Deb Conklin

Being a moral person and belief in any particular deity have absolutely no necessary relationship. Many atheists are highly moral, and many 'believers' are immoral. In fact, a number of very public 'Christian' leaders have explicitly claimed that believing certain statements about the nature of Jesus is all that is required for salvation, and therefore their (im)moral acts are are irrelevant.

Pope Francis has put the Roman Catholic Church in a new trajectory. Pope Benedict had insisted on backing away from many of the Vatican II reforms and had rejected Liberation theology. Pope Francis has clearly been steeped in Liberation theology and it colors everything that he does.

My beloved United Methodist Church (UMC) is in the headlines again. At the same time that one clergy colleague loses his authorization to be a pastor (is defrocked!) another is celebrated for courage — both of these consequences for presiding at a ceremony celebrating the union of a gay couple.

Why is it that some men seem to think that doing a linguistic analysis will somehow make deeply offensive statements not offensive?

Tomorrow (Saturday) at noon, I will be participating in a rally at the Tom Foley Federal building to bring attention to the travesty of the Supreme Court decision in Citizens United vs FEC.

The most important way we can help is to change the culture in ways that prevent other victims from being assaulted.

Rev. Deb Conklin’s wheels are always turning. How can the church make the world a better place?