Skeptical about Skeptical Faith?

Somewhere in my formal education, I learned the importance of critical thinking. I believe it was in high school, taught by priests, but I know I already had an idea ...

Saying “No” to the Sense of Entitlement

We huffed and puffed climbing the steep path up a scruffy mountain, over orange to watermelon-sized rocks and the big tree roots protruding between them. It was hot, and the ...

Must You Be a Soldier in the Culture War?

David Brooks, the famous columnist for the New York Times who often appears as a commentator on TV news shows, recently wrote a column called “The Benedict Option.” An apparently ...

Sweating the Small Stuff

The sign on a college classroom door reads, “Philosophy 101.” A professor walks in and places a jar, about the size of an average cookie jar, on his desk. He ...

The Morality of Nurse Jackie

Sometimes as I jump rope – an exercise I’ve done most days for at least 35 years – I watch episodes of the series, “Nurse Jackie,” on Netflix. The show ...

Lent: Does Voluntary Suffering Make Sense?

I wrote in a previous blog about my visit as a young man to London’s famous Speakers’ Corner in Hyde Park. Anyone can get on a soapbox there and talk ...