(The New Vision – Saturday, December 12, 2015)
MUKONO, UGANDA ✦ She questioned if having the surgery was “God’s will,” but the truth is that she was afraid and misguided and besides her own safety, she was leaving her unborn child’s life to hang dangerously in the balance.
Caught between health care and (the worst parts of) religion Read More »
Before you read today’s post, please set aside a few minutes to view this remarkable link. It’s on the war (and it is a war) of maternal death in places like sub-Saharan Africa. Then take a few minutes to read the rest of this post, and, if you’re inclined, you’ll need a minute or two
A gala you won’t forget. A prayer (I hope) you remember. Read More »
(The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday, January 24, 2015)
KAMPALA, UGANDA ✦ He goes by a false name so he’s not found and killed. I just met him. I’ll call him Ahmed in this, his story. He recently shared it around our dinner table.
Cradle-to-grave without free choice Read More »
KAMPALA, UGANDA ✦ You’ve worked hard for this your whole life, this, your university career, your education and future, your dreams of a better life. Then it happened. You made a mistake. Now you’re pregnant. You’re pregnant while at a religious university.
You know what happens next. You get thrown out. Everything will be gone. Your hard-earned tuition and your honour and your hope for tomorrow too, all lost. So you got that abortion.
Universities should help pregnant students Read More »
(Christian Week – Friday, May 23, 2014)
PARIS ✦ Dead rock stars aren’t the only idols to worship out there. Houses and cars, retirement portfolios, relationships and sex—or, well, religion—can be equally distracting in a fallen world looking for things as nebulous as truth and meaning.
But come to the Père Lachaise Cemetery and see for yourself the cult of rock-star celebrity. In this gothic and tumbledown resting place of some of the world’s best-known artists—Chopin, Bizet, Proust, Oscar Wilde to name a few—Jim Morrison’s grave is by far the most visited.
Known by our love ( … or the things we’re against?) Read More »
There’s the guilt and fear. There’s the drama and emotion. There’s the conformity and the teaching of “Us versus Them.” Of course, there is also that feeling that you’re not good enough, that you have to somehow work your way into God’s love. These are hallmarks of cults, dangerous but strangely appealing religious groups like
About cults and this unforced rhythm of grace Read More »
Jeans and braided air land a university student in jail.
Why this senseless harrassment? Read More »
It’s nearing Easter and I’m at a cemetery on the ocean. It reminds me how fine it is to be irreligious and irreverent and have a healthy toast while doing it.
Living among the tombs Read More »
