Last night, Stephen Colbert took a crack at Bill O’Reilly’s 60 Minutes interview about the book Killing Jesus. Take a look: I really appreciate Rule #1 of Christianity. Colbert’s postmodern performance criticism continues to make me smile. What did you think? Read more
Today, I am writing on Atheism, Jean Bodin, and John Rawls. I bet you are pumped about that post! Anyways, it made me think of this video from the folks at Big Think. Neil deGrasse Tyson is the director of the Hayden Planetarium. My favorite quote from the following clip is this: And some will say, well, that’s — “You’re not being fair to the fact that they’re actually the same thing.” No, they’re not the same thing, and I’ll... Read more
I really liked the movie 42. I particularly liked the religious social justice themes advances by Brooklyn Dodgers GM Branch Rickey as portrayed by Harrison Ford. This clip was one of my favorite moments: Read more
One of my frustrations with Mormon liberalism is that it is primarily concerned with Mormonism. In my experience, unorthodox Mormons are just as likely to be right-wing Social Darwinists as more traditional Mormons. Now, do they think of themselves as Social Darwinists? No, nobody has since the 1880s. It is a term used to describe those feel a certain comfort and commitment to social inequality. Those who have, deserve it. Those who have not, brought it upon themselves. We tend... Read more
Editor’s Note: This post is part of Queer Theology Syncroblog at the site Queer Theology. I was asked by Chris Henrichsen to post a presentation I recently gave on relating queer thought to how we read the Bible. Our campus ministry has a discussion group which has tackled this topic for this coming semester. The follows is a rough outline of that effort “Nearly all the wisdom which we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists of... Read more
I was wondering how I could justify sharing a Metallica appearance on the Colbert Report on a blog that deals with religion, politics, a social justice. Then my favorite Catholic Priest, Father James Martin, SJ popped in at 4:13. Well, it was a spiritual experience for me. For whom does the bell toll? Fr. Martin had been on earlier in the show to discuss Pope Francis. Check it out: Love is more important than the rules. Read more
My friend and colleague, Justin Whitaker, has made contributed to the blog round table on the question of “Are Mormons Christians?” In his post “Are Mormons Christians? Defining Religious Identity,” Whitaker has adds a lot of light on this question from the perspective of a religion scholar and as a Buddhist. I particularly liked this: But perhaps, in this age of increasing cosmopolitanism, the best thing to do is simply ask: Dude, are you a Christian? Yes? Okay then. Cool.... Read more
Buried deep in the news release from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announcing the upcoming October General Conference of the Church is the following: As part of a continued effort to make general conference proceedings more accessible to members around the globe, the priesthood session will be shown live for the first time through expanded channels, including LDS.org, the Mormon Channel and BYUtv. Of course, this is the only news in the news release. Is this a... Read more
TLC recently aired a pilot for a new reality show about a polygamous family in Utah. No, not the Browns. They now live in Nevada. Well, meet the Williams Family: Go watch the full episode here. I was intrigued to hear that the family had moved away from Mormon fundamentalism and that they had a rather pluralistic approach to religion. What do you think about the episode? What differences do you notice between the Williams family and the Brown family... Read more
Author’s Note: This is my contribution to the Patheos Blog round table on the question "Are Mormons Christian?" Are Mormons Christians? What makes one a Christian? Is it believing in Jesus Christ? If so, then what must one believe about who Christ is in order to be a Christian? Mormons, as a group, do not believe in the tradition Trinity. Instead, we believe in a Godhead of three separate beings of one unified purpose. For many, this is a drastic... Read more
Approaching Justice
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