Grantland‘s Jason Schwartz has posted a fascinating and thoughtful piece about Ibby Jaaber, a talented basketball player who walked away from a promising career as a point guard because he felt it conflicted with his Muslim beliefs. What’s more, he even paid back hundreds of thousands of dollars to his former team, claiming the money was “unlawful”. The American Conservative‘s Alan Jacobs offers some more commentary. Read more
Today, Her Majesty the Queen gave royal assent to legislation redefining marriage as a nongendered institution, allowing same-sex couples to seek recognition of their relationships. The law does not require religious institutions to participate in that recognition. Elizabeth is formally Fidei Defensor – Defender of the Faith – and she is also Supreme Governor of the Church of England. Remarkably, the Church of England is not permitted to consecrate marriage for same-sex couples. Perhaps the UK will serve as a laboratory for those who think... Read more
"Groups like these have engendered a culture that identifies as Christian, yet despises the Church." Read more
You can find all sorts of people on Facebook. If you’re Alix Wall, it can even help you find the man who turned you into a drug mule without your knowledge to smuggle ‘shrooms into Israel. And, it might even help you to find forgiveness and healing, decades after the fact. Read more
"How do you argue with people who take a different stance than you, be it on childhood vaccines, politics, religion, or any other (controversial) topic?" Read more
Sure, we want to defend our faith. But isn't there more to it than cold rationality? Read more
The Daily Show grossly misrepresents a noted apologist, giving us occasion to reflect on how to interact with a culture that is hostile to the Word. Read more
If the current news cycle has troubled or discouraged you, consider tending to your soul with the story of Hazel Hammersley. Hazel is a 2-year-old cancer patient at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. She’s also the recent recipient of stacks of pizzas from strangers on the internet. Hazel’s mother and grandmother put up a masking tape sign in the window of her room and soon after, Reddit happened. Three cheers for humanity! Read more
Should writers be ‘compensated’ for their words? How important is your ‘voice’ as an author? What of truth? Do you have to ‘live a story’ to write well? What of some of the more popular modes of internet writing? Do single-sentence, bolded, paragraphs shape, or mis-shape us? Matthew Lee Anderson reflects on the pitfalls, joys, and challenges of the writing vocation in an internet age when words are bountiful and cheaper than ever. Read more
The following post was originally published April 6th, 2012, but given the verdict in the Zimmerman trial and the protests in response, it bears republishing. During all the recent public discussions about the Trayvon Martin case, I’ve been hesitant to speak too quickly or confidently; new “witnesses” and “evidence” seems to appear every day, and now that the DOJ has been pressured to immediately and carefully investigate, I’m less interested in speculating on the details of the case, until the... Read more
Christ and Pop Culture
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