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Columns

  • Sometimes silence is the answer

    If you are old enough to remember watching Green Acres, you likely will recall how Oliver Wendell Douglas had to climb a pole outside his bedroom wall – which slid open, conveniently – to place a call through Sam Drucker in Hooterville that would be relayed to his neighbors or beyond.

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  • SOUDER: On politics and religion – in polite company

    In case you haven’t been paying attention to the news lately, both major political parties have had their respective conventions, and the presidential election season is now fully under way. Some of you no doubt follow such things very closely with great interest, and others generally dread the next two months of political advertisements that constantly will be interrupting your favorite television shows.

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  • On balance during the election season, let’s all remain friends

     

    One of those droll little Facebook cartoons appeared in my news feed the other day. I don’t know where these originate or recall who passed this one along, but the punch line went something like: “I wish there was a filter for ‘ignore political comments,’ so I don’t lose all my friends between now and the election.”

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  • In Smith-McKenney, we are losing a family member

    I was talking to a man about the dreadful news that Smith-McKenney drug store has been sold and soon would be no more. He is a lifelong resident of Shelbyville, a man invested in the community. He understood and mourned the loss of a venerable institution, just as so many of us are mourning.

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  • SOUDER: Living in a ‘no spin zone’

    The popular cable news and commentary program The O’Reilly Factor begins the same way every time it is aired. As the host looks into the camera, he points at the viewer and says, “Caution! You are about to enter the ‘no spin zone’!”

    Whether you are a fan of O’Reilly or not, you have to at least be sympathetic to his stated goal, which is to get to the real facts by cutting through all the political rhetoric, canned responses and misinformation that nearly all campaign speeches and most news programs have become.

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  • We need some mercy to stop this onslaught

    Would someone please enact a “mercy rule” for this presidential election game?

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  • Let’s recycle bikes for our kids

    One of the travesties of what has become of the modern Olympic Games that was not caused by programmers at NBC is the inclusion of BMX bicycle racing as a full-fledged medal sport.

    You know BMX, that’s when oversized children and underaged adults catapult themselves over hill and dale while riding bicycles too small for your 11-year-old.

    At the risk of sounding my age, why is this an Olympic sport? How does it rank with running, jumping, swimming, diving and moving balls around with hands, feet, heads and sticks? Which god on Mount Olympus thought of this?

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  • SOUDER: The intolerance of the tolerant: When Christianity became un-American

    No doubt you are aware of the recent brouhaha caused by the feverish reaction in the pro-gay rights community to comments made by Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy. In case you missed it, allow me to recap it for you.

    In an interview with Baptist Press and in response to question about his company’s support of families, Cathy made this seemingly harmless statement:

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  • Kindergarten is the first day of the rest of your life

    Dear Savannah:

    Wow, big day today. Little emotional around the house. Lots of lumps in throats, nervous smiles and anxious rushing around.

    You probably think the first day of kindergarten is all about you, but, well, it’s not. It’s all about everything.

    Because just like when your older brothers and sisters took this first small step on a seemingly endless walk along the path to education, it is overwhelming for those of us who love you and want that walk to be nothing but a dance through a rose garden.

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  • This is a 200th birthday for the soul

    In 1812, on a couple of acres of northwestern Shelby County, members of Dover Baptist Church first assembled and discussed heavenly guidance in the prairies of what was then the nation’s western environs. Kentucky was only 20 years a state, and the congregation surely must have prayed for divine intervention in its growth and the safety of its settlers.

    This Sunday, that 200th birthday will be celebrated at Dover, and a lot of folks I know will be there – most notably, I predict, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. They are always there.

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