Religion and Spirituality

No Image

Thomas Merton’s quotation about the violence in American culture

October 7, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Thomas Merton, the pacifist philosopher, theologian and mystic, wrote this (probably during the 1960s): “The real focus of American violence is in the very culture itself, its mass media, its extreme individualism and competitiveness, its inflated myths of virility and toughness, and its overwhelming preoccupation with the power of nuclear, chemical, bacteriological, and psychological overkill. If we live in what is essentially a culture of overkill, how can we be surprised at finding violence in it? Can we get to the root of the trouble? In my opinion, the best way to do it would have been the classic way […]

No Image

To Achieve Social Justice, We Must De-Polarize Our Society

October 7, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Oppressors like to use a “divide-and-conquer” strategy in order to keep the oppressed people from joining together to empower themselves to nonviolently fight against the oppressors. We need to recognize that tactic and refuse to let oppressors polarize us by race or religion or sexual orientation or any other factor. I wrote this article in 2018 and encourage people to read it and use its insights to de-polarize our society so we can join together to work for social justice: De-Polarize    

No Image

“Let’s Understand the Islamic Faith”

October 1, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

The October 2018 episode of “Glen’s Parallax Perspectives” TV series helps us understand the Islamic faith. Islam is the world’s second most popular religion, but most Americans who are not Muslim do not understand it.  Many of the things Americans think they know about Islam are not actually true.  I invite you to watch this TV interview with three knowledgeable, articulate Muslims so you will gain a clear and accurate understanding. See the link below to watch the program — and the link below that to read a thorough summary of what we said and a list of sources for […]

No Image

Kavanaugh THREATENS our rights!

September 5, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

See my recent post listing some very serious dangers that Brett Kavanaugh would pose if the Senate were to confirm his nomination for the U.S. Supreme Court.  Trump nominated him precisely because Kavanaugh — who is young — would impose Trumpist cruelty and abuses upon the USA for many decades, long after Trump is gone. See my recent post about this.  Please contact your U.S. senators and DEMAND that they VIGOROUSLY OPPOSE Kavanaugh in every  nonviolent way they possibly can. Among other problems, Kavanaugh would undermine the Constitutional separation of church and state.  He would impose right-wing religious bias as […]

No Image

Pope Francis OPPOSES the death penalty in ALL cases.

August 9, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Although the Roman Catholic Church has staked out positions that is says are “pro-life,” the Church has allowed the death penalty in a very few cases, although the Church has opposed the death penalty in general. Just recently Pope Francis came out STRONGLY AGAINST the death penalty in ALL cases.  This is big news from a pope who has been exercising his conscience very well on a number of issues. This article explains his decision:  Pope Francis OPPOSES death penalty in ALL cases This article is about support for his decision:  Support for Pope Francis’ anti-death penalty decision  

No Image

Community Affirmation: Peace, Not Nuclear Weapons

July 27, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

This Community Affirmation was affirmed at the June 1982 International Religious Convocation for the Second United Nations Special Session on Disarmament.  It remains timely today.   Community Affirmation   We who live in the shadow of the mushroom cloud and the dangers of bullets on our streets Today declare our hope in the future.   From the diversity of our religious traditions We have come to renew our belief in the holiness of the earth and the sanctity of all life. We declare we are at peace with all people of good will.   We need no leader to define […]

No Image

A public school district PUNISHES its LBGT students by FORCING them to read the Bible.

July 21, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

A public school district is PUNISHING its LGBT students by FORCING them to read the Bible. This is wrong on so many levels! 1. A public school district is wrong to punish LGBT students. 2. No public school district should be promoting any religion. 3. A religion’s scriptures should be a joy to read and ponder. Forcing people to read them totally destroys the value of scriptures. Such an authoritarian command paints religion as a punishment, so it is actually hurting religion. 4. The U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment guarantees freedom of religion.  Specifically, the Constitution prohibits government from imposing any […]

No Image

Freedom of Religion Does NOT Give Permission to Hurt Other People

July 21, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

In 1993 the U.S. Congress — with broad support by congressional members of both big political parties and much grassroots support across the political spectrum — passed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) to explicitly protect people’s free exercise of religion.  This is especially important for religious minorities. Example #1:  Suppose your employer expects you to work on your holy day.  The RFRA supports your effort to exchange that work day for a different day. Example #2:  Suppose your religion expects you to wear something special on your head or grow your beard out, but your employer or some law […]

No Image

Smart insights to distinguish “conflict” from “abuse.”

July 17, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Someone sent me an e-mail expressing support for “Conflict is Not Abuse” from Sarah Schulman.  I searched for information about the book and found this very insightful article.  It offers smart, practical and compassionate ways out of the traps that many people — especially progressives — get into regarding how we deal with social justice issues at an interpersonal level. Rather than try to summarize her helpful insights here, I encourage you to read this information about her book: https://www.thestranger.com/books/2017/01/10/24792575/sarah-schulmans-conflict-is-not-abuse-is-a-guide-to-keeping-the-peace      

No Image

9 Ways Authoritarianism Is Taking Hold Under Trump

May 31, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

As you know, I read a huge amount of information.  Thom Hartmann’s article at the link below consolidates much solid information into CRUCIALLY IMPORTANT information that the American people need to understand. Trump and Trumpism are imposing horrible authoritarianism upon the U.S.  This is an extremely serious — actually existential — danger to American freedom and constitutional democracy. Trump’s authoritarianism abuses many aspects of American society. The article below connects many of the issues we care about, including peace, social justice, environment/climate, economics, and so forth.  The article ends with a call for nonviolent organizing to rise up against Trump’s […]

No Image

How can we challenge this dominant but destructive economic assumption?

May 24, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Embedded very deeply in our American culture — and many other nations’ cultures too — is an assumption that is embedded so deeply that nobody recognizes it, let alone challenge it. The assumption is this:  It is OK if what I do kills people, so long as I’m making money from what I do. At the surface level — the explicit level — if you were to ask people whether it is moral to kill other people, they would say “no.” But below the surface — at the implicit level — our society tolerates behaviors that knowingly kill people because […]

No Image

Profound Nonviolence for a Truly Just Society

May 15, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

In slightly more than three pages, the article at this link provides wisdom, compassion, insights, and encouragement to fix our society’s problems. I believe you will find that reading this is a good use of your time. Here is the link: Profound Nonviolence for a Truly Just Society

No Image

A minister, a priest and a rabbi walked into a bar …

April 5, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

You’ve heard jokes that start with this line:  “A minister, a priest and a rabbi walked into a bar ….” How about this? They walked in and asked the customers whether they wanted to make their own decisions about which religious bodies (if any) to financially support, or whether they wanted Big Government to take their tax dollars and — instead of funding public schools that treat everyone fairly — spend their tax dollars to fund schools owned and operated by religions they did not agree with, so those religions could indoctrinate school children in their religious dogmas. Of course, […]