Guest Commentator

Rev. William E. Alberts

PhD

BlackCommentator.com Guest Commentator, Rev. William E. Alberts, Ph.D., a former hospital chaplain at Boston Medical Center, is both a Unitarian Universalist and United Methodist minister. His new book, The Counterpunching Minister (who couldn't be "preyed" away). The book’s Foreword, Drawing the Line, is written by Counterpunch editor, Jeffrey St. Clair. Alberts is also author of A Hospital Chaplain at the Crossroads of Humanity, which “demonstrates what top-notch pastoral care looks like, feels like, maybe even smells like,” states the review in the Journal of Pastoral Care & Counseling. Contact Rev. Alberts. David A. Love, JD Managing Editor: Nancy Littlefield, MBA Publisher: Peter Gamble

3 pieces

Commentary

Grandiose Marketing of Spirituality

By Rev. William E. Alberts Guest Commentator

Pastoral/spiritual care is about giving grief the hearing it needs rather than remaining bottled up and beside itself. Pastoral/spiritual care is about integrated self-awareness and inner emotional security that enable the chaplain to experience a patient’s reality, not interpret it, and to allow patients and their families to be who they are.

Spirituality can now be bottled, like medicine, labeled with “evidence-based quality indicators” and dispensed by “spiritual care specialists” (hospital chaplains) to patients, providing a unique contribution…

Continue reading 17 min

Guest Commentary

White Men Can Jump – to Conclusions

By Rev. William E. Alberts Guest Commentator

In the recent confirmation hearings with Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, the Senate Judiciary Committee Republican members demonstrated that white men can jump – to conclusions. They concluded that Sotomayor lacked the required judicial impartiality because she told a Latino audience in a 2001 cultural diversity lecture, “I would hope that a wise Latina woman…

In the recent confirmation hearings with Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, the Senate Judiciary Committee Republican members demonstrated that white men can jump - to conclusions.…

Continue reading 10 min

Guest Commentary

A Foreign Policy Guided by “Houses” and “Daughters”

By Rev. William E. Alberts Guest Commentator

During last year’s presidential campaign, democratic candidate Barack Obama made a statement that should be a fundamental principle guiding any nation’s foreign policy: “If somebody was sending rockets into my house, where my two daughters sleep at night, I’m going to do everything in my power to stop that.” (“Obama Defers to Bush, for Now,…

During last year’s presidential campaign, democratic candidate Barack Obama made a statement that should be a fundamental principle guiding any nation’s foreign policy: “If somebody was…

Continue reading 11 min