Tom Ehrich is a writer, church consultant and Episcopal priest based in New York. He is the author of “Just Wondering, Jesus” and founder of the Church Wellness Project. His website is www.morningwalkmedia.com.
(RNS) Religious historians say that every 500 years, Christianity goes through a “massive transition,” as Phyllis Tickle puts it. We aren’t likely to comprehend this latest transition until it is further along. But two things are clear: Christianity in North America is being freed from its own roots, and Christianity no longer controls the flow.
(RNS) Conspiracy theorists tend to overreach, and common sense sees through their extravagant imaginings, but not before lives have been ruined, urgent needs avoided, and people rendered a bit more suspicious of their neighbors.
NEW YORK (RNS) Religious leaders worry about the decline of religion in America. I think their worry is misplaced. Faith is doing just fine, and it’s a great time to be seeking God.
(RNS) The searing experience of being an effective “Mourner in Chief” might stir President Obama’s appetite for political battle. I certainly hope so. Because the people need an advocate.
(RNS) Few of us go to the extremes of building bombs or carrying assault rifles into schools. But the acid of isolation is still there, eating away at our social fabric.
(RNS) People filled with hatred and guided by nihilism will always find a way to strike. Our best defense is what I saw in Boston: first-responders rushing toward danger, soldiers in uniform pitching in, strangers joining hands to rush victims to hospitals.
(RNS) Many church leaders continue to believe that reinvention is a optional choice as they control the pace of change and shape its outcomes. Those attitudes are delusional. The reality is: reinvent or die.
(RNS) By any sniff test or common-sense test, gay unions are no more or less likely to succeed and to be things of beauty. The larger issue, it seems to me, is public respect. And respect comes from being worthy of respect.
(RNS) In Christianity’s passage through Holy Week and Easter Day, a moment of truth will arrive. Some will get it, and it will be profoundly good news. Others still won’t get it.
(RNS) The Catholic hierarchy calls it “defamation” to raise questions about Pope Francis’ role in Argentina’s “Dirty War.” But as any penitent knows, a desire to move forward must be accompanied by candor about the past.
