Conscience queries

As Genesis 1:26 states, “Then God said: Let us make human beings in our image, after our likeness,” man is made “Imago Dei”, in the image and likeness of God. This is the foundation of our profound dignity as human persons: that we are created in the image and likeness of God, who is a communion of persons in the Holy Trinity. We are earthly creatures (i.e. have a physical body) and yet have a spiritual nature as well, indicating that we are made for something beyond this life. In fact, we are made for someone beyond this life, God himself. We are created for relationship with God and with our brothers and sisters.

Unveiling the Dangers of Christian Nationalism Christian nationalism, an ideology that merges religion and politics, poses significant risks to our society. By elevating Christianity as the privileged faith and linking it to national identity, this ideology undermines religious freedom, fosters division, erodes secular values, and distorts the true essence of Christianity. It threatens the fundamental right to practice any religion or no religion at all, fuels polarization, compromises equality, and paints an inaccurate picture of the teachings of Christianity. It is crucial to raise awareness, promote inclusivity, uphold secular values, and encourage critical thinking to counteract the harmful effects of Christian nationalism, and to build a society that embraces diversity, unity, and the preservation of individual freedoms.

One of the most famous quotes on true religion from the Christian Church Fathers is by St. James, who said in James 1:27: "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."  St. Augustine also provided insights about true religion. In his Confessions, he wrote, "For to worship You is to acknowledge that You exist, and that You reward those who seek You diligently. This is the faith that saves the people of God." He believed that faith in God was the foundation of true religion and that worship and devotion should come from the heart.  Another Church Father, St. Cyril of Alexandria, wrote, "True religion consists in worshipping the Lord in spirit and in truth, not with visible sacrifices, but with the offering of the soul itself." He believed that true religion was a matter of the heart and not just outward actions.  Overall, the teach...

My dear brothers and sisters, Today we come together to commemorate the most important event in the history of humanity, the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his suffering and death, he showed us the greatest act of love that God could possibly offer to us. As we enter into this Holy Week, it is important to pause and reflect on the journey our savior went through for our sake. Imagine for a moment, the pain and anguish that he felt. The crown of thorns on his head, the lashes from the whips on his back, the nails piercing his hands and feet, and ultimately, the life slowly ebbing away from him on the cross. Why did He do it? Why did our Lord willingly suffer such a painful and degrading end? The answer is simple yet profound - love. Love for us, His children. Love that was willing to endure any suffering and pain, even unto death, for our redemption and salvation. The passion of Christ reminds us of the magnitude of God's love for us. His love transcends space and time, crossi...

Throughout the myriad of opinions and righteous indignation from all sides, of the past few weeks, I've been left with many various thoughts, but at their essence is this; a lack of hope in the human spirit.  At the extremes, both left and right, both "black and white," both spiritual and terrestrial world views, are displaying the same deficiency.  What has happened to fertilize the growth of hopelessness in our culture? In the past, I've asked the question, "What does it mean to be a human being?"  The answer to that question is interesting to me because it exposes, I believe, what the individual believes about, not only, themselves specifically, but others in general.  In my experience, how we see human beings, and what we think it means to be a human being are integral to how we react to each other. All the "Isms" of today, feminism, humanism, socialism, capitalism, spiritualism, racism, conservatism, liberalism, gay or straight, you name it, h...

I had an interesting discussion yesterday with a friend of mine following the first night of riots in Minneapolis.  These resulting from the death of an African American while in the custody of 4 law enforcement officers. He kept bringing up black on black crime and the black community taking responsibility for themselves.  I wonder, though, if there's a link between the amount of crime in black neighborhoods and the treatment that segment of the population receives from society.  Systemic racism leads, IMHO, to systemic poverty and hopelessness.  This inevitably causes some to turn to violence to achieve their goals of survival.  My friend provided the statistics of population versus black prisoners.  To state that 13% of a population make up 40% of those incarcerated presumes all circumstances are equal.  The fact is that the 13% of the population are in living conditions that lead to a more, for lack of a better word, "uncivilized", behavior points ...