What are we going to do with this world that’s on fire right now? I continually ask myself what my role is on this beautiful blue planet – what am I supposed to really do? What am I going to… Read More ›
Faith
The Finish Line by John Erickson
I see it…do you? It’s just within reach and I’m almost there…the proverbial finish line to my Ph.D. That’s right folks, I’m graduating. To say that this has been an easy journey, one that many of you have read about… Read More ›
Dear Mary by Sara Wright
This piece was written in response to Gina Messina’s recent Feminism and Religion piece “Who is God?” Dear Mary, When I responded to a post on feminism and religion this morning I wrote that you were my first goddess. As… Read More ›
Eve is the Hero of the Garden of Eden, Part 2 by Janet Rudolph
The serpent in the Bible is treated as Eve’s partner in crime, a malevolent seducer who is responsible for humankind’s expulsion from paradise. But did you know there are serpents who figure positively in the Bible? There are serpent priests,… Read More ›
Eulogy for My Father by Natalie Weaver
Fourteen years ago, I was pregnant with William Valentine. I had no idea what to expect. I knew only that I was in a body, and it was pregnant. Things happened to me, to my body, that seemed extrinsic to… Read More ›
A Review of Decembers Past before We Move into the New Year by Marie Cartier
Last month I looked back over six years of postings I have done for FAR. In November, I noticed that I usually during that month tend to review the year and find something to be grateful for. I decided this month… Read More ›
What’s Your Choice? by Karen Leslie Hernandez
Choices. Many times choices are difficult. Some of the time choices are easy. I have had a rough year. Probably one of the most difficult yet in my adult life. I began this year with an offer of a job,… Read More ›
Celebrating the Winter Solstice by Barbara Ardinger
Even though Jesus was born during the reign of Augustus, first Roman emperor, the empire didn’t celebrate that birth until three centuries later when his birth date was moved to mid-winter to match the birth date of the sun god… Read More ›
Women v. Religion: The Case Against Faith and for Freedom BOOK REVIEW by Katie M. Deaver
In the book, Women v. Religion: The Case Against Faith and for Freedom, editor Karen L. Garst puts together the voices of women from a variety of backgrounds in an effort to present a case against faith. While the introduction… Read More ›
Queen of Pentacles: Sensual Materiality by Lache S.
Most of us are trying to make it to a place of material comfort where we are living in a way that feels honorable. Some of us feel we could have made better decisions in the past so that we… Read More ›
Longing for (Dis)Connection by Katey Zeh
As I type this post, I have another browser window open to track the path of Hurricane Florence due to make landfall in my area sometime later this week. Though I now live a few hours inland, I grew up… Read More ›
Open Letter to the Pope and all the King’s Men by Natalie Weaver
Dear Sirs, It breaks me down. My anger, my revulsion, my powerlessness. I have been searching for the way since I was a child old enough to remember my mind. For a time, I thought Jesus was a white guy knocking on my… Read More ›
Remembering Ginny by Esther Nelson
My husband’s stepmother, Ginny, died last week. She lived several months past her 97th birthday. Here is her obituary. Ginny shared her life with three husbands, outliving each one. Three sons were born from her first union. She then married… Read More ›
Listen more. Talk Less. Tread Lightly. By Karen Leslie Hernandez
Illegal. Nazi. Migrant. Refugee. N****r. Terrorist. Heard of read any of these descriptions recently? I have. A lot. It seems that now more than ever, communication is breaking down. Name calling and labeling – which many times incites violence –… Read More ›
A Silhouette of a Woman, the Menorah, and a Pillar of Light: Discovering the Origins of the Goddess in Judaism by Alaya A. Dannu
2.24.2017 During a meditation before bed, I saw an image of a candelabra similar to what Jewish people use for Hanukkah. It was yellow/gold in color, engraved/etched onto a surface. All at once I saw the imagery of a star,… Read More ›
The Play of Emotional Insecurity and Pull by Lache S.
It is not easy navigating the world with fragile boundaries, self-worth, and a potential history of manipulations. I often seek wisdom in spiritualities and unfamiliar religions because I need a substitute for the childhood traditions I have abandoned as a… Read More ›
Forgive Me, Mother, For I Have Sinned: Earth, Ancestors, and the Role of Confession by Tallessyn Zawn Grenfell-Lee
Ah, confession. I admit I never really much understood the Catholic practice of confession to a priest; as a United Methodist growing up, the idea of confession – while challenging – nonetheless seemed to belong squarely between myself and the… Read More ›
When “Interfaith” Started Losing its Luster for Me by Valentina Khan
Interfaith, a wonderful term that brings only happiness to my mind. So many days spent sitting and planning out events at the local coffee shop (shout out to The Lost Bean in Tustin, CA. which was one of the first… Read More ›
Implausible, Impossible Hope by Natalie Weaver
With the single exception of a weak moment in my oldest son’s kindergarten year, during which time the grade school manipulated parents into fundraising schemes by dangling socially advantageous perks (such as a reward trip to a water park) for… Read More ›
Beyond Human Rights by Esther Nelson
For way too long, the only meaning I found in my life happened when peering through one specific, religious prism. Then I discovered what’s called the academic study of religion. Observing the many ways people find meaning through their own… Read More ›
My Grandmother is a Gangster… a Spiritual Gangster by Valentina Khan
My grandmother is a gangster… a spiritual gangster I recently attended a funeral for a relative-in-law. The grassy patch at the cemetery was filled with many familiar faces as well as unfamiliar. My side of the family was asked to… Read More ›
Spiritual Ideas, Existential and Eastern, in Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Lache S.
After my year of teaching high school students, I found a kinship with them in their frustrations, longing, apathy, hopelessness, and hope. Fortunately, we studied together Jean Paul Sartre, whom I want to get to know more intimately, but we,… Read More ›
On Belief and Action by Ivy Helman
My birthday was last Wednesday. Perhaps more than any other time of the year (yes, even more than Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur), the days and weeks leading up to my birthday are filled with personal reflection. Not that religious… Read More ›
A Feminist Retelling of Noah’s Ark by Trelawney Grenfell-Muir
My daughters came to me after Sunday School one day, concerned about a story they had heard in which God drowned almost everyone on Earth. So I sat down and thought about why a community might want to tell that… Read More ›
The Doubt of the Empty Tomb and the Hope for Tomorrow by Katie M. Deaver
I recently had the opportunity to travel to my undergrad institution on a student recruitment trip. During this trip I was able to preach during the college’s weekday chapel service. Despite the fact that I have lived, studied, and worked… Read More ›
Meet the Bible Bitches: Interview with Rev. Laura Barclay and Sara Hof
What do you get when you have two ladies, one a Baptist Minister living in KY and one an agnostic living in LA, making jokes and talking about the Bible? Don’t know? You get the new and exciting podcast Bible Bitches!
When Spirit Speaks by Katey Zeh
Though I couldn’t call myself a skeptic in general, I’m always a bit dubious when someone claims to have an audible connection with the divine. I’ve found sacred guidance to be more subtle than that, revealed slowly over time through… Read More ›
Ever Wonder Why? By Karen Leslie Hernandez
Note: This piece contains mention of violence, stabbings, shootings and death. I’ve had a lifetime of wondering Why? Have you? This last month has left me asking Why? a lot more than usual, especially after the Majory Stoneman Douglas High School… Read More ›
When Disappointment Stings by Katey Zeh
Disappointment seemed like the theme of 2017–and not just because of the results of the U.S. Presidential election. It was more personal than that. At least that was how it felt. Over and over again I got this close to… Read More ›
A Feminist Retelling of Cain and Abel by Trelawney Grenfell-Muir
Eve and Adam had many children. Two of them, the sisters Cain and Abel, were best friends. When they grew up, Cain became a farmer, and Abel became a shepherd. In their community, people shared what they had with each… Read More ›
