When reporting or lamenting over the gross human rights violations and genocide by the modern state of Israel against the Palestinian people, many Christians immediately freak the heck out. In fact, I am often told that I am “not a Christian” because I dare criticize the state of Israel’s behavior, as if blind support of a modern nation state were an obligation of being a True Christian™. Upon being stripped of my membership card in Christianity, many of these “internet... Read more
Have you been reading the Bible wrong this whole time? Probably– but I’ll try to help sort that out for you. One of the most famous sayings of Jesus is “It is easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” (This quote is found in Matthew 19:24, Mark 10:25, and Luke 18:25.) I remember this verse well from my childhood, and remember Sunday School teachers... Read more
Growing up evangelical, one of the primary questions we were taught to ask strangers was: “Are you saved?” Or, better yet: “If you died tonight do you know where you’d go?” The concept of being saved was pretty simple, really: You’re a sinner headed for hell, Jesus died to take your punishment, and if you “ask him into your heart” you’ll go to heaven instead of hell. Salvation as understood this way has taken root in much of Americanized Christianity,... Read more
As one who studies culture for a living– most specifically, religious culture, I will tell you that technically there are over 40,000 Christian sects in the world. But realistically? There’s only two kinds of Christian– and honestly, I’m tired of pretending there’s not. It doesn’t matter what kind (denomination) of Christian you are; there are still only two types: one is the member of a Christian religion, and the other is someone who is actively living like Jesus. I don’t believe the word “Christian”... Read more
Some say that Christianity by nature is political. To a great degree, that’s absolutely true– though I think we must be careful to not simply leave it there as if Christianity is political in the way the world is political– because it’s not. Christianity is political precisely because it declares that “Jesus is Lord.” When the first Christians began to utter that now central confession of the Christian faith, it was absolutely a political statement. Originally the popular saying was “Caesar... Read more
Dear Conservatives, You know, I’ve been watching– and here’s a funny thing: my memory isn’t too shabby. I watched you in my newsfeed for eight long years. I listened to you on the news, and on radio talk shows. I read the articles you wrote. A lot of us did. And here’s the thing: You *hated* it when President Obama signed executive orders. While it is well in the right of a president to sign executive orders, when Obama did... Read more
Growing up Evangelical, we were often warned that some issues were “heaven or hell” issues. While even the most rigid among us recognized that some issues were open to differences of opinion or personal conviction, there are some moral issues where Jesus draws such a hard line that it becomes a “heaven or hell” issue. Meaning, unless Jesus was just totally bluffing, there are some things that aren’t open to negotiation. There are some things, according to Jesus, that will... Read more
I sat through eight long years of hearing president Obama criticized, mocked, and even outright slandered. From allegations of secretly being a Muslim, spinning conspiracy theories about the location of his birth, to the ins-and-outs of daily Chicken Little claims that he was on a rampage to destroy the nation, I heard it all. In fact, when his presidency started I was actually one of them. But long after leaving, they continued– in fact, the barrage of nasty being flung... Read more
Today is Obama's Last Day In Office, And That Can Only Mean One Thing: Read more
On January 20th, the unthinkable will become true: Donald Trump will be sworn in as President of the United States. His candidacy was perhaps the most bizarre political candidacy in American history. I have little doubt that his presidency will be any different than his candidacy, so here are my top 5 predictions for some totally un-presidential things that we’re going to see happen while Donald Trump is the President: 5. He will get into a twitter war with other world leaders, negatively... Read more
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