Living in the Meantime with Stephen Bauman

What Time Is It in America?


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In this episode, Stephen reflects on a stark presidential contrast during Black History Month—one that raises urgent questions about moral clarity, historical memory, and what time it is in America.Revisiting Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail, Stephen draws particular attention to King’s piercing critique of the “white moderate”—those more devoted to order than to justice, more comfortable with delay than with disruption. It’s a warning that echoes across generations.What does it mean to live in the meantime in 2026 with eyes wide open?Are we tempted toward moral avoidance? Toward waiting for a “more convenient season”?Stephen invites listeners into a sobering thought experiment: If you had lived in the 1850s, where would you have stood on slavery? When abolitionists were the minority, would you have gone against the cultural current to affirm the dignity of every human being?Drawing on the moral imagination of Abraham Lincoln, Stephen suggests we are once again in a moment that demands courage—not outrage for its own sake, but a recovery of conscience, character, and commitment to the common good.The question is not abstract.It is deeply personal.What time is it—and where are you standing?



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Living in the Meantime with Stephen BaumanBy Stephen Bauman