A boy said, “There are people who belong to the devil.” He hastily added, “No one here, of course.” He then started giving examples. The director looked to me. I contradicted everything he and many of the other children and adults heard in their lives. “No one belongs to the devil,” I pronounced. Are not we all supposed to be a brother or sister or family to everyone else? Pastor Don said it. And that settled it. Of course, my... Read more
Human beings are story tellers. If there is a difference between humans and the great apes, it is that we tell stories. Our brains develop each other by sharing narratives. Prometheus supposedly gave human beings fire and began the technological advancement of humans. Our modern version of the tale is once human beings had fire, we began telling stories around the central fire place. The great monotheistic religions are often called “revealed” religions. God reveals the divine self to prophets... Read more
The worst propaganda fundamentalists use is to claim “a high view of Scripture.” In a recent newspaper article a pastor justifies prejudice because he takes such a view. The untruth is that his opponents take “a low view of Scripture.” Honestly, I take a dim view of his prejudice. I am not sure what bothers me the most. Is it because Jesus was opposed by people with similar ideas about the Scriptures? Or is it because appeals to the authority... Read more
Food is a spiritual issue. Mark Mylod’s The Menu makes that abundantly clear. It is a quirky thriller that puts gluttony, one of the seven deadly sins, on display. You can watch the trailer here and catch the movie on HBO and HBOmax streaming service. The plot is a world class celebrity chef whose identity is completely intertwined with his cooking. The patrons are people who are not hungry for food but hungry for new and exotic experiences. The chef is,... Read more
The Jesus of my childhood was the Jesus of slave-holders. No one seemed to know that though. The are three key factors of evidence. What the church emphasizes. Who it is that has charge over everything that happens. And what happens when someone not in charge begins reading the gospels. Jesus for Masters There is an old joke about two brothers arguing over the last piece of cake. Their mother decides to settle the fight by asking what would Jesus... Read more
I first heard the term “classical Christian” when a fundamentalist explained the philosophy of the school where she worked. Fundamentalist Christians tend to traffic in terms which are meant to lend some sort of secular respectability to their goals. The Oxford Group and the idea of “moral rearmament” had nothing to do with Oxford University or even Oxford, Mississippi. Scientific Creationism did not work out. The new label is Intelligent Design. Now fundamentalist schooling is now “Classical Christian.” But exactly... Read more
Love is the greatest of the Theological virtues. 1 Corinthians 13 claim these three virtues remain, Faith, Hope, and Love. One though is the greatest of the three. So why do so many Christians emphasize faith as the primary virtue of the believer? There are many believers who castigate others due to a perceived lack of faith. Do we need more faith in order to finish a project? Does faith overcome fear? In the evangelical culture of the American South,... Read more
Two years ago, I started to write my outrage and feelings about white nationalism and the “January 6th” riot. I never published them. My mind was putting it all together. Christian nationalism is another way of saying white nationalism. And while I know some Christian nationalists are people of color, the standard is evangelical protestant. The “Europeanism” and especially anglophilism involved is white no matter the color of the speaker. Fundamentalism is the tragedy of American Christianity. The re-labeling of... Read more
I sometimes am frustrated by inanimate objects. But nothing puts my patience to the test like people. A counselor says I have a low threshold of tolerance. I agree. Well-laid plans, and even not-so-well-laid plans, are better than no plan. And when they are disrupted, I can really lose it. Maturity has tempered my reactions some. Just let me experience fatigue or be a bit “hangry,” and you may want to avoid my company lest I test your patience. Let... Read more
Practically everyone reading this will have heard of the famous Christmas ghosts who frightened a rich miser into repentance. The story is so well known that anyone attempting to write a similar story would be accused of plagiarizing Dickens. A Christmas Carol In Prose Being A Ghost Story of Christmas was released in 1843. It was an instant hit. So much so, that Dickens continued to write Christmas stories the following years. The story published in 1844, The Chimes: A Goblin Story... Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In