Each month, I like to look back over the past thirty days or so to see what people are most interested in on the blog. Though I wish I could say I understand the trends, I’m still surprised by something, every time. On the awesome side of the news, traffic on the blog jumped to twenty seven thousand pageviews in the past thirty days. And people say Americans don’t read! On to the biggest stories of the month… #5. Things... Read more
I know, Christians, love everyone and everything, right? Mister Bluebird on my shoulder and all that crap. Well, that ain’t me. Not that I don’t try, but I also don’t try to fake it when I’m not feeling the love. My wife, Amy, told me that one reason she married me was because she knew she could trust me. It seemed to her that I lacked the capacity to lie. And while this is reassuring on one level, the stark... Read more
I wrote a piece a little while back about a guy in Espanola, New Mexico, who found the image of Jesus in his tortilla. While that was interesting, this is AWESOME. My literary agent, Terrie Wolf, and I were chatting it up on the phone recently with the good folks from Chalice Press, publisher of several of my books. They mentioned they were moving into new corporate headquarters, and made some offhand comment about sending them a toaster as a... Read more
Every time Rick Santorum speaks, a secular democrat gets his wings. Yes, I know there are three other GOP candidates in the race, but as a theological writer also interested in politics, there is none more fascinating than Santorum. A lifelong Catholic, the senator has only come into his theocratic, social conservative voice in recent years. His parents raised their kids in the church, but they also were big fans of John F Kennedy. They even kept a picture of... Read more
There has been a surprisingly positive response to the article I published yesterday called “Seven Reasons Why Young Adults Quit Church.” And as I noted, it was hardly a comprehensive list. There were several others I thought were worth noting if I’d had the room, so I thought I’d continue with the same theme today. And as I said in yesterday’s article: Although the answer(s) vary from person to person, there are some general trends that I think apply in... Read more
From time to time I revisit the question: why are young adults walking away from religion? Although the answer(s) vary from person to person, there are some general trends that I think apply in most cases. In the list below, when I refer to “we,” “I” or “me,” I’m referring to younger adults in general, and not necessarily myself. We’ve Been Hurt: I can actually include myself in this one personally. Sometimes the hurtful act is specific, like when my... Read more
Can’t get enough of the bad church signs. There are just so many of them… Read more
I’m a little bit worried that the solar flair storms either are affecting my personal judgment or the rest of the world. Given the logic of Occam’s Razor, I suppose I’m screwed. First this week, I wrote a piece about how I agreed largely with the 700 Club’s Pat Robertson about decriminalizing marijuana. And as if that wasn’t enough to send me questioning the orientation of the universe, now I find myself with a growing modicum of respect for fear-monger... Read more
In honor of my new home-to-be, I thought I’d post the skit from IFC’s show, Portlandia, that got the biggest laugh from me. The tiny sweater kills me every time. Read more
Those of us who are involved in church are well-trained to invite people to worship. We find ways to bring up in conversation how great our music is, how compelling the sermons are and how children are involved in our ministry. Part of this is driven by the desire to grow the church, but there’s also the very human tendency to want to share something that is exciting or meaningful to us. But when we invite people to participate in... Read more
Christian Piatt
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