Category: Religion

  • By Andreas Karelas | In 2015 Pope Francis released a papal encyclical—an urgent message addressed to all Catholics—entitled “Laudato Si’ [Praise Be to You]: On Care for Our Common Home.” It caught the attention of people around the world because in it, the pope decried climate change, especially its effects on the poor. It was…

  • A Q&A with C. Pierce Salguero | My primary goal in writing the book was to honor the complexity and diversity of spiritual experiences. Too often, spiritual traditions try to establish a singular “truth” or path, which can be limiting and even dismissive of other valid perspectives. The book is meant to be inclusive, providing…

  • By Christian Coleman | And the New Year’s category is . . . Transformation! As the oligarchs of the free world steer us on a rocky ride toward dire changes we didn’t want, we’ll be focused on changing ourselves for the greater good. What shall we work on? Expanding our minds about what Buddhism is…

  • By Christian Coleman | If last Christmas, you gave someone your heart, and the very next day, they gave it away, this year, to save yourself from tears, you’ll give it to your TBR list! ALL our books are 30% off through December 31 during our holiday sale!

  • By Christian Coleman | It’s going to be another four years of accelerated survival mode. The results of the election greenlit the sequel of the orange demagogue franchise we didn’t want. And now we need to brace ourselves for it. However, the frustration, the anger, and the grief from the spoils of November 5 are…

  • Frederick S. Lane | In my previous post, “The Napoleon of the Mailbags,” I talked about the enthusiasm of Christian nationalists for a re-invigoration of the 1873 Comstock Act. In the view of zealots like US District Court Judge Matthew Kaszmyrak (D. 19th Cent.), the law’s long-dormant prohibition against the mailing of “(e)very article or…

  • A Q&A with Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma | At a conscious level, when I’m in the process of writing, I don’t necessarily think about these things at all but I certainly do when I take a step back to look at the larger piece and revise and polish it. Then all the ways I’ve learned to…

  • By Frederick S. Lane | The name “Anthony Comstock” has been in the news a lot over the last few weeks. That’s really something of a surprise, given that Comstock died almost 109 years ago in his Summit, NJ, home. But he left behind a legacy of legislative and cultural activism that increasingly resonates with…

  • By Frederick S. Lane | For millennia, childless couples were told that their nurseries were empty because of “God’s will,” or that it was “all in God’s plan.” Similarly, empty condolences were offered when infants or children died of preventable diseases, unsanitary conditions, unhealthy foods, or foreseeable negligence.

  • By Christian Coleman | Remember when Janelle Monáe said Black women aren’t a monolith? Same goes for the Black diaspora, and yet the Grammys love plugging their ears and going La la la la laaaaa. This year, they did Black artists dirty yet again, snubbing them in the award for Album of the Year. Jay-Z…