Thanksgiving 2014.

It’s a good thing to reflect on our past year and to consider the coming year, and the late autumn is a good time to do that. Something about this crisp, clear weather makes the celebration of our relationships and families feel natural and inevitable. Even a humble meal–which is what today will be, for various reasons–becomes elevated when prepared and eaten with mindfulness.

A Tale of Two Megachurches.

One of the reasons I tend to be so optimistic about America’s future is that we are slowly coming to our senses about some of the religious overreach that’s been going on recently. I know that–especially given the dismal outcome of the last election–that it can sometimes feel overwhelming, but I don’t think that my optimism is at all out of place. Here are two examples of why I think that.