Between the plate glass And the security bars Hung a red and gold sign: “Felíz Navidad.”
As my socks and dirty underwear Churned with my jeans I browsed a book On that “most famous” passage in Kant That lays open The deep gash between The world that is And The world that ought to be.
Above the rusty dryers Another sign: “Do not put babies in carts.”
Easy to imagine The ugly gash If one tumbled head first To the unforgiving floor below.
No more I suppose Ought a responsible mother Put a newborn in a manger.
Ironic then That we who say “Felíz Navidad” See beginning there The convergence of The world that is With the world That ought to be
Hell is talked about cautiously, if at all, in mainline churches. Yet the notion of a divinely ordained place of punishment for the wicked after death is deeply embedded in the Christian imagination. How should we think and talk about hell? Why don’t we talk about it? We asked eight theologians to comment.
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