The Unclad Soul

The news carried a story this week of a couple in Sonoma, California who had lost their home in those raging fires. It came on them without much warning. They woke up in the night smelling smoke and before they knew it their house was in flames. They jumped in their swimming pool in order to stay alive. They would come up for air only when they had to. The heat of their burning house singed their backs every time they did. They had planned a trip to Indonesia, and instead of staying in California trying to deal with all the damage and loss, they got on a plane and left. In their fifties, they said they wanted to get out of there and enjoy time together. Good for them. The mess will be waiting when they get back. Why not get some relief and fly off to a beautiful place and live in the moment where there are no blazing fires to deal with? British novelist Martin Amis once wrote, “ The future could go this way, that way. The future's futures have never looked so rocky. Don...

Two things. Vice President Pence left an NFL game last Sunday because some players took a knee at the playing of the National Anthem. He said they were disrespecting the American flag. Second, Dallas Cowboy’s owner Jerry Jones has now said his players will all stand at the playing of the National anthem or else they can’t play. He said his players will respect the flag. Okay, I get this obsession with the flag, which is only a symbol. I’ve written about both the absurdity and the danger of worshipping a symbol of freedom while denying people human and equal rights. Pence and Jones are playing to the worst fears and prejudices in people. To deny professional football players, or anyone else, the right to express their disappointment and their disapproval of how certain police officers and police forces are mistreating, often outright killing, unarmed suspects, especially black men, ought to bother all Americans. Power and money do not give anyone the right to silence protest of...

Stephen Paddock, the mass murderer in Las Vegas, continues to puzzle law enforcement and investigators. He will most likely never be understood. As I mentioned in my last essay and blog post, I think we have to seriously rethink our humanity, and consider how vulnerable we all are both personally and as a society, to the deadly effects of mental illness. This is not something new, and it is not something that will go away. I have no confidence in our political system to do anything useful regarding gun legislation. Congress will talk about it, offer their empty prayers to victims, and say perhaps the gun issue needs to be looked at. But the NRA has a death grip on Congress and state legislators across the nation. The NRA controls gun manufacturing, gun sales, and the gun lobby. Nothing will change there. Money, and lots of it, fuels our political system. Not the safety of the nation. Not the value of our children. Not the security of special events outdoors or indoors. The...

I was talking with a friend at work this week about the Las Vegas atrocity. Like everyone else in America, we both remain stunned by such a horrifying and cowardly taking of human life. My friend, deeply disturbed by it all, said, “Are we all capable of such a thing?” I thought a moment and said, “I think we may be.” He put his hands over his face and said, “Oh God, I don’t want to hear THAT!” I don’t want to hear it either, but he asked an important question. How does a seemingly rational person do what Stephen Paddock did? He was apparently not previously some deranged serial killer. We now know he seemed to have a pretty normal life. It is said he was not friendly or engaging, but there is no indication he was the monster he turned out to be. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the famous creator of the Sherlock Holmes series, a trained physician and himself a serious student of human behavior, once commented about the puzzling conduct of criminals. He said, “The most winning woman...

It saddens and frustrates me to see how religion and patriotism in America have created so much confusion and division in the last many years. The late 1970s brought us the Moral Majority, a loosely held crowd of extremely conservative believers led mainly by the Rev. Jerry Falwell, the wealthy and powerful fundamentalist minister reigning then in Lynchburg, Virginia. He became the voice of the Moral Majority and he masterminded the idea that conservative Christians should take over the government in all aspects of its leadership and influence. From the president and his cabinet to all of Congress, to state governors and state legislatures, all the way down to local school boards and polling captains. It took years, but it worked. Today, our government—national, state, and local—is heavily influenced by far-right, powerful politicians and other leaders who use highly conservative, in some instances, incendiary, religious propaganda in order to convince voters and donors to bot...

The earthquake near Mexico City this week has been devastating especially since they just had one a couple of weeks ago, in the southern part of the country. The death count continues to rise as more of the rubble is being cleared away. When I was a young minister in my first congregation years ago, people in my conservative rural church would have seen this, and frankly, all of the hurricanes and other natural disasters happening so frequently, as a sign of what was called “the end times.” Back then, I would speak about the “Rapture,” when Jesus will supposedly appear in the sky and magically, mysteriously, all true Christians will disappear from earth, ascend, invisibly, to meet him in the sky and then be transported to heaven while everyone else left here will suffer unbearable torment and eventually die and go to hell. My congregation loved this stuff and I have to say there was a sort of excitement in telling them all of the incredible details of this dramatic event, ...

I recently spent the weekend with my son, Luke, in southwest Oklahoma. He manages a large ranch there set in the hills of vast trees and rugged trails. I love going there because, for one thing, I get to spend time with him and his dogs, Maggie and Gus. And for another, I get to get out of the city and enjoy the peace and quiet of the country. The ranch is a majestic spot set on nearly 3,000 acres and Luke has transformed it into a real paradise. The grounds around the ranch house, the barn, the shed, and the corral are immaculate. Big trees stand by the house and shade the nearby fire pit. It’s a perfect spot for morning coffee or friends around a fire at night. There are cattle and horses that Luke tends to and across the rolling hills deer graze and raise their heads to stare if Luke and I pull up in the gator. Then they take off, running elegantly into the woods. There are various tanks on the ranch, both large and small ponds. In the largest one Luke and I have fished...