I’m going to tell you a nice story. It’s from the Bible. Now don’t go away, I promise not to preach or evangelize. I hate it when people do that. It’s just a nice story. And I think there something in it from which anyone can learn. You don’t need to know anything about the bible or Jesus, or anything. It’s just a nice story. You all know this much, that according to the story (remember, you don’t have to believe it) Jesus was crucified up on a cross and died. Then, after being in the tomb for three days, he is supposed to have risen from the dead. And then, after he rose...

It’s pretty easy to attack religious faith. After all, the stories you read in holy books are pretty far fetched. Those books are full of miracles and wonders and basically shit you don’t see on a day to day basis. When was the last time you saw somebody walking on the water, or talking to a burning bush (besides Karl Rove)? What makes things even harder to have faith are the holy rolling idiots who seem to think that the only way you can be saved is if you check your brain at the church door. Moreover, those holy books were all written long after any of those events took place....

Today we celebrate the most important Christian holiday of the entire year. We will do this by painting eggs and eating chocolate bunny rabbits and bizarre mounds of marshmallow and sugar known as peeps. And while scholars, such as myself, are more interested in the origins of the fabled peeps, somehow it seems appropriate that I turn my attention toward the even stickier subject of the origins of Easter. There is always that danger when digging into the history of any subject that you are going to uncover information which may challenge or shake your faith in long held beliefs. And I am not sure...

Very, very early in the morning, while it was still dark outside, Mary, a woman from Magdala, and one of the closest of those who followed Jesus around for three years, went to the his grave and found that the tomb had been opened. There had been a large stone placed over the opening, but the stone had been lifted off. So, finding this somewhat upsetting, she ran back to where Peter and John were. She told them of her findings. She said that someone had taken the master. Peter and John immediately ran, John running a little faster than the older Peter, to where the tomb was and saw the...

The other day, up in Big Sur, as we were taking a short hike up to Pfeiffer Falls along a beautiful little trail in Pfeiffer State Park, I was thinking of my friend Paul. Paul used to love that hike. For one thing, it is a pretty hike. The trail is lined with sycamore, laurel (thanks Beth), and giant coastal redwoods. The path meanders back and forth over a small creek that bubbles and jumps over rocks and fallen branches. The trees rise like the walls of a gothic cathedral casting shady shadows everywhere. And for another thing, it is an easy hike. The whole trip, to the falls and back,...

Today is Palm Sunday. It is the beginning of what Roman Catholics and most other Christians as well, refer to as “Holy Week”. Each day of this week has some significance. It begins with Palm Sunday. Then follows Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday, culminating with Easter Sunday. This weeks marks when Jesus came into Jerusalem ending with his crucifixion and resurrection. The event commemorated on Palm Sunday is told in all four gospels (Matthew 21, Mark 11, Luke 19, John 12). The Matthew narrative, the one most commonly read in services on Palm Sunday, tells the...

Back in July of 2003, 86 year-old George Weller of Santa Monica was driving his 1992 Buick La Sabre down the streets of his city when he turned his car mistakenly down a street where a farmer’s market was being held. He was taken by surprise. He wasn’t expecting an open-air market to be there. He went to step on the brakes, but his foot his the gas instead. A few moments later nine people were dead. Weller was arrested and charged with manslaughter. People were calling for him to be locked up in prison. I am not going to get into whether or not senior citizens should be allowed to drive...

I can remember many years ago, lying in my bed in a great deal of pain. I had hurt my back. I had two herniated discs. Now for those of you who don’t know exactly what that means, it means that the gelatinous material that exists between two of my vertebrae had been punctured and was leaking out and making contact with the nerves that run through the center of the spinal column. Chiropractors refer to these as slipped discs, which calls to mind an image, which is somewhat less than accurate. A “slipped disc” makes you think of discs out of alignment. This is not the case. Imagine...

I once had a very good and close friend who I felt had betrayed me. I won’t get into all the particulars. Let me just say that for some time we were no longer in contact with each other. And for a good long time we didn’t really speak or communicate in any way. It’s an old story. I hear it all the time from other people too. I know people who’ve had conflicts with people whom they loved very much, and very suddenly, the relationship was over. There were hard feelings. There were harsh words said. There were feelings of hurt and betrayal. And whenever I hear those...

It is very difficult to explain to anybody born after 1955 or so exactly what was so special about the Beatles. I know that a lot of younger people have listened to Beatles music and appreciate how good it is. I’ve heard young people say how Beatles music makes them feel good inside. Some young performers have even been strongly influenced by the music of the Beatles. And of course, it’s a little hard to explain exactly why everybody went nuts every time they performed. I’m sure you’ve all heard that the screams were so loud that the Beatles themselves could not hear what...