Like many of you I have been touched and concerned by stories and images coming out of Peru in the wake of the recent earthquake. There are lots of organizations doing good work in Peru and elsewhere around the world, but I will be donating money to Presbyterian Disaster Assistance to support their work. If you have not yet made a financial donation to help with relief efforts in Peru, I hope you will consider joining me in supporting the work of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance.
Monthly Archive for August, 2007
This column ran as the featured commentary on UPI’s Religion and Spirituality Forum on August 6, 2007.
I wish the farm bill had a bigger place in the Great American Discourse.
Every five years, our elected leaders in Washington have the opportunity to set the policies that apportion federal subsidies given to America’s farmers, and when the farm bill comes up for renewal it is a great opportunity to ask some very basic, very important questions.
How do we want to eat? What kind of food do we want to feed America’s poor children who take advantage of the school breakfast and lunch programs that are underwritten by the federal farm bill? Which farmers and what kind of farming should derive the greatest benefit from federal financial aid? Continue reading ‘Farm Bill On My Mind’
Fanning the Flames of Islamophobia
This column was the featured commentary on UPI’s Religion and Spirituality website on August 20, 2007.
On Friday, I walked without fear into a potential den of scheming terrorists. To me it looked like the local halal butcher shop, but according to the New York City police department, halal butcher shops—together with bookstores, hookah bars and places where taxi drivers gather—are likely places to find young, Muslim men who are en route from being urban-hip, booze swilling, tail-chasing, fully integrated Western homeboys, to being Osama wannabes marching t