Steveawiggins

LATEST ARTICLES ( 4649 )

• For the Sake of Fighting

  

  Different opinions can be used for discussion or destruction. In the formal context of government, the declaration of war is—or should be—an option of last... Read more

  Posted on 18 July 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Night Terrors

  

  Nightmares are the stuff dreams are made of. Or maybe I’ve got that the wrong way around. Having grown up subject to frequent nightmares, I still occasionally... Read more

  Posted on 17 July 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Detoxing God

  

  There’s some pretty weird stuff in the Bible. Those who are only familiar with all the “thou shalt not”s are missing a great deal. Read more

  Posted on 16 July 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• The Last First

  

  Pluto used to be a planet. Humans, in our unfaltering confidence, have downgraded it to a sub-planet, a dwarf planet, as if we know how big a planet ought to be. Read more

  Posted on 15 July 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Tales of Wonder

  

  I knew of fairy tales as a child, but I recall them mostly being mediated through the Wonderful World of Disney on Sunday nights, just before bath time. Read more

  Posted on 14 July 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Ever on a Monday

  

  No matter how early you go to bed on Sunday night, Monday morning comes too early.  The only thing that makes my long, penitential commute survivable is the boo... Read more

  Posted on 13 July 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Headliners

  

  I sometimes wish I was a journalist. Just this past week a couple of people questioned my journalistic skills for an opinion piece I wrote for Religion... Read more

  Posted on 12 July 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Law of Rule

  

  Anyone who believes in the rule of law has never been on a broken down NYC commuter bus. There’s a rare kind of tension among the early morning commuter crowd.... Read more

  Posted on 11 July 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• A Hollow Man

  

  Quirky ideas stimulate the intellect. I’ve always had a fondness for the outré, those ideas slightly beyond the pale of normalcy. Sometimes taken dead... Read more

  Posted on 10 July 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Forbidden Words

  

  In keeping with the spirit of freedom, just before July 4 the BBC broke the story of Iceland’s blasphemy laws having been struck down. Read more

  Posted on 09 July 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Contacting Faith

  

  Sometime after the movie Contact came out, I saw it while on a flight to somewhere here or there. As with most movies on airplanes, it didn’t receive my full... Read more

  Posted on 08 July 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• God, As a Hobby

  

  Just as I was awaking from a night of loud fireworks and multicultural bonhomie, my wife showed me a full-page ad in the New Jersey Star-Ledger. Read more

  Posted on 07 July 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Magic Faith

  

  We all like to believe we don’t believe in magic. In this day of sophisticated materialism, the idea that unseen forces might work upon the world seems... Read more

  Posted on 06 July 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Only Takes a Spark

  

  Fireworks have been the main event for Independence Day celebrations ever since I was a child. The fourth of July is a day for playing with fire. Read more

  Posted on 05 July 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• High Places, NJ

  

  The “high place,” in the Hebrew Bible, was a source of constant vexation to the “orthodox.” Scholars have long puzzled over what was meant by the term, the... Read more

  Posted on 04 July 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Ethics for Rent

  

  Ironically, the Bible is the basis for the western preoccupation with land ownership. What with commandments against stealing and coveting, the Israelites had... Read more

  Posted on 03 July 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Burning Times

  

  One of the most disturbing images from my childhood years is the self-immolation of Thích Quảng Đức in Saigon. Of course, I didn’t see this image as a child. Read more

  Posted on 02 July 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Theological Cemeteries

  

  There is a plague upon this nation.  When in one week, let alone one day, I hear about two colleagues being let go from their academic posts for not meeting... Read more

  Posted on 01 July 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Permian Record

  

  It looked like an arm bone to me. Then again, I have no formal training in either anatomy or geology. The strata of Pennsylvania shale was littered with shell... Read more

  Posted on 30 June 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Seeing the Trees

  

  I first learned of Stephen Sondheim’s musical Into the Woods while liking in the woods of Wisconsin. I was teaching a summer term course of mature students,... Read more

  Posted on 29 June 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY