Blog
SCIENTOLOGY RELIGION
Once I began to study Scientology, one of the things that kept me coming back was the people I’ve been privileged to associate with and befriend. After forty plus years, I’ve yet to meet any group of folks with such a combination of drive, intelligence, creativity, insight, wit, intense curiosity and outright quirky, irreverent humor. The bloggers of STAND are among the cream.
TOLERANCE
His English name was Nelson Mandela, but at birth his mother had named him Rolihlahla, which meant “troublemaker” in his native Xhosa tongue.
COMBATING BIGOTRY & HATE
Who doesn't love a good fight? I still remember junior-high cries of "Fight! Fight!" as kids rushed to circle two combatants. But while conflict rivets attention, finding the cause of the conflict is much more useful than watching it.
MEDIA & ETHICS
Tom Petty died. Except it wasn’t when we were told he was dead. You see, some news agencies with more of a desire to “get the scoop” than get it right decided that it was OK to report that Petty was dead, even though he was only close. Not dead, but close enough, right? It was for these news organizations.
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
Whatever your religious beliefs may be, it is likely that others who share them are being attacked in some corner of the world. What if it were you?
TOLERANCE
I’m about to board a flight back to the U.S. after spending two weeks delivering human rights lectures and musical performances to youth in Taiwan. Door to door the travel time is about 25 hours. In other words, I’m about as far away as I could be from home while still being on planet earth.
COMBATING BIGOTRY & HATE
The prophets wanted their followers to believe in God and follow His Word. It’s true that some adherents to these religions do better than others in following their scriptures; they range from virtuous to considerably-less-than-perfect, but the vast majority fall short of putting a scarlet mark on their creed.
RELIGIOUS LITERACY
Religion is like marriage: there’s so much to criticize about it, yet people still want to tie the knot. Marriage is designed to fulfill a need: the need for companionship, solace and pleasure in the pursuit of posterity. Clearly, we need it.
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
I recently read an article in which the author asserted that the purpose of freedom of religion and “separation of church and state” is to protect religion from government (not the other way around).
TOLERANCE
In one of his many letters stressing the importance of education, Thomas Jefferson wrote that, “as long as we may think as we will, & speak as we think, the condition of man will proceed in improvement.
