No one reasonably disputes that attendance in Christian churches is in sharp decline. The real lingering question is “why?” which is one of the most important questions I take on in my new book, “postChristian: What’s left? Can we fix it? Do we care?” Though it’s not solely responsible, the internet – along with the way it changes the way we interrelate, communicate, seek and consume information – is certainly doing its part to contribute to the decline. And it’s... Read more
It’s become an annual tradition that I put out a survey of which Christian blogs everyone is reading. We compile a list and I feature the top 25 most popular in a future post. A few ground rules: Please don’t add your own blog. If it’s not generating enough buzz to make the list without you adding it, it’s probably not in the top 25. If you want your blog on the list, ask your fans to add it. Please... Read more
My postChristian tour has begun. For the next five or so months I’ll be on the road talking about my new book postChristian: What’s left? Can we fix it? Do we care? (Hatchette/Jericho). I kicked the tour off Tuesday evening at George Fox University in Newberg, OR and left Wednesday bright and early for Omaha, Nebraska to do a Darkwood Brew taping and speak at Countryside Christian Church. In the months ahead I’ll be heading to Nevada, California, Oklahoma, Tennessee,... Read more
It seems this episode is dedicated to all the bad boys out there. Not that we planned it, but between talking about the Ray Rice abuse scandal, Mark Driscoll being on the outs with Mars Hill (and every woman on the planet) and our interview with photojournalist Gregg Brekke, who just got back from Northern Iraq, it seems we’re up to our necks in evildoers. Thanks George Dubya, for that little gem. Gregg shares some fascinating stories about his time... Read more
God loves sex? With whom, pray tell! Or is this a…um…solo kinda gig? Not that there’s anything wrong with that… Read more
Most, if not all, of us know about Michael Brown and Ferguson Missouri at this point. But not many people are talking about John Crawford of Beaver Creek, Ohio, who was recently gunned down in a local Wal Mart while talking to his wife on the phone. And lest anyone try to paint what happened to Brown and Trayvon Martin as isolated incidents, and not reflective of a larger pattern, we need to talk about it. Crawford, age 22, was... Read more
No joke…this really was for sale, at least until enough people caught wind of it and demanded Urban Outfitters pull the item from their shelves. Freedom of expression is one thing, but… So many questions arise from this, like: Who conceives of such a product? How does it ever make it to production and sale? What sort of twisted consumer buy such a thing? Where could someone ever wear it without paralyzing shame and disgust? Granted, the company is within... Read more
Historically, Christianity hasn’t been very open to the idea of being influenced by other religions. In the early days of the faith, we borrowed from Hellenism, Zoroastrianism, Gnosticism, Judaism and various “pagan” religions, repurposing their symbols to mean something new. Following the adoption of Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire, we focused more on converting others to our faith, or at least denigrating the legitimacy of other faiths to establish ours as superior. Oh, but times, they... Read more
Oh, Mark Driscoll. Just when I start to muster an inkling of compassion for you, something else emerges that tests my capacity for grace. This time, the news is from years in the past, when Driscoll was posting to the church message boards under the pseudonym “William Wallace II.” The posts, from 2001, included the following quotes from Driscoll/Wallace: “The first thing to know about your penis is, that despite the way it may see, it is not your penis,” Driscoll... Read more
I get a lot of weird stuff in my email inbox. I’m sure all of us do. But the one I got from my father in law today took the prize for the week, if not the summer. Mike Riddle, in his “Creation Training Initiative” e-newsletter, outlined why it is that Christians – and all Americans, really – should be terrified of the Communism creep taking place in our culture. It’s invading our schools, strangling God out of our children’s... Read more
Christian Piatt
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