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Opinion

 

Firebird Soars

Submitted 10-19-2019 under OPINION

If ballet is the art of translating music into movement, the first piece in Grand Rapid Ballet's powerful Firebird was pure ballet. TItled Mozart Symphony, it translated lively, elegantly wrought music into graceful motion,...

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Ethics and Religion Talk: How to Handle Difficult Political Conversations

Submitted 10-16-2019 under OPINION

The Reverend Colleen Squires, minister at All Souls Community Church of West Michigan, a Unitarian Universalist Congregation, responds: Personally I think the best way to go about these conversations is to start by articulating your faith...

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Fiddler On The Roof Premiere Was Lively, Powerful

Submitted 10-10-2019 under OPINION

Prior to its 1964 debut, even some of its investors fretted that Fiddler On The Roof was "too Jewish." Based on stories written in Yiddish by Sholem Aleichem and set around the turn of the twentieth century, the musical wrestles...

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Ethics and Religion Talk: The Death Penalty

Submitted 10-07-2019 under OPINION

Marritta asks: When I was a Christian, I believed in the death penalty because it was biblical. Almost as soon as I became an atheist, I did a 180. My reasoning was that if there is no god, all that's left is humanity; therefore, life is the...

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Ethics and Religion Talk: Money and Politics

Submitted 10-02-2019 under OPINION

Fred Stella, the Pracharak (Outreach Minister) for the West Michigan Hindu Temple, responds: “What has been come to be known as the caste system in Hinduism has influenced much of the rest of the world to take a dim view of the religion. One...

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Ethics and Religion Talk: Leaving a Group or Working for Change?

Submitted 09-25-2019 under OPINION

Laura W. asks: “Where do you draw the line between helping to improve or change a group you are a part of, and leaving the group? For me personally, I would leave an extreme group but wonder about less extreme groups where people hold harmful...

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Ethics and Religion Talk - Elder Sex Before Marriage

Submitted 09-16-2019 under OPINION

Dr Sahibzada, the Director of Islamic Center and Imam of the Mosque of Grand Rapids, responds: “Having sex before getting married is not matter of being in late fifties or divorcee. It depends upon their faith category, cultural discipline and...

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Ethics and Religion Talk: What is the Secret of Happiness

Submitted 09-09-2019 under OPINION

The Rev. Sandra Nikkel, head pastor of Conklin Reformed Church, responds: "Everyone is in search of happiness and many people are looking for it in success, money, power, addiction, sex or indulgence. But none of these can truly satisfy us in...

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Ethics and Religion Talk: Should We be Abolitionists Today?

Submitted 09-03-2019 under OPINION

[Note: Abolitionists are people who try to dismantle the institutions, such as the criminal justice system, that benefit from modern day slavery.] The Reverend Colleen Squires, minister at All Souls Community Church of West Michigan, a...

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Ethics and Religion talk - Welcoming LGBTQ II

Submitted 08-26-2019 under OPINION

Along the same line, Carol H. asks: I was a member of the UMC. In the “rulebook” it states both that all people are of sacred worth and the practice of homosexuality is not compatible with scripture. Is that saying a person can be gay as...

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