Following my recent article on "Islamophobia, Sikhophobia, and Media Profiling," I received a number of questions from people about hate-speech and hate-crimes. Some people denied that they occur in modern America, while others asked how we could be so certain that acts of violence were motivated by hate.

The purpose of the…

This is an edited version of a sermon Robinson delivered at First Unitarian Universalist Church, Austin, on Sunday, July 22nd. In the sermon, she enters into conversation with a sermon Dr. Robert Jensen delivered at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Austin, two weeks earlier. Jensen's sermon was entitled, "Hope Is for the Lazy: The Challenge of Our Dead…

Of all the things to which humans ascribe tremendous social and moral worth, the question of whether or not God exists is, to my way of thinking, one of the silliest. It’s silly because it doesn’t actually carry the meaning or importance that people like to think it carries.  Beyond that, it often functions as a really counterproductive way of framing things. The theism vs. atheism contest most often serves to obscure communication rather than lend clarity. It’s another needless…

The Shabbat before last was undoubtedly the best day my daughter Tina and I have spent together since I started my first job as a rabbi a few weeks ago.  Saturday morning we took a walk together—Tina, who is almost two, watched older children and I watched Tina.  Then we bounced up and down on the bed and pretended to nap and tickled each other and laughed hysterically.  At various points throughout the day I read her brilliant, hilarious bits of Red Fish, Blue Fish.  I prepared…

“Daddy, can I get a bikini this summer?” my seven-year-old daughter asked toward the end of the school year. Sure, sweetheart. Could we stay indoors and watch episodes of Winnie the Pooh to recall when you were two? I remember not saying out-loud. It was a difficult image to avoid: Less clothing would be more—of my daughter uncovered.

Which brings me, ironically, to a question that often disturbs American sensibilities: What do we make of the way some Muslim women cover…

He only says, 'Good fences make good neighbors'. 
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder 
If I could put a notion in his head: 
'Why do they make good neighbors? Isn't it 
Where there are cows? 
But here there are no cows. 
Before I built a wall I'd ask to know 
What I was walling in or walling out, 
And to whom I was like to give offence. 
Something there is that doesn't love a wall, 
That wants it down.'

-Robert Frost, from his poem “Mending…

I am in the process of articulating how I can be both Christian and Jewish without being a “Jew for Jesus.” Many people hail from a smattering of religious influences and heritages. The current model of religious identification has us choose one or none. But there has to be an intellectually credible, spiritually legitimate way of expressing a dual affiliation.

In the simplest terms I can conjure, I feel ritually, communally, aesthetically Jewish and, in my private heart, spiritually…

The daughters of Zelophehad—Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah—are first mentioned in the 27th chapter of the Book of Numbers. Their bold and necessary petition to Moses changed the laws of inheritance so that they would be more just for women. Zelophehad’s daughters have served as an inspiration to many and their tenacity and determination have much to teach us today.

The daughters of Zelophehad’s request comes after a census has once again been taken of the Jewish males, tribe…

On Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks shook the American nation to its core. Nineteen individuals associated with al Qaeda coordinated to hijack four passenger jets and use them as weapons of mass destruction. The terrorist attacks of 9/11 claimed approximately 3,000 lives, including all 256 passengers on the four planes, 125 people at the Pentagon and more than 2,600 people at the World Trade Center.

The global community watched the destruction and devastation with horror. Law…

When it comes to believing that Ridley Scott's 1979 sci-fi-horror classic Alien is one of the best movies of its kind ever, I have discovered that I am not alone in the universe. I have also discovered that finding his new, not-quite-a-prequel Prometheus really annoying is also a shared experience. Among its most annoying attributes…

During September, congregations within the Uniting Church in Australia, as well as other interested individuals or groups, are encouraged to create a community of hospitality, conversation and friendship with people of all faiths throughout their neighbourhood.

Beginning the first…