Cargo Cult

Death, Sex and the Last Girl

Normally, I avoid movie nights. I hate nothing more than the feeling that death might catch me while on hour…

To Be or to Become? That is the Question

Douglas MacArthur once gushed about his G.I. cadets, “They’re the best damn kids in the…

We Have to Stop Killing God

It is on the question of God’s relation to the world that east and west diverge. In the west, our world stands…

Dying of Thirst at the Ol’ Ball Game

When the days get long and the weather balmy, I like to have the baseball game playing in the background while I make dinner. It reminds me of my childhood days, when I would sit on the back porch and listen to a crackly AM radio, watching thunderstorms roll in…

What Bill Clinton and the Buddha Got Right

In his work The Righteous Mind, Jonathan Haidt observes that our moral beliefs are…

Wonder and Baseball

Einstein famously quipped: “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art…

The Infinite Monkey God?

During high school, I worked as a busboy at a fairly posh restaurant. Our manager was an effective but uptight…

Black Markets and Bootleg Religion

Perhaps nothing defines the modern era more than the quest to…

You Have to Know Why to Die

If you want to silence a crowd, you should ask them earnestly for what cause they would sacrifice their lives…