This weekend will mark the 140th anniversary of George Armstrong Custer’s demise–along with 250 men under his command–at the Little Bighorn River in Montana. For insight into how and why Custer and the 7th Cavalry met such a fate, we need to start with the previous decade. Picture a wintery scene: Nov. 26, 1868. A […]
A Reflection on Wounded Knee
This December 29th will mark the 125th anniversary of the Wounded Knee Massacre. As students of American history probably already know, this 1890 horror was, in a real way, the end of the so-called “Indian Wars.” That is, it marked the final crushing blow specifically against the Lakota on the Great Plains, but symbolically against […]
Little Celebrations #6: Liturgical Quotables
Let us draw together in thanks and praise for the goodness that is in the world. Let us also sorrow for those who suffer and all the work which remains undone. Let us be reverent and loving in the light of truth, faith, courage and abundance. May our hearts create a space where all these […]
Transcendence for Atheists
Let’s begin with a neurological reality: we humans are limited in what we can experience. The finite human nervous system can only absorb about 10% of the information around us. The other 90% goes unprocessed: unseen, unheard, untasted, untouched, unfelt–unimagined. Mind you, that’s only talking about what lies within earshot and vision. It’s not even […]
Why Do Religions Hurt People?
I submit that to understand religion, particularly as practiced in the West, we need a basic understanding of group dynamics: to wit, what sociologists call the “ingroup” and the “outgroup.” Group cohesion and cooperation were essential to the survival of prehistoric Homo sapiens. We have evolved to instinctively assign artificial positive qualities to “our” group […]
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