The Sacred Secularist

“I think America must see that riots do not develop out of thin air. Certain conditions continue to exist in our society which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots. But in the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it that America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the Negro poor has worsened over the last few years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice, equality, and humanity. And so in a real sense our nation’s summers of riots are caused by our nation’s winters of delay. And as long as America postpones justice, we stand in the position of having these recurrences of violence and riots over and over again. Social justice and progress are the absolute guarantors of riot prevention.” -Martin Luther King Jr. We forget sometimes, those of ...

This month marks the sad anniversary of the passing of Rachel Held Evans. She unexpectedly died on May 4th, 2019 due to health complications. She was an award winning columnist and author. She also had her own blog and regularly shared thought provoking articles. Often Rachel was noted for calling out tropes of evangelicalism and turning them on their head. Some loved her and some not so much. I certainly felt both challenged and encouraged by her. She was an inspiration for this blog. I first heard of Rachel during a really hard time in my life. It was something she said that gave me permission to accept and deal with a major part of who I am. It was a landmark moment in my life. Suffice it to say, when I first heard Rachel Held Evans, I was at a crossroads in my faith.  At this point, I was dealing with sorting out how the Jesus I had been told about was nowhere to be found, and watching all the certainty I was supposed to have, unravel.  Compounding these questions...