The definition of conglomeration, according to Google, is “a number of different things, parts or items that are grouped together; collection.” As granite is conglomerate rock, a Jack Pollock painting builds a conglomeration. They look messy, not all the same, not neatly organized. Yet granite is some of the toughest rock around.The imagination builds concepts from the elements, each of us in our own way. And yet a slab of granite is quite clearly one thing, not many. Denomination…..
The boy stole something he craved. His mom was livid. “Why?” “Why would you do this when you know it is wrong? You are grounded until you can explain it to me.” He may be grounded a very long time. He rarely if ever had seen the inside of a church. His mom doesn’t find God useful, and considers God’s tastes a bit bloody. The devil is relegated to an entertainment zone, not feared as real. In past generations, the…..
When I heard Ted Cruz was evoking the image of solitary five year old in a public restroom I was flabbergasted. Does he really let a five year daughter old go into a public rest room alone? Fathers, both single fathers and fathers on father-daughter excursions, have to take their young children with them to the rest room just like moms do, don’t they? The image was concocted to counter objections to a law in North Carolinaspecifying how to choose…..
Edward Wightman was a successful merchant and left behind a family when he was burned at the stake in 1612. In fact, I went to college with one of his descendants, Bobby Wightman. The Bobby Wightman of our day is a historian, by hobby if not by trade. As a descendent, he was allowed to dress up in something resembling surgical scrub and go into a room at SMU containing an original copy of the book about the burning of…..
A review of Reza Aslan’s Zealot, The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth Reza Aslan is one of the voices in the USA media explaining Islam to Christians today. He is popular, because he makes most Muslims seem anti-extreme, a comforting thought and one that helps promote the unity of humanity against extremism in our time. I read his book about Jesus in part to calibrate his credibility. My theory is he will be similarly accurate when evaluating Islam’s…..
After finishing the 2015 Boston marathon, Gianclaudio realized his ID was gone and, not speaking English, he could not find his way to his people or his hotel. Being clever, he went for the the airport directly, but he was taken for by many homeless or worse. The story of Gianclaudio P. Marengo’s survival has a lucky ending: he was recognized for the civilized but lost Italian he was and returned to people he knew by an officer who said…..
When I was young my grandmother watched the first step on the moon with me on our black and white TV. She did not believe it was occuring. She thought it was staged. I was certain it was true and the most exciting thing I would see in my whole life. Now a NASA team discovered evidence of brine — indicating contemporary liquid water on MARS. It is even more exciting than Neil Armstrong’s first steps. Why? Liquid water on earth almost…..