Search Results for: masculinity

Parent and child spending time together

A Momentary Parental Revelation

You know how the prayer starts, especially if you’ve spent any amount of time in a more liturgically inclined congregation. It is the prayer that’s often introduced with words such as, “And now, as our Savior taught us to pray, we are bold to say…,”

Chaotic People on Charles Bridge in Prague

Gay or European?

Gay or European? People used to ask that about a man who didn’t fit the American image of manhood: “Is he gay, or is he European?” In an episode of Seinfeld, Jerry acquired a small bag to carry around everything that stuffed his pockets. When

Boy with partially covered face

The Place for Using and Abusing Children

When children return to school, most will be safer there than at home. In spite of all the nostalgic attempts to keep us believing “the American family” is an idyllic refuge, statistics say that home is the most dangerous place for children. It’s hard to

Dove flying in Lisbon, Portugal

That Sweet Flying

The boundary between physical and nonphysical is very imprecise for us. — Donna J. Haraway, “A Manifesto for Cyborgs, Science, Technology, and Socialist Feminism in the 1980s,” in Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature A friend tells me psychics can provide direction, so

Black man playing with a magnifying glass

Hyper-Muscular Christianity

In Seattle, self-described “charismatic Calvinist” Mark Driscoll preaches that “Jesus is a pride fighter with a tattoo down His leg, a sword in His hand, and the willingness to make someone bleed. That is a guy I can worship…I cannot worship a guy I can

Man speaking into microphone

Who’s Responsible for What They Say?

When 59-year-old Jim Adkisson stormed into the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Church on July 27 as an angry unemployed engineer, fatally shooting two adults, most of us were shocked. When 51-year-old Timothy Dale Johnson, fearing he’d been canned by Target, barged into the Arkansas Democratic Headquarters

People Wearing Multicolored Socks

Stumbling Blocks to Gay Liberation

Ignorance – Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines ignorance as a lack of knowledge, education, or awareness. I agree with the definition, but it sounds benign. Ignorance is anything but! As we all know, it’s the root of horrendous injustices. It makes pastors, imams and rabbis deny us

Hands doing an explaining gesture

We All Have Histories

We have accepted the dominant line if we believe that only when Barack Obama talks is race an issue or that only when Hillary Clinton speaks is gender involved. We’re not supposed to ask how whiteness is behind what Clinton or John McCain say or

Dove flying in Lisbon, Portugal

Where’s Momma?!

As I begin this essay, on the evening of Mother’s Day, I have a very pertinent question: “Is Momma in the house?” The American Right is now in the process of imploding upon itself. How can we know, for certain, that it is about to