Joe Cocker RIP (Watch the CLIP)

Last updated on: March 12, 2015 at 5:35 pm By Frank Schaeffer

Joe Cocker 20 May 1944 – 22 December 2014 thanks for the voice, the memories and the tunes. I’ll miss you. Here’s the classic Woodstock clip, please watch and remember. Frank Schaeffer is a writer. His latest book —WHY I AM AN ATHEIST WHO BELIEVES IN GOD: How to give love, create beauty and find peace Available now on Amazon Follow Frank on Twitter www.twitter.com/frank_schaeffer See Frank’s paintings http://www.frankschaefferart.com/ Follow Frank on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/frank.schaeffer.16 Contact Frank at http://www.frankschaeffer.com/ Read more

Does Christmas Make You Sad?

Last updated on: March 12, 2015 at 5:35 pm By Frank Schaeffer

Does Christmas Make You Sad? If so– why? Me? Yes and No… I think that for many reasons it’s a time when my sense of mortality, passing time, and loss gets tangled with hope and leaves me both happy and sad. What about you? Comments? Please come to my Facebook Page and join the discussion/leave a comment/share and thought… Here’s a detail from a painting of mine (“Roses Scattered From The Sky,” oil on canvas, 12 x 12) that expresses something... Read more

The choice is clear: Pope Francis or the GOP? Republicans V. Pope Francis on Cuba WATCH the Tango Danced in St. Peter’s Sq

Last updated on: March 12, 2015 at 5:35 pm By Frank Schaeffer

According to press reports, Pope Francis had quite a 78th birthday. The pontiff began Wednesday with prayers and a birthday celebration with tango dancers near St. Peter’s Square. His day ended with a historic diplomatic breakthrough between Cuba and the United States — and the disclosure that the Argentine pope played a key role as broker. Francis is being credited for helping bridge the divide by first sending letters to President Obama and President Raúl Castro of Cuba, and then having the Vatican host a diplomatic... Read more

Who Knows-Bill Maher Might Even Lead George Bush to Christ Someday

Last updated on: March 12, 2015 at 5:35 pm By Frank Schaeffer

Bill Maher seems to love Jesus more than most “evangelicals” do. Maher writes: If you’re a Christian that supports killing your enemy and torture, you have to come up with a new name for yourself. … ‘Capping thy enemy’ is not exactly what Jesus would do. For almost two thousand years, Christians have been lawyering the Bible to try to figure out how ‘Love thy neighbor’ can mean ‘Hate thy neighbor.’ … Martin Luther King Jr. gets to call... Read more

Please Stand UP! Black Lives Matter

Last updated on: March 12, 2015 at 5:35 pm By Frank Schaeffer

This weekend, as many of us are marching, let’s link to Rev Barber’s piece on Red Letter Christians. Let’s and stand together to lift up his piece on the blog. Sample post/tweet pass it ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! thanks! Frank @RedLetterXians stand together to say #blacklivesmatter #EricGarner #LennonLacy #MichaelBrown #TamirRice http://www.redletterchristians.org/america-time-address-racial-injustice-now/ Read more

Bob Jones University Blames Abuse Victims

Last updated on: March 12, 2015 at 5:35 pm By Frank Schaeffer

Evangelical Wheaton College went to court to stop women at the school getting contraceptive insurance coverage. The Evangelical Gordon College president wrote to President Obama to demand exemption from extending civil employment rights to gays. Now According to the New York Times, Bob Jones University has a long history of blaming victims for their their own sexual abuse. Question what is wrong with evangelicals, their view of women and sexuality and abuse? They go to court to stop women from having... Read more

Many religious fundamentalists feel under siege by the secular world and harbor a deeply paranoid sense of victimhood

Last updated on: March 12, 2015 at 5:35 pm By Frank Schaeffer

Maryland and six other states have articles in their constitutions saying people who don’t believe in God are not eligible to hold public office. I thought that fight was over. It isn’t. As reported in the New York Times Rob Boston, director of communications for Americans United for Separation of Church and State said, “Right now we hear a lot of talk from conservative Christians about their being persecuted and their being forced to accommodate same-sex marriage. But there’s nothing in the state constitutions that targets... Read more

This Christmas You’ll Face Airline Tyranny: Time for a Revolution?

Last updated on: March 12, 2015 at 5:35 pm By Frank Schaeffer

(those were the days!) I have been flying a lot, really A LOT. In the last ten weeks I’ve taken fifteen cross-country trips. That’s thirty flights plus, because several trips involved flying through hubs and changing planes. (I’m on an author tour for a new bookWHY I AM AN ATHEIST WHO BELIEVES IN GOD: How to give love, create beauty and find peace.) I’m noticing something disturbing: the mentality of our post-9/11 security state is creeping into the non-security-related parts of... Read more

I Blame Liberals too for the Eric Garner Grand Jury Abortion

Last updated on: March 12, 2015 at 5:35 pm By Frank Schaeffer

Eric Garner’s dying words “I can’t breathe” could have been President Obama’s cry for help during the last 7 years. Like other black American men in Tea Party/Fox News America, the President has been choked by right wing hate. But he has also been strangled by liberal’s inability to deal honestly with racism. In fact when a cop kills a black man with impunity liberals helped set the stage. Like the right they too blame the victim, in this case President... Read more

My Very Personal Happy Christmas Story: The wonderful yet toxic combination of Mom’s evangelical goodness, Jesus’ inevitable birthday

Last updated on: March 12, 2015 at 5:35 pm By Frank Schaeffer

For me, as a child in the mission, Christmas meant feeling guilty because Mom did so much and we mere mortals did so little. My childhood Yuletide question was: “Mom, who’s going to be in our house for Christmas?” The answer never varied: “The guests God brought to us this year, my dear.” Mom stayed up all night wrapping gifts and making everything wonderfully and terrifyingly perfect. That’s why every Christmas morning I found the four-foot-long bulging wool stocking stuffed... Read more