https://www.amazon.com/Presence-Process-Transformative-Inclusive-Community/dp/1594980411/

When a minority imposes their religious beliefs/interpretations on the greater population, through the use of the government, it is theocracy. And theocracy always--ALWAYS--becomes cruel and oppressive. 

This is what we are seeing now in the U.S. with the unholy marriage between conservative Christians and Donald Trump. He will happily use them to further his authoritarian ambitions. They will happily use him to further their theocratic ambitions (which include repeal of Roe v. Wade, repeal of same-sex marriage and LGBTQ protections, further "religious freedom protections" for fundamentalist Christians and fewer protections for people of other faiths, etc.--all rooted in very tenuous interpretations of scripture). 

The longer this "theocratic creep" goes on in our government, the more entrenched and expansive it will become--despite being an expression of the will and values of a minority. 

These upcoming mid-term elections, I suspect, really are going to be a critical time in U.S. history for the majority (who are not theocratically inclined) to rise up and put a stop to its spread and thus enact a course correction away from theocracy and back toward real liberty and justice for all.

Process Theology And Alfred North Whitehead with Daniel Coleman

My interview with Clint Sabom a few weeks ago for his Contemplative Light podcast has just been posted on Youtube.

Excerpt: "Interview with Daniel Coleman, author of Presence and Process.  Draws on ideas of Alfred North Whitehead to understand God as a verb.  This is a very helpful perspective for any mystic and spiritual seeker."

“I would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans 13, to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained them for the purpose of order. Orderly and lawful processes are good in themselves and protect the weak and lawful.”
-- U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, this week, explaining (what he claims to be) the Biblical justification for Trump's "zero tolerance" policy toward undocumented immigrants, which includes detaining children as well as adults and separating children from their parents.

“I can say that it is very biblical to enforce the law. That is actually repeated a number of times throughout the Bible."
-- White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders' response, this week, to press questions about Sessions' statement.

If you are a pastor who will be delivering a sermon tomorrow morning and you do not plan to speak out against this egregious misuse of the Bible by government officials for the purpose of justifying the mistreatment of immigrants, you should probably go find a different job. If you don't understand why it is an egregious misuse of the Bible, you should definitely go find a different job.

 "I'm wondering, as musicians, whether the most important thing we do is merely to provide a frame for silence.  I'm wondering if silence itself is perhaps the mystery at the heart of music.  And is silence the most perfect form of music of all?"

--Sting