Tom Ehrich
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.
All Stories by Tom Ehrich
COMMENTARY: Openness, diversity and magnanimity
By Tom Ehrich — March 11, 2014
(RNS) Traditionalists have had five decades to promote Christianity by keeping the 1950s alive. Now it's time to let innovation happen.
COMMENTARY: A parched patch of prejudice
By Tom Ehrich — March 4, 2014
(RNS) What's next? Disobeying traffic signs because a gay-friendly city government put them up? Drawing down on a policeman because he happens to be gay? Obeying only those laws that no gay person supports or benefits from?
COMMENTARY: Hatred is in the air
By Tom Ehrich — February 25, 2014
(RNS) Instead of live and let live, entire states are saying, "Your existence as a free being makes us feel less free. So kiss your freedom goodbye."
COMMENTARY: Rallying the troops with self-righteous fury
By Tom Ehrich — February 18, 2014
(RNS) Nothing rallies the troops better than self-righteous fury. Tell those who are indeed being victimized that they are under assault by a vulnerable minority, turn attention away from those actually gunning for their money and freedom, and create a scapegoat.
COMMENTARY: Between repression and freedom
By Tom Ehrich — February 11, 2014
(RNS) When bigots attacked Coca Cola after the Super Bowl airing, the company could have backed down. But they did the better thing: repeating the ad and making it 50 percent longer. Good for them.
COMMENTARY: What shopping malls can learn from churches
By Tom Ehrich — February 4, 2014
SAN MATEO, Calif. (RNS) Having tried hard in several churches to raise funds for legacy expenses, I know it's a tough sell, and getting tougher. And it should be a tough sell. Churches had no business building facilities they could barely afford to construct.
COMMENTARY: Winning and whining are insufferable
By Tom Ehrich — January 27, 2014
(RNS) Class war isn't a resentment of success. It is a reaction against stealing, unearned privilege and arrogance.
COMMENTARY: Where are the referees?
By Tom Ehrich — January 21, 2014
(RNS) We are living, for now at least, in a "Wild West" of gerrymandered voting districts, unfairly enforced laws, corrupt arbiters, and the rich getting richer by buying and tilting basic systems like courts of law and media coverage.
COMMENTARY: Chris Christie and our self-absorbed culture of irresponsibility
By Tom Ehrich — January 13, 2014
NEW YORK (RNS) During a two-hour apologia, Chris Christie talked mostly about himself and how his feelings were hurt by this story of political vengeance. This is what our national epidemic of narcissism looks like.
COMMENTARY: Church shouldn’t be this hard
By Tom Ehrich — January 7, 2014
(RNS) Church should be different from society. Instead, it plays by the same rules: get mine, be first, be right, punish the weak, exclude the different, reward the wealthy.
COMMENTARY: Decency on the rise
By Tom Ehrich — December 31, 2013
(RNS) Did everything come up roses? Sadly, no. It was a rotten year in some respects. Think NSA, Chase Bank, John Boehner, Koch Brothers, scammers preying on soldiers and the elderly, payday lenders and other bottom-feeders. Even so, I end the year feeling positive.
COMMENTARY: Lessons learned by a young priest
By Tom Ehrich — December 27, 2013
(RNS) The anniversary of my ordination isn't a day when I go all gooey inside at remembering ordination. It is a day when I ask, "What was I thinking?" And then the larger question: "What was God thinking?"
COMMENTARY: Yearning for the pleasing ‘bubble’ version
By Tom Ehrich — December 17, 2013
(RNS) We have these yearnings. Not for an all-white Christmas, surely, but for a Christmas season that touches heart and soul, not just wallet.
COMMENTARY: How much of Christ can we stand in Christmas?
By Tom Ehrich — December 10, 2013
(RNS) I'd say the moment is ripe for new life being born in stables and forced to flee the powerful and greedy.
COMMENTARY: The engine of change is on full throttle
By Tom Ehrich — December 3, 2013
(RNS) The basics are changing faster than our ability to manage them.
