Inappropriate Conversations

The concept "heart" describes the deepest, most personally "real" part of ourselves.  A great many people have never revealed this Self to anyone, not even a spouse or other family member.  At the same time, any hope another person has for truly knowing you depends entirely on getting to "the heart of the matter" within that relationship.  This is one of the great truths that Jesus came to share, and it rests at the core of what Christians mean by "having a relationship" with God. Different Drummer: Frederick Buechner

Poems don't have to rhyme all the time.  Formalism, whether a metrical scheme or just assonance and alliteration, can inspire creativity through adherence to the form itself.  On the other hand, the most profound poetry I've ever heard or read came from more freedom to the verse. Different Drummer: Jim Carroll

While recording on National Adoption Day this year, I referred back to a question I've raised in the past: whether a woman who carries an unwanted pregnancy to term and gives the child for adoption is performing a saintly act?  "Heroic" is, perhaps, a better term. Different Drummer: Thomas of Aquino National Adoption Day

Most pro-life apologists have an issue with Judith Jarvis Thomson's position in "A Defense Of Abortion."  Of course!  They have come to opposite conclusions about one of the most divisive issues of our time.  My quarrel with a number of those apologists has nothing to do with abortion rights or the lives of unborn children.  No, my problem is with dishonesty, made worse since it comes from people who purport to stand up for "truth." Different Drummer: Os Guinness

Most emphasis on "the good old days" is about comparing the current state of society to a time when moral values were stronger and centered on the traditional family structure.  The problem is that those longing looks to the past are full of self-deception.  Even The Puritans, who are often held up as an extreme example, were not what society has said they were.  Premarital pregnancy, open discussions in church meetings about sexual behavior, and even second-trimester abortion were not at all out of place then.  I'll bet you didn't learn that in American History class. Different Drummer: Thomas Paine

The way we use products as customers is a significant, and less acknowledged, pressure on the environment.  Even merchandise that we expect to last for years has become much more disposable.  Unfortunately, there is no easy way to backtrack from society's investment in lower prices, with lower quality.  We need to be wary, though, of what else we're tossing out when we dispose of old and worn things. Different Drummer: Jerry Mander

The best argument against the existence of God that I have ever heard makes a mistake you see more often in "young earth" creationism.  It's the belief that time has a permanence, an importance, even a "reality" that we frankly should not trust.  Ironically, tracing the philosophy of religion through an argument that has led me to question this faith in time ... well, it requires a greater number of minutes than usual. Different Drummer: Norman Kretzmann