Irwin Kula

Jewish Reaction to Pope Disproportionate

How is it that the view of some cranky bishop who has no power evokes calls of a crisis in Catholic - Jewish relations despite the revolutionary changes in Church teachings regarding Jews since Vatican II?

By Irwin Kula | February 2, 2009; 08:30 AM ET | Comments (77)

The Religious Case For and Against Gay Marriage

Everyone simply brings their religious views and their scriptural passages to prove, legitimate, and affirm their already held political and psychological positions. This is religion as apologetics and proof texting.

By Irwin Kula | December 11, 2008; 12:54 PM ET | Comments (32)

Obama's Election: Trust, Hope, Belief

Barack Obama is a person of deep faith who does not use God as a trump card to simply legitimate and affirm his views, or as a self-righteous club to beat up people with whom he disagrees. Rather, he uses his faith as a source of wisdom and inspiration that invites the audacity of hope, the virtue of humility, and the quality of compassion

By Irwin Kula | November 6, 2008; 08:17 AM ET | Comments (3)

The Way We Use Religion Polarizes and Distracts Us

The predominant way in which religion is used adds nothing to political debate except combustible, nasty, fuel that polarizes, divides, and deflects people with different positions from actually trying to convince each other, understand each other, and learn from each other.

By Irwin Kula | October 31, 2008; 03:01 PM ET | Comments (9)

Economic Crisis: Some Are Guilty All Are Responsible

Let's stop having faith in the economy and begin to have faith in each other - trusting that the happiness that comes from greed is transient at best while the happiness that comes from giving, serving and even sacrificing for each other is far more enduring and credit-worthy.

By Irwin Kula | September 22, 2008; 08:38 AM ET | Comments (22)

God Is Not A Political Trump Card

The issue of concern for me is not what a candidate believes about God but whether a candidate believes in the separation of church and state.

By Irwin Kula | September 9, 2008; 01:09 PM ET | Comments (16)

Religious Hypocrisy and Women as Leaders

The relationship between men and women, especially with regard to the dynamics of power, is very complex and while liberals have addressed this relationship in profoundly positive ways it is not as if our public culture with its promiscuity, pornography, and objectification of women, is so evolved.

By Irwin Kula | September 8, 2008; 07:22 AM ET | Comments (4)

The Living Relationship Between Church and State

We need a third way of understanding the separation between church and state - a never firmly fixed place between the religious triumphalism of the right (that simply feeds the fears of the left) and the trivialization of religion of the left (that feeds the anger of the right).

By Irwin Kula | August 19, 2008; 09:32 AM ET | Comments (34)

Rituals and the Modern Search for Meaning

For people like Sally Quinn, religious rituals and practices are, with the best of intention, resources that can be used to create personal meaning and connection independent of their metaphysical contexts and belief structures.

By Irwin Kula | July 9, 2008; 01:36 AM ET | Comments (9)

Wrong about Rites and Rights

Gay marriage is not about 'rites' or 'rights.' People on both sides are more interesting in imposing their beliefs than in doing what's best for all.

By Irwin Kula | May 23, 2008; 12:55 PM ET | Comments (6)

The Pope and Islam: Let's Stop Kidding Each Other

We have Catholics defending an act that while perfectly legitimate is obviously sticking it to Islamic fascists. And we have secular and liberal fundamentalists legitimately critiquing this act with a predictable fierceness and complete disrespect for anything religious.

By Irwin Kula | April 9, 2008; 08:51 AM ET | Comments (69)

Just Another Deflection

The real question is to us regular Americans. What do we do when our religious leaders preach hate and divisiveness?

By Irwin Kula | April 7, 2008; 08:05 AM ET | Comments (24)

Can Religion Help Us Heal From Sexism and Racism? Umm...?

We religious people should be a bit more humble, recognize the power of religious wisdom and practice to evoke the best and worst in us, and realize that what we claim God or our sacred texts teach is often what we in our limited and finite and distorted and clouded view of things are teaching

By Irwin Kula | March 29, 2008; 09:22 AM ET | Comments (41)

The Problem and Potential of Religion

The more important question is at what level of moral and psychological development are the people who are using religion to address sexism and racism because that will determine how they use religion.

By Irwin Kula | March 26, 2008; 05:46 PM ET | Comments (1)

Our Obession and Outrage

Why are we so obsessed with a politician’s personal sexual immorality, but are not more morally outraged by leaders who lie to take us to war and whose incompetence, greed, and desire for power keep them from honestly addressing fundamental economic, health insurance, and environmental crises.

By Irwin Kula | March 26, 2008; 03:50 PM ET | Comments (0)

Let's Get Real

So we have now gone through another more high profile sex scandal with its obligatory mix of power (did you know there was talk Eliot Spitzer was going to be the first Jewish President) and money (Spitzer didn’t have sex...

By Irwin Kula | March 26, 2008; 12:32 AM ET | Comments (0)

An Ever Living People

Jewish identity will be plural and will mean what those people who consciously call themselves Jews decide it will mean.

By Irwin Kula | January 10, 2008; 07:12 AM ET | Comments (41)

Congressional Waste

Is this really what Jesus would have been spending his time on?

By Irwin Kula | December 23, 2007; 01:12 AM ET | Comments (45)

The War on Christmas. Bah, Humbug! It isn't that Simple

What a shame that a season that should be about Light and Love and Life has become one more place for our religious fundamentalists and secular fundamentalists to play out their insecurities and fears.

By Irwin Kula | December 18, 2007; 05:22 AM ET | Comments (49)

Call Me Daft and Politically Correct

What a shame that a season that should be about Light and Love and Life has become one more place for fundamentalists to play out their insecurities and fears.

By Irwin Kula | December 16, 2007; 10:01 AM ET | Comments (0)

Religion, Heal Thyself First

The major challenge to religion is not whether it can cure the world’s biggest social problems but whether it will make things incredibly worse.

By Irwin Kula | December 6, 2007; 10:07 AM ET | Comments (7)

Religion a Cure?

Can religion cure the world’s biggest social problems?! Who are we kidding? The major challenge to religion, in this next period of human history, at least at this moment, is not whether religion can cure the world’s biggest social problems...

By Irwin Kula | December 3, 2007; 12:22 AM ET | Comments (0)

The Many Halloweens

We were reminded that Halloween was not a Jewish holiday and as age appropriate actually learned a little about the origins of the holiday and where we as Jews differed.

By Irwin Kula | October 30, 2007; 07:08 AM ET | Comments (592)

Science and Religion: A Question of Humility

We need a more humble science and more humble religion to develop their own potentials to understand the depth and breadth of this radiant Kosmos.

By Irwin Kula | October 26, 2007; 11:38 AM ET | Comments (71)

Religion is What We Make of It

At the highest level, I do think that all religions carry the same basic message but most of us do not live at the highest level.

By Irwin Kula | October 17, 2007; 07:39 AM ET | Comments (11)

It's All About Life Including Death

After close to three decades of profound experiences sitting with people who are dying and with their families, I am very pragmatic about the question of life after death. Rather than worry about intellectual consistency or religious dogma, or simply...

By Irwin Kula | October 12, 2007; 06:39 PM ET | Comments (0)

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