When the mathematical genius John von Neumann (1903 – 1957) sat down to figure out how he could use mathematics to improve his poker playing, little did he realize the repercussions of his inquiry, not only in mathematics but also in almost every other field of inquiry. Considered the father of game theory, Neumann, with [...]

One notable problem plaguing our species is tribalism. Raiding and war for resources and territory has gone on for tens of thousands of years and possibly longer. Furthermore, in documented history, religion has played an active role in conflict. Even today, Christianity often promotes an insider-outsider mentality. All too often, we find churches, denominations, and [...]

When tackling the topic of transformation, we need to identify areas that need transforming. The church has traditionally defined these areas as “sin.” But what is sin and how do we know? Do we look to history? But here we often find behavior that was once acceptable, yet it is now abhorrent to us today. [...]

Christianity is in trouble. The intellectual and moral challenges facing it are considerable, perhaps overwhelming. Intellectually: developments in almost every academic discipline are undermining traditional beliefs. To name a few: archeology, anthropology, biological sciences, neuroscience, psychology, paleontology. And morally: the child abuse scandal and cover-up is sufficient to defile the church forever. Often churches have [...]

We have just launched a project on kickstarter to raise support to complete a book on relational transformation. The outline of the book will follow the blog posts that I did last year on relational transformation. Our plan is to turn this and other material into a book. But more than that, we would love you to [...]

One evening one of my daughters, a teenager at the time, and I were talking about her life. I don’t remember the details or occasion of our discussion, but at some point she became quite distraught and asked me “Will you still love me if I don’t believe what you do?”. For me the moment [...]

Three years ago one of my favorite online organizations gave their annual Ted Prize to Karen Armstrong. The Ted Prize includes granting a wish, and Ms. Armstrong’s wish was to transform the world around a “Charter for Compassion”. The charter celebrates the “Golden Rule,” variations of which are at the heart of the ethics of [...]