The Friends of Justice blog has gone through some major changes over its fifteen years of existence. It started out as a way to draw attention to the campaigns Friends of Justice sponsors, beginning with the Jena Six. Then I started blogging about the criminal justice system. Eventually, I started posting some of the more theological or religious pieces I and others have composed. The blog ultimately became overtly political.
It could be argued that this strange stew of subject matter makes the blog incomprehensible. Obviously, I disagree, or I’d just shut up. In fact, in my mind at least, the criminal justice focus, the theological slant, and the political analysis are intimately related. So much so, in fact, that I can’t think about these subjects in isolation. When I think about one, I immediately begin ruminating on the others.
Like many of my readers, I do a lot of ruminating. My best thinking takes place in the wee hours when I should be asleep. My mind catches fire and it sometimes takes hours to put it out. I don’t generally worry and fret. I just wonder. And wander. Sometimes I am even grasped by the love of God (which doesn’t happen all that often during the more respectable hours of the day.
In recent years, partly because of my work as a hospice chaplain, I have only been writing two or three times a month. Often less. So, I have decided to write something every day. Or at least, most days. Most of these reflections will be brief and to the point. If you have read my earlier work, you will rejoice to hear this (I tend to go on and on).
This is the first post of the new era. If there are topics you would like me to address, or questions, or thoughts of your own, please use the comment feature. I’d love to hear from you.
Alan Bean, Friends of Justice
