In his newly released federal budget, President Trump calls for funneling $1 billion in taxpayer funds into private school voucher programs. It’s a bad idea for several reasons.
First, public money should fund public schools, which serve 90 percent of American students. Public schools are a unifying factor in our diverse country and their doors are open to all students, regardless of their religion. Private schools, however, serve only a few, select students.

In the days leading up to Ash Wednesday, the centers of traditionally Catholic cities in Germany turn into huge street parties for costumed revelers on a last binge of drinking, dancing and singing before the 40 days of fasting in Lent.
The age-old Christian background to the Carnival festivities — Karneval in German — is mostly forgotten, but religion came up in a new way this year as organizers faced an interesting question. Can Jews and Muslims join in the merrymaking?
At a time of rising anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, their presence at the parades and parties would send the strong signal that they are also part of German society. But could Jews forget the way the Nazis used to ridicule them in Karneval parades during the Third Reich?

My wife and I were recently invited to lead another service at our local Unitarian chapel and when thinking about what our theme should be, it occurred to us that both Muslims and Unitarians champion the use of reason, firmly insisting that reason should be a bedrock of faith. Yet within Islam, there has always been a mode of knowing which transcends human reason, an intuitive knowledge of the heart which Sufis in particular have attempted to explore......................

After exploring the poem, we................... then invited the congregation to consider a great figure of Western philosophy: Parmenides. Parmenides is often called the “Father of Logic” and his work influenced Socrates and Plato. Most academics like to present him as a rather dry rationalist, somebody you wouldn’t associate with the heart at all.

Parmenides was a mystic, an initiate in the Greek mysteries. Rather than developing logic through dry, rational thought, logic was a divine gift bestowed on him in an altered state of consciousness, a journey into the underworld brought about during a process called “incubation”:

The reason for this, I believe, is that its audience has no critical thinking skills. Such skills are not encouraged among religious believers, and for obvious reasons.

Although the literal definition of “atheist” is “a person who does not believe in the existence of a god or any gods,” according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, 8% of those who call themselves atheists also say they believe in God or a universal spirit. Indeed, 2% say they are “absolutely certain” about the existence of God or a universal spirit. Alternatively, there are many people who fit the dictionary definition of “atheist” but do not call themselves atheists. About three times as many Americans say they do not believe in God or a universal spirit (9%) as say they are atheists (3%).

Currently estimated for mid-May, Day Zero would mark the unprecedented moment when engineers close most of the city’s faucets. Nearly 4 million residents would be left to fetch daily water rations of just 25 liters (6.6 gallons) from fewer than 200 central collection points until rains resume or alternative sources come online....


Major political parties and faith groups in South Africa have long recognized the toll climate change is taking on citizens and the environment. As tensions rise and politicians point blame in every direction, faith groups are working across spiritual