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The Graveyard of Dead Gods
H. L. Mencken’s meditation on the “graveyard of dead gods” is characteristically provocative. Written in 1922 as “Memorial Service” and later included in A Mencken Chrestomathy, the piece begins with what appears to be a simple historical curiosity: Where are the gods who were once worshipped by the great civilizations of the past? Where are…
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Don’t dismiss Trump, understand him
I had this idea for a post examining Trump, Trumpism, and the whole MAGA movement through the lens of another unlikely figure and phenomenon, Aimee Semple McPherson in 1920s Los Angeles. My premise was simple: she was and Donald Trump is a charlatan duping otherwise sane people for personal gain. At this point, the post…
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More Than This
Ok. I know how ridiculous this is going to sound. And I don’t believe in this sort of thing. But this really happened. Really. There is always a rational explanation for these things. But I never found one. And sat here today, 37 years later, I still haven’t. As an undergraduate, I attended the California…
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Pope Leo is the right man for the job
I was not paying attention in 1978 to the stage set in Rome for a showdown with the Soviet Union that would ultimately lead to its demise. I was 12. I was only mildly interested in the Catholic Church as an altar boy at my parish, but, if I’m honest, it was for the outfits…
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An atheist’s appreciation for religion
Today, the calendar turns our attention to St. Patrick, who was not himself Irish but is credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland in the 5th century. “St. Patrick’s Day” comes around once a year and celebrates Irish culture, heritage, and traditions with wearing green (symbolizing Ireland, the “Emerald Isle”), symbols like shamrocks (which Saint Patrick…
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Poodle Lent
Poodle Lent is my adaptation of the traditional Christian season of Lent, reframed for people who are not religious but still value intentional periods of reflection, discipline, and renewal. While its structure mirrors the roughly 40-day observance practiced in many Christian traditions, especially the Catholic Church, Poodle Lent removes the theological framework and focuses instead…
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The fearsome Wolf of Gubbio
I have a complicated relationship with the holy man of Assisi, St. Francis. I no longer profess to be a Catholic, but I was a member of the Catholic religious order Francis founded in the 13th century, the Franciscans, for five years, from the time I was 19 until I was 24. Before that, I…
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Spooky
It’s here… tomorrow night. Halloween. The weirdest holiday on the calendar, after Labor Day, when we celebrate work by – wait for it – not working. This holiday focuses on ghosts and disembodied spirits of various and sundry types. And we combine that with kids going door-to-door asking for candy wearing costumes, while some people…
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Putting America first does not mean putting humanity last
We have a vice president who is a recent convert to Catholicism and, like Ross Douthat at the New York Times, thinks this qualifies him to tell us what Catholicism is (and what it isn’t). It was JD Vance who was among the last people to see and speak with Pope Francis before he died…
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Triskaidekaphobia
While I stopped “practicing” the Catholic faith of my youth decades before, I “de-converted” to use Seth Andrews’ phrase (whose book I devoured, and to whom I wrote) in March of 2019. But de-converting is not as simple as just owning up to the fact that you don’t believe in god. I think most people…
Your mileage may vary.