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Ethics and Religion Talk: Sex, Violence, and Hollywood, part 1

Submitted 08-01-2022 under OPINION

Over the years, Hollywood has gotten more and more explicit in displaying nudity, sexual situations and violence. I am curious about how the clergy members on this panel choose which content they will view, especially on the various streaming...

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Ethics and Religion Talk: Do Archeological or Historical/Linguistic Discoveries Affect Your Faith?

Submitted 07-25-2022 under OPINION

It is hard for me to think that anyone “of a certain age” alive today can hold to the same religious beliefs that they did decades ago, given the vast amount of new archeological, historical, and linguistic evidence that has surfaced in...

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Ethics and Religion Talk: Is Worship Dress Up or Dress Down?

Submitted 07-18-2022 under OPINION

The question: Standards of dress have become more casual and this trend accelerated during the word-from-home environment of the pandemic. I've seen t-shirts with questionable messages in the workplace, sleeveless tees with biker vests at...

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The Music Man Charms Old And Young Alike

Submitted 07-15-2022 under OPINION

The Music Man premiered sixty-five years ago (1957) and was set forty-five years before that (1912). Math-oriented readers have already deduced that 110 years separate us from the events of the play. That's a long time, longer than most of...

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Ethics and Religion Talk: Infant Circumcision: Pro or Con?

Submitted 07-11-2022 under OPINION

The question: Although medical groups tend to be positive or neutral regarding circumcision, there are an increasing number of organizations and voices devoted to anti-circumcision legislation. Does your tradition have a position on a circumcision...

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ZZ Top Energized Crowd At Meijer Gardens

Submitted 07-08-2022 under OPINION

Benjamin Dakota Rogers, who opened for ZZ Top at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park on Thursday, July 7th, might have stepped out of a sepia-toned postcard from Appalachia. He wore old-fashioned clothing, had tuned his guitar like a fiddle...

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Sheryl Crow Brought Nostalgia, Novelty To Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park

Submitted 07-05-2022 under OPINION

Opening for Sheryl Crow on July 3rd, Allison Russell played with a joyfulness that, given her early history, struck me as nothing short of triumphant. Placed into foster care by a mother who suffered schizophrenia and postpartum depression, Russell...

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Ethics and Religion Talk: May 'Cremains' be Scattered Widely?

Submitted 07-05-2022 under OPINION

Rev. Ray Lanning, a retired minister of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America, responds: “This panelist has a bias for burial of the dead, because that practice is at least as old as Abraham, ‘the father of all them that...

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Ethics and Religion Talk: Is Twitter Responsible for Speech On Its Platform?

Submitted 06-27-2022 under OPINION

Imam Kip Curnutt, Director of Religious Education and Associate Imam of Masjid At-Tawheed in Grand Rapids, responds: “Free speech is an interesting concept to tackle from a religious perspective. It is historically a rather recent phenomenon...

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The Play That Goes Wrong Kills

Submitted 06-20-2022 under OPINION

There's a difference, of course, between a bad play and a spectacularly bad play. You know you're watching one of the former when you find yourself wondering how much time's left until intermission, and whether anyone will notice if you...

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