On Sunday afternoon I will ring a bell, be let in through the security gate, sign in, put on the required name tag and be escorted to the gym for my allotted hour. The generic name tag simply says “Clergy” but as the residents at the felony DUI incarceration and treatment center file in,...

I occasionally wonder about the damage that can be done by the careless appeal to “community.” I was, for a while, a member of a church that defined itself by community, and which defined community as “people doing life together.” This was what true friendship was meant to be: you could call...