Far more than a chance to gorge on turkey, stuffing, yams, pies, hams and mashed potatoes and gravy, Thanksgiving is a time for reflection, and the gift of perspective. We tend to look to the so-called “first Thanksgiving” as that 1621 get-together of Pilgrims and Native Americans at Plymouth. Really, though, it was a harvest…

Herman Cain likens himself to a modern-day Moses, a reluctant yet obedient servant who, in this century, answered the call to run for the Republican presidential nomination. Michele Bachmann said God told her to run. Ricky Perry, too, has laid claim to the mantle of Jehovah’s White House preference. Cain, though resolute in his denials…

One of the worst perils of being a preacher’s kid is not what you might think. You know, those tales about misbehaving progeny of men of the cloth; those rebellious, marginalized of-spring yearning to be free . . . of restrictions and expectations. Not that’s there’s a shortage of such P.K.s out there. This preacher’s…

Back in my days as a religion writer for a metro newspaper, I asked some ministers about what I thought was a rather simple question: “If a member of your congregation won a jackpot at a casino, the lottery, or some other gambling payoff and offered part or all of it to your church, would…

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