Quest Blog
Free Will, Fate, and Destiny: A Humanist Perspective
2013-08-01 Human religions have always been built upon foundations of the best available science of the time. Sometimes that science said that the middle earth sat in a large tree. Sometimes science said the earth sat on a turtle’s back. Ezekiel knew that the earth had four corners and was held up by pillars–heavens above,…
Read MoreWeathering
2013-08-08 When the storm comes in a bird sits on a limb in the suddenly solidly still humid air. I watch weather radar, listening to a child scream nearby– is it joy or fear? I raise a glass of ale brought to me all the way from London. I read the storm warnings with interest,…
Read MoreBeautiful Wordlessness
2013-06-28 I’ll try to keep this post short. Because that’s what I’ve been appreciating lately: few words. At almost 11 months old now, our Little Bean is right on the cusp of being able to say…something. And what I’m finding is that I’m savoring every moment of this Beautiful Wordless period. Because she can communicate…
Read MoreRed Light, Green Light, Slow Year, Fast Year
2013-08-02 At 7:44am, one year ago today, our Little Bean finally came out into the world, with what felt distinctly like a “plop!” From that moment on, things have felt like they are both, at one-and-the-same-time, in slow motion, and speeding by. The first six months sometimes included what felt like the longest days I…
Read MoreStorms and Solidarity
2013-06-29 All day Thursday I wore my Standing on the Side of Love t-shirt, through meetings with academia, organizers, congregants, and staff. A day of solidarity, a day of grief and a day of joy. Solidarity with the Texas State Senator Wendy Davis, who stood on the side of love (without eating, drinking, using the…
Read MoreForty Seven Weddings and a Funeral
2013-08-07 It’s been almost a week now, but I’m still internalizing the seismic change taking place in Minnesota. Love is the Law! It all began at midnight on August 1… Minneapolis Mayor RT Rybak presided over forty six weddings at City Hall in the wee hours of Thursday, August 1, beginning at 12:01 AM. By…
Read MoreFreedom . . . for Which?
2013-07-04 I subscribe to the notion that separating out religion from other meaning-making systems is valid only for the sake of convenience. I agree with anthropologist Jonathan Z. Smith who says, Religion is solely the creation of the scholar’s study. It is created for the scholar’s analytic purposes by his imaginative acts of comparison and…
Read MoreUU Verbs
2013-08-10 I had the honor of spending this week with a dozen youth who chose to spend the first week of August in New Orleans. So you already know that they are brave. You should also know that they are leaders and followers, conveners and collaborators, organizers and educators. But this isn’t a note about…
Read MoreBut Where’s the Woo-Woo?
2013-07-11 “Up! up! my Friend, and quit your books; / Or surely you’ll grow double,” said the early-Nineteenth Century British poet William Wordsworth: “Books! ’tis a dull and endless strife.” He continues, Enough of Science and of Art; Close up those barren leaves; Come forth, and bring with you a heart That watches and receives.…
Read MoreCulture Shift
2013-08-17 There is an old and often told story of a child walking along a beach, picking up stranded starfish and throwing them back into the ocean. In this story, an adult encounters the child and proclaims, “you can’t save them all. Your work doesn’t make a difference.” Replies the child, continuing in her labor…
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