Americans are dying from gunshot wounds in America at a rate of about 47,000 per year. That number looks more like the casualty count on a battle field! In fact, it is about the same as the number of deaths in the Gaza Strip during the two years of the recently ended war with Israel. But for us, this is a death toll that goes on year after year, almost entirely due to the Republican Party's unwillingness to support sane gun laws at a federal and state level. It is time to stop voting for Republicans until hey agree on a cease fire with America.

Acknowledging that evidence and critical thinking are crucial to a credible faith, the other side of that coin is that there is a great deal that not only is not known but, in fact, cannot be known. The most amazingly smart and insightful astro physicists still look up at a star filled sky with a sense of awe, a genuine humility in the face of what can only be described as a mystery. Our intellectual capacity does not define the limits of what is. We remain in a state of wonder at the mystery which we must experience without ever hoping to define it.