all of that for lost causes and dishonest hype and the gluttony of a fraudulent Congress. I mourn for the poor, the homeless, the addicted, the disabled, and all Americans whose lives are daily embarrassed from lack of resour...