iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

David Simmons @frdavid.org · 17/08/2026

Newly released Homeland Security records, made public last week by defense attorneys in a federal case in Minneapolis, show undercover agents spent months inside community meetings at Lutheran, Baptist, Episcopal, and Unitarian Universalist churches across the Twin Cities. 🧵 ⚓

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David Simmons @frdavid.org · 10/08/2026

Christian Friends, if you’re spouting off about “Sharia Law” and 911 right now, you’re encouraging religious hatred and intolerance, period. 🧵 ⚓️

The mother of Kareem Kahn, a us muslim soldier killed in Iraq at his grave.

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David Simmons @frdavid.org · 08/07/2026

Two Baptists — Sen. Warnock and Speaker Mike Johnson — spent 30 minutes arguing over Matthew 25 and left further apart than they started. Johnson says it's about individuals, not nations. But in a democracy, there's no impermeable wall or responsibility between the person and the state. ⚓

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David Simmons @frdavid.org · 03/07/2026

Re-watching “Gettysburg.” Struck by Chamberlain’s speech to some mutineers - “We are here for something new… we are an army set to set men free.. no man has to bow. No man born to royalty - here we judge you by what you do not by who your father was…. It’s the idea that we all have value.”

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David Simmons @frdavid.org · 02/07/2026

Here's an idea, since we follow a lord who was executed by the Roman State, maybe Christians shouldn't be staging mock executions to traumatize children. ⚓

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David Simmons @frdavid.org · 23/06/2026

The Southern Baptists voted to tighten their ban on women preaching. Here's the positive case for women in ordained ministry — running from the empty tomb to a quote from a theologian who defended the male priesthood. #Theology #WomenInMinistry #Christianity ⚓

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David Simmons @frdavid.org · 16/06/2026

I don't want no Skubb. A Skubb is a box that can't get no love from me

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David Simmons @frdavid.org · 11/06/2026

The Pentagon quietly cut the military's recognized religions from 211 to 31 last week. 22 are Christian denominations. Judaism and Islam each got a single box; UUs, Neo-Pagans, and others got filed under "Other." Religious freedom isn't freedom if it only counts the religions in charge. ⚓

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David Simmons @frdavid.org · 02/06/2026

What made me an ally for queer people in the church? A conversation in college I never forgot. 🏳️‍🌈 🧵 ⚓

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David Simmons @frdavid.org · 26/05/2026

The new encyclical on AI and war quotes Gandalf, and honestly, it's a perfect fit. Using Tolkien to argue that small, faithful acts of resistance matter in the face of dehumanization is the most "even the smallest person can change the course of the future" energy a papal document has ever had. ⚓

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David Simmons @frdavid.org · 14/05/2026

There’s a story I heard from John Shelby Spong once. He was friends with the famous astronomer Carl Sagan. One time Sagan came bouncing up to Spong at a party and said, “You know, if Jesus left earth on Ascension Day and travelled at the speed of light, he’d still be in the Milky Way Galaxy!” ⚓️

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David Simmons @frdavid.org · 11/05/2026

When the entire book of #Exodus is apparently not enough to stop you..... ⚓

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David Simmons @frdavid.org · 05/05/2026

Are all religions really the same? Comparing Gandhi and Khomeini shows why that claim doesn't hold up. For Christians, Jesus is the standard — and that's not a barrier to interfaith dialogue, it's what makes it honest. ⚓

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David Simmons @frdavid.org · 21/04/2026

Can war ever be good from a Christian perspective? There is a difference between "Just" and "Good." #christianity #episcopalchurch #jesus #justwar ⚓

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David Simmons @frdavid.org · 13/04/2026

Is the #Pope being "Too Political" when he speaks out against wars? #Episcopal #Christianity #Politics ⚓

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David Simmons @frdavid.org · 05/04/2026

Here on Easter, our president is once again threatening to draw our military into war crimes by destroying civilian power and transportation infrastructure. ⚓️

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David Simmons @frdavid.org · 04/04/2026

“I gave you my peace, but you draw the sword in my name, and you have made a cross for your Savior.” #GoodFriday ⚓️

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David Simmons @frdavid.org · 17/03/2026

The new Archbishop of Canterbury making a pilgrimage… ⚓️

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David Simmons @frdavid.org · 15/03/2026

The SecDef is deeply unserious. The families of the members of our Armed Forces deserve better.

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David Simmons @frdavid.org · 19/01/2026

“It was not Hitler or Himmler who abducted me, beat me, and shot my family. It was the shoemaker, the milkman, the neighbor-who received a uniform and then believed they were the master race.” - Karl Stojka, Auschwitz survivor ⚓️

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David Simmons @frdavid.org · 19/12/2025

I’m not sure I did the #Christmas Ai challenge correct….

Christmas ai challenge photo, but with the subject dressed as Scrooge

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David Simmons @frdavid.org · 07/12/2025

Challenging the President’s derogatory comments about people from Somalia with Bishop Matt Gunter’s powerful response, emphasizing human dignity, Christian values, and the importance of respecting all people regardless of origin or background. ⚓ #christianity #episcopal #jesus #POTUS #somali

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David Simmons @frdavid.org · 30/11/2025

“The Christian faith enables, or should enable, a man to stand back from society and its institutions and realize that they all stand under the inscrutable judgment of God..” Thomas Merton ⚓️

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David Simmons @frdavid.org · 29/11/2025

Celtic Nations Pipes and Drums drum section at the Whitefish Bay Holiday Stroll in the proper spirit.

Drum section decorated with holiday cheer

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David Simmons @frdavid.org · 17/11/2025

A sermon in response to multiple stories of local immigrants being detained while attending their court appointments and the statement of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. open.substack.com/pub/frdavido... ⚓

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David Simmons @frdavid.org · 16/11/2025

PSA: If you claim to be a "practicing Catholic" and you believe this, you really are not listening to the Gospel reading on Sunday mornings. Matthew 10:34-37, Matthew 12:46-50, Mark 3:31-35, Luke 8:19-21, Luke 14:26, Luke 9:59-62 ⚓️

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David Simmons @frdavid.org · 14/11/2025

I’ve got a fever. ⚓️

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David Simmons @frdavid.org · 14/11/2025

So how well did JD Vance do with his answer to a question about his wife’s potential religious conversion? I examine his statements on free will and religious freedom. #episcopalchurch #christianity #interfaith #jdvance ⚓

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David Simmons @frdavid.org · 04/11/2025

JD Vance said last week that he hoped his wife Usha, who was raised Hindu, would be “somehow moved by church.” This has brought controversy pertaining to the history of how people “Become Christian,” which can span from personal discovery to forced conversion. ⚓️

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David Simmons @frdavid.org · 27/10/2025

Folks, there are enlisted members of our military who are dependent on SNAP for their families. The myth of the "Lazy Poor" is persistent, but false.

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David Simmons @frdavid.org · 08/10/2025

"Dr. Barth, when was the exact moment when you were saved?" Karl Barth responded, "I was saved at 3 o'clock on a Friday afternoon, on a hill outside the city of Jerusalem, in the year 33 A.D." Karl Barth 1886-1968 Swiss Theologian ⚓️

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David Simmons @frdavid.org · 07/10/2025

The Rev. David Black, pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Chicago, being pepper sprayed in the face at a peaceful protest. ⚓️

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David Simmons @frdavid.org · 01/10/2025

The traditional Christian Just War principles of “Discrimination” and “Proportionality” are what our Secretary of Defense rejected today. There is nothing Christ-like about this at all. If you’d like to know more about Just War theory, I did four one-minute videos on it, linked in the comments. ⚓️

Hegseth: "We unleash overwhelming and punishing violence on the enemy. We also don't fight with stupid rules of engagement. We untie the hands of our warfighters to intimidate, demoralize, hunt, and kill the enemies of our country. No more politically correct and overbearing rules of engagement."

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David Simmons @frdavid.org · 22/09/2025

Risking Godwin's law, This echoes Nazi Christian theology and is very dangerous. For the past decade or so, I've spent a lot of time studying the "German Christian" (Deutsche Christen) movement in Germany in the 1930s, which was the part of the protestant church that overtly supported the Nazis.. ⚓

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David Simmons @frdavid.org · 14/09/2025

"If American #democracy fails, the ultimate cause will not be a foreign invasion .. It will happen because we—you and I—became so fearful of each other, of our differences and of the future, that we unraveled the civic community on which democracy depends.." - Parker Palmer ⚓ #America

"If American democracy fails, the ultimate cause will not be a foreign invasion or the power of big money or the greed and dishonesty of some elected officials or a military coup or the internal communist/socialist/fascist takeover that keeps some Americans awake at night. It will happen because we—you and I—became so fearful of each other, of our differences and of the future, that we unraveled the civic community on which democracy depends, losing our power to resist all that threatens it and call it back to its highest form."

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David Simmons @frdavid.org · 11/09/2025

Stopped by the Bahá’í House of Worship on the way home from the National Workshop on Christian Unity. It’s the only Bahá’í temple on the North American continent. A beautiful and quiet place - a good place to pray for peace in our nation and world this morning. ⚓️

The Bahá’í House of Worship for North America

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David Simmons @frdavid.org · 22/08/2025

Folks, THIS is why revisionist “Lost Cause” history is harmful. An illustration from an actual Virginia textbook in the 1950s purporting to show how slaves were routinely freed, given resources, and sent to Liberia. ⚓️

The illustration depicts a white man freeing the people he had formerly enslaved and sending them to Liberia, an example meant to show that a “feeling of strong affection existed between masters and slaves in a majority of Virginia homes.”

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David Simmons @frdavid.org · 19/08/2025

“By the reading of Scripture I am so renewed that all nature seems renewed round me and with me. … the hills and whole world are charged with the glory of God, and I feel fire and music in the earth under my feet.” Thomas #Merton #Christianity ⚓️

By the reading of Scripture I am so renewed that all nature seems renewed round me and with me. The sky seems more pure, a cooler blue, the trees a deeper green, light is sharper on the outline of the forest, and the hills and whole world are charged with the glory of God, and I feel fire and music in the earth under my feet.

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David Simmons @frdavid.org · 18/08/2025

No God but God. Even if we don’t worship a pantheon of gods, we can still effectively worship false gods by prioritizing things like security or wealth over God’s priorities of justice, care for foreigners, minorities, and the poor. #religion #christianity #episcopalchurch ⚓️

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David Simmons @frdavid.org · 14/08/2025

“ #Christianity should make us “more visibly human”—passionately concerned with all the good, that is, that wants to grow in the world and that cannot grow without our concern.” - Thomas #Merton ⚓️

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David Simmons @frdavid.org · 03/08/2025

"Your 'yes' to God requires your 'no' to all injustice, to all evil, to all lies, to all oppression and violation of the weak and poor..." Deitrich Bonhoeffer German pastor, theologian, author and anti-Nazi dissident (1906 - 1945) ⚓️

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David Simmons @frdavid.org · 30/07/2025

“The terrible thing is that our society, which pretends to be Christian, is in fact rejecting the word of God, enabled to do so by the all-pervading, suffocating noise of its own propaganda, able to make itself believe whatever it wants.” — A Year with Thomas #Merton: ⚓️ a.co/df3xBQB

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David Simmons @frdavid.org · 29/07/2025

I was a Game Master years before I was a Christian. The stories of Jesus, such as the Good Samaritan and the prodigal son, can inspire us with the power of God’s love and give us the strength to resist actions that violate human rights. #Tolkien #DungeonsAndDragons #Jesus #Resistance #episcopal ⚓️

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David Simmons @frdavid.org · 26/07/2025

“The great obligation of the Christian is to prove himself a disciple of Christ by hating no one, condemning no one, rejecting no one..” - Thomas Merton ⚓️ #jesus #merton #christianity

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David Simmons @frdavid.org · 25/07/2025

Jay is a poet who is transgender and an active member of the Church of England (a church warden). I got meet him a couple of years ago. I highly recommend his work - it is very down to earth. ⚓️ #lgbtqia #jesus

JESUS AT THE GAY BAR
He's here in the midst of it - right at the centre of the dance floor, robes hitched up to His knees to make it easy to spin.

At some point in the evening a boy will touch the hem of His robe and beg to be healed, beg to be anything other than this;
and He will reach His arms out, sweat-damp, and weary from dance.
He'll cup this boy's face in His hand and say,
my beautiful child
there is nothing in this heart of yours that ever needs to be healed.
- JAY HULME

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David Simmons @frdavid.org · 10/07/2025

(People have been) “hurried away in chains, and consigned to slavery, and excruciating torture. Some of these have had wives and children, dependent on them for bread; but of this, no account was made… ⚓️ #ice #douglass #resist

The right of the hunter to his prey, stands superior to the right of marriage, and to all rights in this republic, the rights of God included! - Frederick Douglass, 1852

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