Pastor Tom's Community

"Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison." – Henry David Thoreau Thoreau received this insight in a jail cell and Martin Luther King reflected upon it many years later, also from a cell in his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail." This was one of…

If you have control issues, it may be for a variety of reasons, good and bad. Let us assume that you are not a "control freak," but that you prefer to tightly control every aspect of your organization or project. What are the repercussions of this? 1. You will wear yourself thin and wear yourself…

The Ten Most Spectacular Geologic Sites Smithsonian picks the top natural wonders in the continental United States By Laura HelmuthSmithsonian.com, August 07, 2009 Certain travel destinations remind you that you live on a planet—an old, weathered, tectonic plate-shifting planet. The Earth has been smothered by glaciers, eroded by wind and water, splattered with lava, and…

Ben Green posted it this morning on Facebook and I thought it deserved even wider circulation. "The Mission" is an amazing story and these scenes capture a little of its essence. What I found remarkable was how the composer, Morricone, scored the music of "Gabriel's Oboe" to match what had already been filmed of Jeremy…

Dogs feel it. Birds feel it. Some people feel it a lot. It's the urge to scratch an itch. Scientists know surprisingly little about this common sensation. But in a recent study of mice, researchers identified specific nerve cells that pass along an itch signal to the brain. And these cells appear to be independent…

"In order for an idea to spread, someone has to do the spreading." "In the dark ages (ten years ago), the only way to spread your idea on a large scale was to do it yourself. Lots and lots of ads." "Today, marketers get all sweaty thinking about how this happens magically, virally, for free.…

6:00 PM Tue, Jul 21, 2009 Wayne Slater/Reporter  For three days, members of a Senate committee pressed Sonia Sotomayor on her view of the law and how individual experience affects judicial decisions. And for three days, Sotomayor was careful to avoid political blunders that might derail her confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court. In large…

The ascended Christ reigns over the church and all societies but in different ways. In truth, the only "Christian nation" is the body of Christ as it is dispersed throughout all peoples and in all times. Confusion on this point has resulted in far-reaching consequences. via www.christianitytoday.com Here is a refreshing article about an issue…

This analysis by John Green, of the University of Akron, and Beliefnet is based on the Fifth National Survey of Religion and Politics, conducted June-August 2008 by the University of Akron. The survey produced a national random sample of 4,017 adult Americans (with a margin of error plus or minus 1.5 percent). via www.beliefnet.com The…

Religious freedom remains at risk, lawyer says Last week the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a district court’s ruling, paving the way for a Santeria priest in Euless, Texas, to resume goat sacrifices as part of religious ceremonies. The priest, José Merced, was represented by Eric Rassbach, National Litigation Director at The Becket…