Tag: non-fiction
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What Factors Might Be Influencing Religious Trends?
[One of 50 articles written and published for Demand Media in 2013] The character of religion in the U.S. has undergone many changes since the country’s founding, and today change remains a constant. Three contemporary trends stand out. First, affiliation with traditional institutions is loosening and declining, while belief in God holds steady. Second, views… Read more
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How Diversity Affects Religious or Secular Beliefs
[One of 50 articles written and published for Demand Media in 2013] The effects of religious diversity vary depending on how diversity develops. It can occur through conquest, immigration, refugee movements, or splintering of existing religious groups into a variety of sects. New value systems can be established by a charismatic leader, or may arise… Read more
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Can a City Use Public Funds for City Council Religious Prayers?
[One of 50 articles written and published for Demand Media in 2013] American government at all levels must serve citizens equally regardless of their faith or lack of it. The Constitution does not permit governments to promote or even give the appearance of allying with any specific religious tradition. Consequently, there are restrictions on funding… Read more
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Fundamentalist Beliefs and Secularism
[One of 50 articles written and published for Demand Media in 2013. Published version here.] Secularism is the concept that we can manage our affairs and institutions — government, business, schools, personal lives — without the influence of religious faith. Fundamentalist beliefs are based on the conviction that our lives and institutions should be guided… Read more
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Go forth, learn, and pollinate others
In the summer of 2003 I took my children to meet their great-grandmother in Canada. We drove from Minneapolis to Moose Jaw, and somewhere on the prairie in the middle of nowhere, we stopped at a Canadian Tire store for snacks and a break. Browsing the newsstand, as I often do when waiting on others,… Read more
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The World’s Largest Private Deaf Employer
Employment Matters column, i711.com Do you know who is the largest private employer of deaf staff anywhere? Yes, anywhere. There are other places – deaf schools, mostly – with many deaf staff, but they’re publicly funded. We’re talking about a private business here, with well over 100 deaf staff. We’re talking about full time workers… Read more
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To Sue or Not to Sue?
Employment Matters column, i711.com One day during the early 90s at a large Washington, DC courthouse, I was suddenly seized without warning by three burly policemen. My first reaction was astonishment, and the second was fury. I had been minding my own business, doing nothing wrong – who were these people to grab me? –… Read more
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You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby
Employment Matters column, i711.com There was a time when deaf employment thundered. Literally – it vibrated and shook, rattled the walls and drove away the timid. And the deaf employees? They were a mob of ink-stained wretches, in the fond phrase of the era. They ran the printing presses, some of which were a big… Read more
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Working With a Dog
Employment Matters column, i711.com Most deaf and hard of hearing people don’t have a hearing ear dog. Never had one myself, never felt I needed one. Then I got accustomed to living with my fiancee’s dog. Her dog was never formally trained as a hearing ear dog, but he just sort of took on the… Read more
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Summer & the Single Working Parent
Employment Matters column, i711.com “Summer’s here… Well, I’m for that Got my rubber sandals Got my straw hat Got my cold beer Man, I’m glad that it’s here It’s my favorite time of the year And I’m glad that it’s here…Yeah!” – James Taylor, Summer’s Here The lazy days of summer are the favorite of… Read more