Worldwide Stew

Beliefs Worth Examining

What would your belief system - your religion and politics, for example - have to do to cause you to reject it? It’s a question for our ideology-driven times.

Decades ago I believed in almost every facet of the Christian Nationalist dream, including their beliefs about sexuality. I ignored the human experience, following ideology instead. Then, as a chaplain in training, I sat by a gay man who lost his partner moments before. His racking sobs revealed his overwhelming grief. Wait, I thought. He really loved his partner. This relationship wasn’t the perversion I was told it was. There was more love in that room than in my own “straight” marriage. It was love. Pure love. It was the beginning of the collapse of my walls of belief about human sexuality. My former beliefs still cast long shadows.

Being conscientious isn't a moral virtue.

Working hard - being conscientious - is not a moral virtue. It’s not enough.

The grade on your assignment has nothing to do with how hard you worked on it. You get a grade dependent on your answers being correct. If we didn’t answer the questions, show our work, or do the work, the teacher won’t care. The point wasn’t to work hard. The point of the assignment is to get the correct answer and show your work.

Deputized on Ash Wednesday

It’s Ash Wednesday. I feel a little sad about that. Why? When I think of Ash Wednesday, here’s the thing I remember most.

I was a chaplain at Baylor Scott & White Heart and Vascular Hospital in Dallas. Even though I wasn’t Catholic, each Ash Wednesday I was deputized to impose Ashes on the foreheads of anyone who wanted them. I received Ashes and then was deputized to impose them on others. I would visit every unit at the hospital to make sure people could get Ashes if they wanted them. There were always lots of questions:

How I'd like the world to be

Author: mike davis