One of the most remarkable differences between the social protests of the 1960’s and those of today is that the former were done in concert with, and often under the explicit leadership of, religious people. One has only to think of the crucially important role played by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and so many of his colleagues and disciples in the civil rights demonstrations fifty and sixty years ago. But we don’t find today the same concert between those agitating for social change and the religious leadership. There are many reasons for this phenomenon. Perhaps the most important is simply that the number of people who subscribe to religion, especially in the ranks of the young, has precipitously dropped in our society. But I also think that there is something subtler at play as well, and I have to put on my philosopher’s hat to articulate it. In…

Una de las diferencias más notables entre las protestas sociales de la década de 1960 y las de hoy es que las primeras se hicieron en concierto con —y a menudo bajo el liderazgo explícito de— personas religiosas. Basta pensar en el papel crucial desempeñado por el Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King y tantos de sus colegas y discípulos en las manifestaciones de los derechos civiles hace cincuenta y sesenta años. Pero hoy no encontramos el mismo concierto entre aquellos que agitan por el cambio social y el liderazgo religioso. Hay muchas razones para este fenómeno. Quizás lo más importante es simplemente que el número de personas que se adhieren a la religión, especialmente en las filas de los jóvenes, ha disminuido precipitadamente en nuestra sociedad. Pero también creo que hay algo más sutil en juego también, y tengo que ponerme mi sombrero de filósofo para articularlo. En la década…

When I was doing full-time parish ministry, one of my favorite activities was performing Baptisms. I put the word in the plural, for I hardly ever baptized one baby at a time, but usually ten or a dozen. Typically, the quite large group of family and friends would gather in the first several pews of St. Paul of the Cross Church about 2 o’clock on a Sunday afternoon, I would welcome them and do a very short description of what was about to happen, and then the happy cacophony of twelve babies crying at once would inevitably commence. I would shout my way through the prayers and the Baptisms—and a general joyfulness would obtain. Now that I’m a bishop, I have less occasion to baptize, and I do miss it. But an exception took place last week when I was delighted to welcome into the Church Hazel Rose Cummins, the…