(Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on EthicsDaily.com. The article and photo are used with permission. Rob Sellers is emeritus professor of theology and missions at Logsdon Seminary and chair of the Parliament of the World’s Religions.) By ROB SELLERS Sugar and spice, thunder and lightning, picnics and ants, ocean and waves, washers and dryers, children and laughter, Baptists and Muslims. If you
Read moreBy JANICE SIX The Simpsons have been called on the carpet for the portrayal of the Indian-American character, Apu, who speaks with a thick Indian accent, and is less than ethical as the owner of the fictional Kwik-E-Mart, where he sells food long past its expiration date and rips off his customers. According to an article in the New York
Read moreBy MIKE PATRICK We tend to use categories to guide us through a complicated life full of boundless diversity. For example, most children learn the difference between a parent and a nonparent, safe and unsafe, self and other. That is good. However, those walls of security may turn into prison walls, both for the one on the inside and those
Read moreBy SARAH DANNEMILLER What do a Muslim, mainline Protestant, Catholic, and atheist have in common? Not very much, as each operates from very different philosophical starting points. It would be odd, then, to claim that each of them ought to walk into a room together, sit down, and talk about these fundamental differences. Yet, I believe this collision of differences
Read moreBy JANICE SIX “What you do speaks so loudly, I can’t hear what you say.” This quote is a favorite of mine. It’s certainly not original to me. Most who occupy their time searching for the origin of quotes believe it to be a variation of a saying attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson in an essay published in 1895. The
Read moreIF YOU GO What: “My Neighbor’s Faith,” a study of world’s religions When: 7 p.m. most Mondays, Jan. 22-April 30 Where: The Episcopal Church of the Heavenly Rest Gerhart Hall, 602 Meander St. Teacher: Mark Waters, McMurry University religion professor Cost: Free; book, “My Neighbor’s Faith,” may be purchased SCHEDULE Jan. 22: Introduction to the course and introduction to
Read moreEditor’s Note: Daina Jurika-Owen is a former refugee resettlement professional and is an academically trained folklorist. A native of Riga, Latvia, Jurika-Owen lives in Abilene. She is the author of a new book, Ten Cultures, Twenty Lives. The following story about a refugee named Isaac is similar to stories in the book, which can be purchased through her website, www.amayabooks.com, Texas
Read moreBy Jay Moore When Abilene was born on March 15, 1881, there was already a church established. And by the time the town was 25 years old in 1906, there were 16. That number had increased to 26 by 1921. And 25 years after that — just after World War II –there were more than twice that many, with 20
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Spirit Of Abilene 