ArcaMax

I recently wrote about how the Golden Rule (“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”) is a part of every single world religion. This note lifts my spirits by showing me that it is also a part of the moral education of every compassionate family,

Q: My husband and I were raised ...Read more

Springtime brings us a wide variety of joyous and colorful celebrations in the cycle of sacred time. People do not realize that religions cannot only fill our lives and our years with stern limitations and restrictive rules, but that faith must also be fun.

The two weeks at the end of March and at the beginning of spring put us squarely in the ...Read more

I recently was humbled and honored to speak to a group of parents who have experienced the death of a child. I shall try to address some of their questions in the weeks ahead but nothing I can write will adequately convey the deep and hard-earned wisdom they shared with me.

Q: “I am so angry at the death of my son I don’t ever want to let ...Read more

The beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on Friday evening Feb. 28 brings us back to the ways sacred calendars are created.

The first way a year was calculated in human history was by the cycle of the moon and not the sun. It is virtually impossible to calculate the time of a solar year but a lunar year is...Read more

The mission statement of the God Squad is that we know enough about how we are different and not enough yet about how we are all the same. I realize that I have been spending too much time writing about how we are different and not enough about how we are the same so let us begin our exaltation of sameness with the Golden Rule.

Q: You have ...Read more

In an interfaith column like The God Squad, it is easy to scoop up sectarian holidays and learn from their wisdom. Passover, Chanukah, Easter, Christmas, Diwali, Ramadan, Vesak all have much to teach us about the way sacred time intersects with secular time. However, the sacred calendar does not have ...Read more

As we move away from God winks for a bit and devote our time and love to understanding the big questions, we encounter a very big question, “Can prayer heal?”

Q: I read your column faithfully. My question for you is my prayer list. It just keeps growing, and I have had a difficult time reading my list and praying for each person and ...Read more

Q: Your exploration of the question “Is God Too Big For Us?” was of much interest. I appreciate your honesty in noting that we do not have knowledge about God. Thus your words about God are declarations of faith, but not matters of knowledge. My question has to do with your faith confession that trust in God is like the words of a child�...Read more

Q: The Bible presents us with a cosmology completely at variance with that accepted by modern science. The Bible tells us that the entire universe was created in six days and that the Earth is the center of the universe with everything in the sky revolving around it. Science tells us that the universe is between 14 and 15 billion years old, ...Read more

Q: My friends have told me lately that I tend to see a dark side to everything. We got to talking about spirituality, and I told them I believe there can be a God, but that such a God is indifferent to us. The reason I think this is because we are too small and minute to be noticed by a gigantic being capable of creating a universe millions of ...Read more

Q: Could the identity of the unknown forbidden fruit in the world's oldest and greatest mystery story have something to do with procreation and the family Adam and Eve do not have until their eviction from Eden at the end of Genesis 3?

Adam and Eve disobey the Genesis 1:28 commandment – the first commandment – to "be fruitful and multiply (...Read more

Q: I read your column every week in Newsday. I was particularly interested in a question from M in Gainesville about faith being more important than works. My 12 years of Catholic education didn't include too much Bible study, but I know "faith without works is dead." Had to look up James 2:14-26 NKJV. “By their fruits you shall know them....Read more

I hope this year’s rare confluence of Christmas and Hanukah brought you a spirit of joy and at least one present you will remember long past New Year’s Day.

Both Father Tom and I are/were big supporters of gift giving. I understand the common gripe of many that the holiday season is over commercialized and there is good evidence of that. ...Read more

Only rarely do Chanukah and Christmas fall on the same day, but this year is one of those times. The first light of Chanukah will be kindled in Jewish homes across the world on Wednesday evening, Dec. 25 – Christmas Day. So let me use the rare and blessed gift of our shared sacred ...Read more

Q: I have always enjoyed your God wink stories so I decided to share mine. When my daughter was very little, maybe 4, while in her room one morning she said out of the blue, “That’s when the angels come and get me and take me.”

I was a little concerned thinking, is this a sign from above letting me know she may be taken from ...Read more

Many of the God winks you send me, dear readers, have to do with music. The songs of our life somehow act as signs that the life of our souls extends beyond the grave. Also many God winks are connected to sacred places – not only houses of worship but places where love and hope and joy were given and received. Here is a lovely and poignant God...Read more

Thanks dear readers for your suggestions for little things we overlook on Thanksgiving. If this column arrives after Thanksgiving it is no problem. Thanksgiving is more than a holiday. Thanksgiving is a state of the soul. Here is my favorite this year from M…

My husband of 26 ...Read more