Ben Daniel
Ben Daniel is the Pastor of Foothill Presbyterian Church in San Jose, California and is a leading voice of left-leaning, faith based social and political commentary.
Ben Daniel is the Pastor of Foothill Presbyterian Church in San Jose, California and is a leading voice of left-leaning, faith based social and political commentary.
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Salvation by Beer
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Jun 23 2008 01:12AM
Michael and I spent an hour or so together on a warm afternoon in Silicon Valley. Afterward, I rode the bus home, enjoying the dissipation of a one-beer-buzz, and thinking “if more Presbyterians got together like this, we’d be OK.”
To the Presbyterians Meeting In My Home Town
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Jun 16 2008 10:22PM
Disagreements about doctrine and theology aren’t enough to excuse the kind of leave-taking that’s happening in some corners of the Presbyterian Church, at least not according to John Calvin and St. Paul.
A clergyman supports striking janitors
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
May 26 2008 01:55PM
No one benefits when janitors earn poverty-level wages.
Book Review: "The Family" by Jeff Sharlet
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
May 26 2008 01:33PM
This may be the most important book on religion and politics in recent memory.
Rejecting the racist vote
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
May 12 2008 12:38PM
I’d like to think that Senators Clinton and McCain would say, “if you won’t vote for Barack Obama because African blood runs in his veins, then we don’t want your vote."
Buddhists playing bocce ball in the barrio.
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Apr 28 2008 11:55AM
If Paul can be respectful and find commonality with folks from another religious tradition while trying to convert them, then certainly you and I can be respectful and find commonality while simply living together as neighbors and friends.
John McCain and Rod Parsley: Sacrificing Peace for Ohio's Delegates
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Apr 21 2008 12:51PM
The Tehran Times views the relation between McCain and Rod Parsley as a new crusade against Islam. Is a victory in November worth further alienating the Muslim world? (I'll give you a hint: the answer is no.)
Doug Coe, the Fellowship, Hillary Clinton and Why You Should Care
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Apr 14 2008 08:10PM
Hillary Clinton is part of a secretive, powerful, and sometimes abusive religious organization. Should we care?
Immigration in an urban garden
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Apr 7 2008 01:08AM
My children may grow up with a deeper connection to the soil of this place than I have, even though three of my four kids were born on another continent.
Religion and politics in Tibet
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Mar 31 2008 02:08AM
In Tibet, religion and politics are mixing, and the blend works.
Barack Obama's pastor
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Mar 17 2008 12:45AM
As a clergyman, it seems both credible and good to me that Barack Obama has found himself disagreeing with his pastor from time to time.
Remembering fear: The war turns five
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Mar 10 2008 01:14AM
Lots of us protested the war, loudly and often passionately, but in March 2003 it was a difficult position to hold, especially away from the demonstrations and from the comfortable company of peaceniks.
A California preacher mixed up in the Balkans
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Mar 3 2008 12:41AM
I may be a little prejudiced, but there's something about being in the presence of large, young, Slavic men, all dressed like skinheads and packing violently anti-American signage, that had me quietly rehearsing my best Canadian accent.
Water still turns to wine
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Feb 25 2008 12:52AM
Judging from the joy I saw in my newest daughter's eyes as she danced last weekend, the Divine is still alive and working miracles at weddings.
Spring training brings new hope
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Feb 18 2008 01:37AM
In February everything seems possible. Every team is in first place. Dreams of World Series glory are shared by everyone, and everyone -- even the youngest rookie -- has a shot at the Big Time.
Waterboarding and the Bush administration's relative morality
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Feb 11 2008 02:21AM
The Bush administration, shunning common decency and flipping the bird at the rule of law, has decided to keep waterboarding in its bag of tricks.
Gobama! The endorsement of a Green preacher
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Feb 4 2008 01:33AM
For weeks now I've been planning to write a column on the eve of Super Tuesday extolling the virtues of membership in a 'third party,' but in the last few weeks Barack Obama has changed my mind.
America and the Pinocchio presidency
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Jan 28 2008 01:49AM
A lot seems to have changed in the 10 years since Monica Lewinsky became a household name.
Tacos and the politics of immigration
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Jan 21 2008 02:42AM
I'd like for immigration policy to reflect not what we fear but what is beautiful and hopeful in immigrant communities.
Surfing and the economics of joy
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Jan 14 2008 01:37AM
Last Saturday's surfing contest at Mavericks near Half Moon Bay, Calif., has changed my opinion of surfing's potential to transform the world.
Who's gonna stop the fire?
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Jan 7 2008 12:18AM
Anytime a church full of people is burned to the ground, it is an act of religious violence; when the traditional sanctity of sacred space is ignored, religious forces are at play.
Bread for the soul
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Dec 31 2007 02:10AM
Like most modern Americans, I don't take enough time to sit quietly by while the yeast of life rises, working magic in the world around me.
Patriotism's true color
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Dec 24 2007 01:44AM
The time has come for green to be the new red, white and blue.
'Jingle Bells' grace
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Dec 17 2007 01:12AM
When my foster daughter, this young woman whose life has been torn apart by the cruelty and sorrow of war, started singing 'Jingle Bells' along with the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus, it felt like a moment of grace.
Guadalupe in the winter hood
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Dec 10 2007 02:42AM
No one can say which language God will speak when God appears or what God's skin will look like or what God's gender will be.
Something there is that doesn't love a wall
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Dec 3 2007 12:56AM
If in human history there is an example of a security wall or barrier that has improved the long-term well-being and safety of those on one side or another, I don't know about it.
Injustice in a Whopper
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Nov 26 2007 01:21AM
The laborers who harvest the tomatoes that end up in Burger King sandwiches were underpaid in 1980, and they have not received a substantive raise since then.
Torture is sin
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Nov 19 2007 01:19AM
People of faith cannot talk about the American use of torture in the so-called 'War on Terror' until we reclaim the language of morality and sin.
Living in a world of wonder
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Nov 12 2007 01:25AM
I want to live in a world where the heaven-sent ghost of a martyred Catholic priest is able to help a fellow countryman who has fallen on hard times.
Let's keep terrorism in perspective
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Nov 5 2007 01:49AM
A growing number of Americans appear to agree with the assertion that terrorism is 'the most important social issue of our time.' Which, of course, it is not.
Tongues of fire
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Oct 29 2007 12:34AM
It will be a test of California's moral character to see if rebuilding and restoration efforts are as blind to economic status as are flames stoked by the Santa Ana winds.
A resettlement proposal
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Oct 22 2007 01:23AM
If my family of five can welcome a refugee foster child into our inner-city condo, then a nation as large and as wealthy as our own certainly can come up with a lot more hospitality toward refugees in Iraq.
In memory of a genocide
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Oct 15 2007 12:49AM
Are the American people willing to sacrifice what is true about the Armenian genocide in support of a war that was waged on the wager that truth is fungible?
Healthcare lessons in a crash
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Oct 8 2007 02:28AM
As I crashed my bike, I asked myself, 'How am I going to pay for this?'
Confronting Ahmadinejad with peace
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Oct 1 2007 12:49AM
If U.S. foreign policy did not give people around the world a reason to feel threatened, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would still be a professor of urban planning in an Iranian university.
Louisiana on my mind
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Sep 24 2007 01:09AM
A small town in Louisiana has captured our nation's attention by reminding us that the racial tensions and injustices that marked our past still abide and are capable of dividing us.
Overweighty matters
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Sep 17 2007 01:43AM
Go figure. There is an obesity epidemic in America and we're talking about Britney Spears' body.
A modesty proposal
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Sep 10 2007 01:11AM
A critical mass of young women have grown weary of donning garments that expose, to complete strangers, vast expanses of skin and have demanded alternatives to the peep-show outfits being sold at the local mall.
Labor Day at home
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Sep 3 2007 02:40AM
For nearly two weeks I have done the work in which millions of Americans engage - I have been a full-time homemaker while caring for a loved one.
Fanning the flames of Islamophobia
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Aug 20 2007 12:35AM
Whatever the intent of the New York City Police Department, its 'homegrown terrorism' report communicates a great deal of fear and paranoia.
Barry on my birthday
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Aug 13 2007 01:55AM
On Aug. 7, when Barry Bonds broke Hank Aaron's home run record, my mother called to wish me a happy birthday.
Farm bill on my mind
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Aug 6 2007 01:40AM
How do we want to eat? What kind of food do we want to feed America's poor children who take advantage of government-funded school breakfast and lunch programs?
Tour de far out, man
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Jul 30 2007 12:26AM
Athletes who use performance-enhancing drugs have forgotten what is important in life.
Food for religious thought
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Jul 23 2007 02:46AM
What is missing in America's foodie mood is a strong articulation of why eating well should matter to people of faith.
Benedict XVI on the reformation
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Jul 15 2007 01:24AM
So what is the correct response when the pope comes out and says your church is not a church?
A meaningful reunion
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Jul 9 2007 02:41AM
God does not create us with failure in mind. If some of my classmates can do as well as they have done, then so can the students at inner-city schools, and so can the children of undocumented migrant workers.
Patriotism's true color
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Jul 1 2007 12:47AM
The time has come for green to be the new red white and blue.
Going offline
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Jun 25 2007 02:38AM
We talk to each other more than we did when one of us was constantly checking email. We're more attentive to our children. We have more time to do things that make us happy.
Gnocchi de platano maduro
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Jun 18 2007 12:25AM
What does it mean to eat an Italian dumpling made out of a Latin American tropical fruit?
A splendid second novel
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Jun 11 2007 02:33AM
I am of the firm conviction that every American should read 'A Thousand Splendid Suns' before our armed forces redeploy from Afghanistan.
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