You go down there once too often and you’re likely to remain
Farewell and thank you to two terrific bloggers. David Barton: still lying (plus a prophylactic against future lies). The King of All Rodents. Requiring a daily recitation of a Pledge of Allegiance is just plain creepy. Another Christian rocker in support of marriage equality. [Read more...]
Right-wing hero and welfare-fraudster Cliven Bundy is a big honking racist, but you probably already knew that
Everyone was shocked this week to learn that right-wing gun-nut, “militia” hero and anti-American “patriot” Cliven Bundy is also a frothing racist white supremacist who believes “Negroes” were “better off as slaves.” And when I say that everyone was shocked, I mean of course that no one should have been surprised even slightly, because duh. [Read more...]
‘You don’t get to pick and choose’
The particulars of the dispute have changed over the centuries, but the argument remains the same. The two sides of the argument are still arguing the very same thing. “You can’t pick and choose texts,” one side says. And the other side responds, “No, you can’t pick and choose people.” [Read more...]
NRA: The miraculous pit stop
In order for this prophecy to unfold as prophesied, the Antichrist will either have to be uncharacteristically devoted to gentlemanly sportsmanship and fair play, thus refusing to stray from the agreed-upon script of prophecy, or else the Antichrist will have to be wholly ignorant of that script. Such ignorance seems impossible, though, in part because of the sensational popularity of things like the Left Behind books. If any future Antichrist were to arrive in accordance with Tim LaHaye’s prophecies, that Antichrist would surely know all about those prophecies because of the best-selling books of Tim LaHaye. Any such Antichrist should therefore be expected to deviate from the script of prophecy described in these books, ensuring that those prophecies never come to pass. [Read more...]
We’re the beauty and the beast, we’re dead men telling tales
Media Research Center says it’s no fun being a hegemonic majority unless you’re allowed to pretend minorities don’t even exist. Want a glimpse of how America has changed over the past dozen years? Watch the pilot episodes of “Roswell” and “Star-Crossed.” The epistle from Romans to Paul. Reporters are shocked — shocked — to learn that white Main Line preppies can be criminals too. “Satire is parody that has a point.” [Read more...]
When moral codes codify immorality
Whenever you question the “traditional morality” of any moral code that’s not aging well, you’ll be accused of lawless anarchy and antinomianism. “So you think anything goes” they say. They don’t mean it as a question, so they won’t wait for, or allow, an answer. And thus they’ll never understand the point. [Read more...]
Holy Saturday
Saturday, this Saturday, is all we’ve ever known. Yesterday was this same Saturday, and so was the day before that, and the day before that, and the day before that. Why should we expect that tomorrow will be any different? Seriously, just look around. Does it look like the meek are inheriting the earth? Does it look like those who hunger and thirst for justice are being filled? Does it look like the merciful are being shown mercy? [Read more...]
Good Friday and Western Civ. 101
The frustrating thing here in Luke is that we’re told Jesus had a longer explanation, and that he shared this with his disciples. “He interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.” Might have been nice if, you know, someone had written that down. [Read more...]
Two images for Holy Week
Many Christians who revere Sallman’s “Head of Christ” would balk at Blanchard’s gay vision of the Passion. Contextual theology is fine for those folks as long as the context is white Anglo-Saxon Protestantism. But reimagining Jesus as a powerful, privileged white guy, the way Sallman’s beloved painting does, contradicts and distorts the story in the Gospels. Reimagining Jesus as a despised outcast, as Blanchard’s paintings do, helps us grasp the core of that story. [Read more...]
I’m always failing to connect the dots
A simple rule for white men invited to speak at conferences or to join boards of directors. Bryan Fischer offers prayers and supplications to his god: the 1 percent. Why are contemporary Christian music lyrics so … kinky? Choose your conspiracy theory carefully, you only get one. Where have you gone, Jackie Robinson, our nation turns its lonely eyes to you … [Read more...]
If young people are not leaving evangelicalism, then no one is joining it
Southern Baptist data maven Ed Stetzer says that “evangelicals have been relatively steady as a percent of the population over the last few years.” Daniel Darling says this is evidence that young people are not leaving evangelicalism, but if that’s true, then it means no one is joining evangelicalism either. That would mean that evangelicals have become really bad at evangelism. [Read more...]
‘Having the goodwill of all the people’
Folks like Daniel Darling see a conflict between “the world hates you” and “having the goodwill of all the people.” A Southern Baptist is bound to find that confusing because Southern Baptist theology was invented to be otherworldly — to accommodate and to bless injustice in this world. It is what Christianity looks like when Christians are trying to both: 1) Read and follow their Bibles, and 2) Own, buy, sell, steal from, beat, rape, scourge, torture and proselytize other human beings. [Read more...]
NRA: Driving while Katz
When you’re writing an adventure story in which the hero is fleeing from Country A to Country B, it shouldn’t be too hard to keep track of which country is which. It should be even easier in a book like “Nicolae,” in which the entire world has been simplified down to only two countries. But never underestimate the ability of Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins to get something wrong. [Read more...]
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