Roaches and Rats: A Nativity Reflection

December 17, 2008 by Miguel De La Torre

I must have been about three years old when this image was burned into my mind, and probably it will be the last thing I recall when I lay on my death bed as an old man. The ceiling was moving. As I focused on…

9/11: A Day That Lives in Infamy

September 11, 2008 by Miguel De La Torre

Not to sound trite, but 9/11 is indeed a day that will live in infamy. On this day a sovereign democracy was savagely attacked by a terrorist organization. Unsatisfied with the choice people made in electing their leaders and bitter about the economic path a…

What Do Obama, Clinton and McCain All Have in Common?

March 26, 2008 by Miguel De La Torre

What do Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain have in common? All three are ontologically white males. No one can become the leader of the world’s most powerful country (empire?) unless they are committed to what male whiteness symbolizes within the colonial process. Saying…

The Ethics of Waterboarding

March 5, 2008 by Miguel De La Torre

On Feb. 22, the Justice Department revealed that an internal ethics review conducted by the Office of Professional Responsibility is investigating the CIA’s use of waterboarding. This forced suffocation and inhalation of water, or as former CIA director Porter J. Goss prefers to call it,…

Columbus Day No Reason to Celebrate

October 9, 2006 by Miguel De La Torre

Women were raped. Children were disemboweled. Men fell prey to the invaders’ swords. Within a generation, the lives and cultures of the indigenous people of the Americas were forever changed. Avarice for gold and glory took its course and decimated the population. The original inhabitants…

The Sin of Sodom

August 7, 2006 by Miguel De La Torre

United States’ history has proven that most of its presidents, congressional leaders and Supreme Court justices have been guilty of the sin of Sodom. Many of the religious leaders today, specifically conservative evangelicals, are also guilty of Sodom’s sin. If truth be known, this writer…

The State of the Empire

January 2, 2006 by Miguel De La Torre

The president of the Northern Kingdom strutted toward the podium. Tonight he would address the empire, sharing his impression of the state of the union. Overall, the news was good. True, at the fringes of the empire the imperial army battled insurgents for control of…

A ‘Spanglish’ Christmas

December 21, 2005 by Miguel De La Torre

As all good theologians know, Heaven is a lot like a tropical island in the Caribbean, where cool gentle breezes refresh the land and the soul from the heat of the day. Hence Christmas is best celebrated in shorts and a tank top, preferably at…

‘Full-Quiver’ Theology Appeals to Race

December 14, 2005 by Miguel De La Torre

In a July 27 column in Baptist Press, Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (my alma mater) insists that couples who choose childlessness are guilty of “rebellion against parenthood [that] represents nothing less than an absolute revolt against God’s design.” He bases his…

Illiterate Ethicist

March 30, 2005 by Miguel De La Torre

My mother was illiterate and never had a chance to go to school. She fled Cuba for the United States during the political turbulence of 1958 with her infant son. What my mother lacked in formal education she made up for in street smarts. She,…