I’m at a crossroads. Now that I’m taking a break from my heavy writing, and I’ve noticed that half of my thousand readers per week are reading my cancer stuff and not so much my philosophical ramblings, I need to speak about cancer for at least a moment.

I don’t write a lot about my cancer anymore for a good reason. I’ve been in remission, and while I still have a great deal of fatigue, otherwise I am doing quite well.

Last Monday I had my annual multiple myeloma workup, and my labs are consistent with a deep remission. We also discussed our plan for when my cancer returns. The good news is that we couldn’t make a plan because new treatments are coming out so quickly; by the time my cancer returns- in a month, in a year, or in years- everything will be different. For that I’m thankful. But should I write more about cancer? I don’t want to because it is part of my delusion not to think about it.

Should I write more about my writing projects? I am working on two books, Agony of a Woman (a provocative book about abortion) and How Cancer Taught Me to Swear. A progressive Christian publisher had been considering Agony of a Woman for the past two months… until yesterday, when they decided it was too controversial for them. I am contemplating what I do with that manuscript now. A lot of research and work went into that book, and I hate to see it fall into the great dustbin of writing. If someone out there would like to read that manuscript and give me their honest feedback on whether it deserves the light of day or that infamous dustbin, please let me know. You will be greatly appreciated.

As for How Cancer Taught Me to Swear, I am in the thick of editing and revisions. While it has a somewhat whimsical title, it deals with a very serious issue- how our culture deals with tragedy, including cancer, especially the Christian culture. What I have learned is that the Christian culture has come to falsely believe that both reason and emotions are bad. Swear words, despite the overwhelming belief by post-Victorian Christians otherwise, are not a Biblical idea, but were created by Christians to silence emotions altogether. The purpose of Christians creating their own language (devoid of what they consider swear words or anything that sounds negative), I now believe, is their attempt to prove they are superior to those who don’t speak that particular language.

Should I close this blog and move into a new direction altogether? The other option I’m considering is closing down this blog and moving to Substack with a new online purpose or “brand” of “Secular-Rational Christianity.” I haven’t found that particular voice among the thousands of Christian websites, blogs, and Substack presences. Christianity is in turmoil right now, whether you want to believe it or not. I want to stake out a lane as a possible landing site for some, rather than the typical agnosticism or “Nones.”

My Christian faith has evolved tremendously since growing up in the Bible Belt in the 1960s. Then I spent twenty years in a hardcore evangelical discipleship group. But now I’ve arrived at a place of being a secular-rational Christian. In this sense, secular means devoid of religious systems. I am not a fan of religion. While it has done some good, it seems to me to be a human-derived system that enhances one’s sense of piety at the expense of others. It is very competitive, and personally, I am tired of brutal attacks from religious people. I’m sick of it. I think there are many others who do not want to play that game, competing over who is the most spiritual, who follows the right guru, who says the right words. I would offer them a non-religious path to believing in God and following the teachings of Jesus.  No, that does not mean believing that Jesus wasn’t divine. 

We will see where all of this goes, and I will keep you posted. Meanwhile, you have a great rest of your summer.

Respectfully, Mike