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Coming Soon: Maybe the Most Important Book I Never Wrote
As I begin this post, Portland and Seattle are roasting, a Florida beachfront condo has collapsed, the lake keeping Las Vegas afloat is disappearing, and many more out West are dreading the start of...
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“Transformation” Is Dead. Donald Rumsfeld Killed It.
Donald Rumsfeld The passing of Donald Rumsfeld this week brings many atrocities to mind, especially the long list associated with the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. There isn’t time to recount those here;...
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Quote of the Day (or the Summer): Maureen Dowd vs. Bernie
Dowd: At 79, Bernie Sanders is a man on a mission, laser-focused on a list that represents trillions of dollars in government spending that he deems essential. When I stray into other subjects, the...
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One Officer’s January 6 Testimony: “Terrorists pushed through the line and...
Officer Daniel Hodges, speaking to the Select Committee He did it: Officer Hodges went there — he used that taboo word. The “T” word. Again & again. Testimony: Officer Daniel Hodges, Metropolitan...
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Un-Happy Anniversary, Friends
Four years ago today, Eighth Month 5, 2017, some Friends in North Carolina Yearly Meeting (FUM) got their wish: They got rid of the “liberals” in the body. Out went New Garden Meeting in Greensboro;...
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Let’s Go Goatwalking, Friends
Jim Corbett was a fascinating guy, but like all of us he had his faults. In his amazing first book, he way overdid the self-deprecation: ”Goatwalking is a book for saddlebag or backpack —to live with a...
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Back to my Future: Vietnam, Afghanistan, Wherever, Forever . . .
It was the headline that caught me: “Shocking and Ominous Talk,” it blared. Really? Such language was rare in the Selma Times Journal (STJ), but I found it there, on the editorial page of the New...
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Deja Vu All Over Again: A Glimpse of Afghanistan in 2010
Eleven years ago, I was nearing the end of my time as Director of Quaker House, the Friends peace project in Fayetteville NC, near Fort Bragg. Our newsletter for that summer devoted most of its front...
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A Quaker Theologian for Our Hard Times.
A substantial Holiday Weekend Read: I always feel uneasy when finding myself in agreement with rightwing Catholic pundit Ross Douthat. But in his August 31 NYTimes column, he nails it, mocking the...
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Capitol Pro-Insurrection rally: An Independent View
The much-ballyhooed Sept. 18 rally in support of the January 6 Capitol invasion was largely ignored by much U. S. Media Saturday afternoon. By midafternoon, the Drudge Report still featured it, but Fox...
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Four New Views of Robert E. Lee: History Comes to Richmond
On a road trip with daughter Molly. She too is a history buff. When we went to Richmond on Oct. 14, I was most eager to drive down fabled Monument Avenue, where a new history is overtaking a former...
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Presenting The Separation Generation: November 11
Not since 1827 have so many American yearly meetings split in such a short time. That 1827 struggle was so traumatic that a fully-researched study of it (Quakers In Conflict, by H. Larry Ingle) was not...
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Making Sense of “The Separation Generation” Among Quakers
How can we understand the wave of schisms and breakups described in The Separation Generation three-volume set? How did it come about? Where will it lead? Phil Gulley Looking back, we could say it all...
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The Separation Generation: A Continuing Challenge
Blogging about the divisive agony which is overwhelming Southern Appalachian Yearly Meeting & Association (SAYMA — described here) was not on my agenda when we planned the Zoom session set for...
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Quaker House, 9-11 and Me: Arguing With God
I’ve said that when I was Director of Quaker House (2001-2012) I had the best Quaker job there is. But I didn’t always feel that way. In fact, my initial stance was emphatically the opposite. Now that...
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Whittier’s 214th Birthday: The Peace-loving Quaker War Poet
It’s Whittier’s birthday. John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892) is now mostly thought of as a very old-fashioned conventional poet, who can be dispensed with in light of modern notions of verse and...
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King Day Special! “Eating Dr. King’s Dinner”– Told LIVE
This weekend, Chuck Fager told the true story of Eating Dr. King’s Dinner, by Zoom at the historic Fairfield Friends Meeting in Camby, Indiana, near Indianapolis. The invitation came from Fairfield’s...
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Free Quaker Music from Songster/Theologian Doug Gwyn: Now Online
Writing Quaker history & theology is not exactly the road to fame and fortune. But a few still take it, and among those of the passing generation, one that I most admire is Douglas Gwyn, who is...
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Breaking: New Director of Quaker House; And an Open Letter
Wayne Finegar II of Baltimore Maryland was formally approved to become the next Director of Quaker House in Fayetteville NC on Sunday evening, February 13, 2023, by the Quaker House Board. He succeeds...
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The Invasion of Ukraine is Also a Religious Crusade
“The conflict in Ukraine is all about religion and what kind of Orthodoxy will shape Eastern Europe and other Orthodox communities around the world (especially in Africa). Religion. This is a crusade,...
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