Alanbean

LATEST ARTICLES ( 628 )

• We Blame Our Teachers So We Don’t Have to Blame Ourselves

  

  By Alan BeanIt takes time to wrap your head around education reform.  The vocabulary is daunting: Common Core, charter schools, VAM, high stakes testing, Race t... Read more

  Posted on 16 May 2014 DEBATE, SOCIETY

• Al Mohler, Jesus, and the Death Penalty Debate

  

  The beheading of the Apostle PaulBy Alan BeanWould Jesus support the death penalty?  Mother Theresa posed the question to the Governor of California in 1990.... Read more

  Posted on 13 May 2014 DEBATE, SOCIETY

• Jena 6 Defendants Make the Most of a Second Chance

  

  Theo Shaw while still a college studentBy Alan BeanThe United States has earned the unenviable title “the incarceration nation.”  We lock up six times as many... Read more

  Posted on 12 May 2014 DEBATE, SOCIETY

• If You Love Prison Guards, Fight to End the Death Penalty

  

  My Grandma says hang everybodyBy Alan BeanThis cartoon from the pen of Ronald Giles first appeared in the London Daily Express in 1956, but it was reprised in... Read more

  Posted on 08 May 2014 DEBATE, SOCIETY

• If the Tea Party Candidate Wins, All Bets Are off

  

  By Alan BeanIt was good to see the State Board of Education race in North Texas getting some well-deserved attention in the Texas Tribune. Read more

  Posted on 08 May 2014 DEBATE, SOCIETY

• Glen Stassen Obituary in the New York Times

  

  The New York Times has a wonderful obituary celebrating the work and legacy of ethicist Glen Stassen. Paul Vitello’s lengthy article does justice to Stassen’s... Read more

  Posted on 08 May 2014 DEBATE, SOCIETY

• Tragedy Reveals a New Side of Texas

  

  By Alan BeanTerri JohnsonFour people died on the evening of April 26, 2014 when a vehicle driven the wrong direction on Texas highway 287 slammed head-on into... Read more

  Posted on 07 May 2014 DEBATE, SOCIETY

• In Memoriam: Glen Stassen

  

  By Alan BeanI am gratified to see the many tributes to Glen Stassen that have been appeared in the wake of his death last week. Read more

  Posted on 01 May 2014 DEBATE, SOCIETY

• Motives Matter

  

  If a random Google search is anything to go by, it was Ralph Waldo Emerson who originated this clever quip, albeit in a slightly altered form: “I dream of a... Read more

  Posted on 30 April 2014 DEBATE, SOCIETY

• Will Obama Finally Back up His Merciful Rhetoric?

  

  By Alan BeanCould President Obama be on the verge of commuting the sentences of hundreds, even thousands of non-violent drug offenders sentenced under draconian... Read more

  Posted on 22 April 2014 DEBATE, SOCIETY

• Only a Homeless Jesus Can Change Us

  

  By Alan BeanWas Jesus homeless?  Yes, he was.  In Matthew 8 we read:  “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay... Read more

  Posted on 19 April 2014 DEBATE, SOCIETY

• The Man in Orange Meets the Grey Lady

  

  By Alan Bean Forty days ago, I sat down in Kent McKeever's office in Waco. It was the first day of a Lenten fast in which the lawyer-pastor would give up free... Read more

  Posted on 19 April 2014 DEBATE, SOCIETY

• Charles Kiker: Jew Killer?

  

  By Charles KikerTragic events unfolded in Overland Park, Kansas on Palm Sunday. A shooter took aim at innocent bystanders at two Jewish centers: a community... Read more

  Posted on 19 April 2014 DEBATE, SOCIETY

• Daphne Holmes: Prison Reform Holds Key to a More Peaceful Society

  

  Guest Post by Daphne HolmesWhile some believe inmates languish in luxurious settings, with too many creature comforts, prison reformers paint a much bleaker... Read more

  Posted on 11 April 2014 DEBATE, SOCIETY

• It’s Time to End Homelessness

  

  By Alan BeanNobody is a fan of homelessness, but we’ve learned to live with it.  We are most adept at living with it.I will never forget my first encounter... Read more

  Posted on 10 April 2014 DEBATE, SOCIETY

• The Beast and the Border

  

  The BeastBy Alan BeanMike Seifert works with poor immigrant families, documented and otherwise, in the Rio Grande Valley.  The story he tells below hasn’t... Read more

  Posted on 10 April 2014 DEBATE, SOCIETY

• This Brand of Conservatism Might Win My Vote

  

  By Alan BeanAndrew Bacevich and blurry colleaguesAndrew Bacevich could easily be dismissed as a liberal.  He is a political scientist who teaches at Boston... Read more

  Posted on 09 April 2014 DEBATE, SOCIETY

• “We’re Not About Hispanic History” . . . Or Maybe We Are

  

  By Alan BeanHouston Independent School District just voted in favor of teaching Mexican-American Studies in district schools.  The vote was unanimous. Read more

  Posted on 04 April 2014 DEBATE, SOCIETY

• Our Silence is Driving Millennials out of the Church

  

  David Gushee, a theologian and ethicist who teaches at the McAfee School of Theology, struck a nerve when he suggested that moderate Baptists with roots in the... Read more

  Posted on 03 April 2014 DEBATE, SOCIETY, SPIRITUALITY

• World Vision and the Evangelical Protection Racket

  

  By Alan BeanThe old protection racket has been featured in hundreds of gangster movies.  ”Nice business you got here,” the mafia drone tells the owner of the... Read more

  Posted on 27 March 2014 DEBATE, SOCIETY