GOP Nostalgia is a Symptom of Privilege

Last updated on: January 23, 2012 at 4:42 pm By Christian Piatt

There’s an awful lot of talk in the political forum lately about restoring America to some nostalgic state of yesteryear, when supposedly everything was better. If we could only get back there, everything would be all right again. I guess that depends on who you ask, doesn’t it? Author Melissa Harris-Perry recently appeared on “The Colbert Report” to speak about her new book, “Sister Citizen,” which examines a number of stereotypes of African-American women. As he often does, Colbert teed... Read more

Mitt Romney’s Bad Lip Reading Send-up

Last updated on: January 21, 2012 at 4:35 pm By Christian Piatt

In honor of the South Carolina primaries, I thought I’d post another “Bad Lip Reading” video, this time of front-runner Mitt Romney. This one may be even funnier than the Herman Cain video. And for those who don’t seem to click with these, no, they are not real. Someone watches these clips and makes up what it looks like they’re saying. It’s mindless, lacking any substance and funny as hell. Perfect for a Saturday. Happy primary-ing! Read more

I Continue to Fail “The Poor”

Last updated on: January 20, 2012 at 6:20 pm By Christian Piatt

I’d like to think I’m pretty consistent in my advocacy for the poor. I have worked with numerous poverty-related nonprofits over the years, preached about it and worked on it in church, written about it, and so on. But in general, all of that remains at a large “macro” level. It is a nameless, faceless group known broadly as “The Poor,” or worse, it simply becomes an issue. Sometimes making it more real than that is emotionally overwhelming, if not... Read more

Kobe Bryant, the NBA and “Gay” Redemption

Last updated on: January 19, 2012 at 6:40 pm By Christian Piatt

I can’t stand Kobe Bryant. A lifelong basketball fan, I was as excited as everyone else when this teenage phenom burst onto the scene with what appeared to be Jordan-like potential. And as for his talent, many predictions were right. He’s one of the greatest offensive players in the game. But he lacks Jordan’s character. Yes, I know Mike had his own flaws, but in all, he was aware of his public influence and took care to present an image... Read more

The 2012 Girl Scout Cookie “Girl-cott” (Video)

Last updated on: January 18, 2012 at 7:01 pm By Christian Piatt

Some folks are proposing a boycott of Girl Scout cookies because of a recent Colorado Girl Scout Troop’s decision to include a transgender child in their group. This is my counter-proposal. Read more

Re-Membering: the Heart of the Gospel

Last updated on: January 17, 2012 at 5:02 pm By Christian Piatt

One of my favorite things about being part of a Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) community is that we observe communion every time we participate in worship. I know for some the frequency poses the risk of draining the ritual of its significance. But for me, it’s my favorite moment, pretty much every time. There are lots of reasons I like communion so much, none of which involve the chance to get a mid-worship snack. In the Disciples tradition, we... Read more

Atheism: A Null Hypothesis on God

Last updated on: January 16, 2012 at 5:11 pm By Christian Piatt

It’s funny, but I realized that when I talk about myself in relationship to atheists I often sound like a post-civil-rights white person trying to minimize the gap between myself and another group. I don’t have anything personally against atheists. Some of my best friends are atheists. I even like Ricky Gervais. He’s an atheist, you know. All of this aside, I have tried in vain over the years to understand atheism. I’ve written about it several times, and whenever... Read more

From Sex to Satan, Some Churches Will Try Anything

Last updated on: January 14, 2012 at 5:26 pm By Christian Piatt

I wrote a piece earlier this week about Pastor Ed Young and his wife doing a 24-hour live webcast in bed from the roof of their church to promote their new book, Sexperiment: 7 Days to Lasting Intimacy With Your Spouse. Though I’m glad evangelical churches have begun talking more openly about sex in recent years, the whole situation reeked of a brazen publicity stunt. Then comes the new horror movie, The Devil Inside, which has opened to anemic single-digit... Read more

Hating Religion, Loving Jesus: A Well-Meaning False Dichotomy

Last updated on: January 13, 2012 at 4:29 pm By Christian Piatt

This week has seen a new viral sensation take over our computer screens. A spoken word artist who goes by the name Bball1989 released a video on Youtube that has, in less than a week, received more than six million hits called “Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus.” So regardless of what any of us personally thinks about what he’s saying, it’s incumbent on us to listen up. For starters, there’s some really good stuff in his message. He... Read more