Confidentiality is a time-honored principle, whether applied to doctor-patient, clergy-penitent, attorney-client, husband and wife, or journalist and anonymous-source. The latter is particularly relevant to me, since I occasionally granted anonymity to sources over the years. I was never fond of doing that, and many publications refuse to use unnamed sources as a matter of policy.…
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It’s been more than a month since the remaining lead pastor and elders at Willow Creek Community Church resigned amid a months-long scandal over the founding pastor’s alleged abusive behavior. However, the repercussions will continue for years. In personal conversations of late, I have learned that many folks aren’t even aware of the suburban Chicago…
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It’s quite ironic that the news about former Cosby Show actor Geoffrey Owens supposedly disgracing himself by working at Trader Joe’s made national headlines on Labor Day. Someone chose the very day set aside to honor working people to make a big deal out of an actor supplementing his income by working as a clerk.…
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One of the hazards of the human condition is getting so wrapped up in your problems and struggles that you can reason no one else has ever had it this tough for so long. I confess to feeling that way throughout the first half of this year as I battled my way back from a…
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It is just one week to the Sept. 6 opening kickoff of the NFL season, although I’m not that excited about watching the Philadelphia Eagles play the Atlanta Falcons. Even if a trio of good friends are Eagles fans. Instead, I await the Cleveland Browns’ Sept. 9 opener, when I will discover whether the team’s…
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Although news about some groundbreaking religion research appeared in April, I only learned about it recently while editing a blog. The 45-year-old Longitudinal Study of Generations found that baby boomers are increasingly turning to religion in their later years. One in five of nearly 600 boomers surveyed reported increasing their religious or spiritual activities in…
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Our controversial president has created a new term in American lexicon—even used it himself on occasion—Trump Derangement Syndrome. It seems almost everyone loves to voice their opinions pro or con about Trump. Yet, I think a far more relevant kind of TDS in most of our lives is Technology Derangement Syndrome. It affects nearly all…
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On several occasions in the past, I have written stories about assorted investment cons and fraudulent deals that victimized churches, Christian investors, and small businesses. The common denominator of such schemes was how many victims wanted to run and hide when they learned they had been duped. Even when thousands of dollars were involved, many…
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Within weeks of moving back east from Colorado some years, I saw a story from the Rocky Mountains about a boulder crashed down onto the highway below, killing an ill-fated motorist. Colorado’s governor at the time, Richard Lamm, promptly issued an apology and condolences to the family. In a matter of days, legal experts were…
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Judging by the absence of information on many church marquees in our area, coupled with school years that kick off in boiling August temperatures, the Vacation Bible School (VBS) season is over. Many know about those a-week-or-longer-now-trimmed-to-three-day events, so familiar on the church landscape that they are often just called by their three-letter acronym. Not…
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