Jonathan Merritt, Bagel Thins, and Social Media No-Nos

Well, the crew is back together in sunny Oregon after various trips to the east coast. They pick up right where they left off. Christian complains about Bagel Thins (“They’re really just less convenient bread…) and the ridiculous economics of eggs. Andy shares the ethics of his becoming a vegetarian.  Amy brags about her and Zoe’s unmatched ability to come up with names for pets.

Our guest on this week’s show is Jonathan Merritt. Jonathan is an award-winning religion writer who serves as senior columnist for Religion News Service and is a contributor to The Week. He has published more than 1000 articles in respected outlets such as USA Today, The Atlantic, National Journal, Christianity Today, The Washington Post, and CNN.com, and has a new book out, titled Jesus is Better than You Imagined.

In the interview, Christian and Jonathan discuss laws that give businesses permission to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, whether or not evangelical publishers can allow authors to write about particular views that are in conflict with evangelical beliefs (like sexuality) and why Christians seem unwilling or unable to have those conversations. Then they move on to the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby ruling, corporate personhood, and the mess that results when one tries to apply the term “Christian” to a business. Finally, they discuss Jonathan’s book, which chronicles a period of profound spiritual emptiness that prompts him to go on a journey to find God in unexpected, unpredictable places, and the surprising ways God met him there.

In the Echo Chamber, Christian, Amy, and Andy talk about social media do’s and don’ts, prompted by a recent piece in Wired magazine. What should you do if you have a Google Glass? How many pictures of your kids in your social media stream is acceptable? What in the world is “vaguebooking?”

Finally, there are a couple movie recommendations, one that is currently in theaters, one that’s available on Netflix, and Amy’s creepy, crawly, but sometimes necessary, Fear of the Week.

So grab a beverage, make your favorite veggie bagel thin sandwich, pull up a chair and take a listen to the latest of the Hombrewed Christianity Culture Cast.