Winning, Losers, and the Example of Christ

Last updated on: June 1, 2017 at 3:26 pm By Rebecca Florence Miller

The American Christian Right loves nothing so much as winning. But this is more American than it is Christian. Evangelical Christianity in America is dominated by a mindset that places numbers, wealth, political power, status, achievement, and other visible markers of its own importance above the more biblical marker of success: faithfulness. It is easy to see how this mindset developed. The American Dream has always been a materialistic one—though to greater or lesser degrees—involving visible markers of success. You... Read more

Why FARGO Is My Favorite Film (Part 2)

Last updated on: May 24, 2017 at 11:26 am By Rebecca Florence Miller

Yesterday, I wrote about the first reason the Coen brothers’ Fargo is my favorite film story. Today, I’ll share the last two reasons this film really connects with me. A Realistic, Loving Marriage The second reason I love this film is its depiction of what real-life fidelity looks like. Norm (John Carroll Lynch) and Margie Gunderson don’t have the most glamorous marriage in the world, but what they have is a deep commitment to one another. Early in the film,... Read more

Why FARGO Is My Favorite Film (Part 1)

Last updated on: May 24, 2017 at 11:15 am By Rebecca Florence Miller

Last week, prompted by a great question coming from the podcast Assumptions, I asked you what your favorite story is. Today, I’d like to write about my favorite film story, the Coen brothers masterpiece Fargo (1996). There are plenty of things I love about the film. The performances are memorably done by some of the best character actors in the business. The soundtrack is sweeping and bleak. The atmospherics (bitter cold, icy landscape; snow drifting across the road; the shocking... Read more

Assumptions: A Podcast in Which an Atheist and a Christian Talk about Stories

Last updated on: May 17, 2017 at 8:20 am By Rebecca Florence Miller

Did you guys know that this is not the only place on the internet where atheists and Christians get to talk together respectfully? Through one of my networks, I’ve discovered an awesome podcast called Assumptions, in which a bisexual atheist (Kyle Marshall) and a homeschooled Christian (Daniel Melvill Jones) get together and talk about what how interaction with story relates to how they look at the world. I’ve listened to two episodes now, and I can say I’ve totally bought... Read more

I Am Not Your Negro: James Baldwin and the Spiritual Deadness in White America

Last updated on: May 10, 2017 at 11:14 am By Rebecca Florence Miller

In the book of Revelation, the apostle John sees a vision in which God speaks to the church in Sardis. It is a biting indictment: I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. But if you do... Read more

Beyond the KKK: Getting at White Supremacy in the Church

Last updated on: May 10, 2017 at 6:20 am By Rebecca Florence Miller

When you try to speak to evangelical Christians today about white supremacy or white privilege, there is a knee-jerk reaction to say, "I'm not that." The image we have of white supremacy is too frightening to consider that we may have complicity in it. Read more

How White Conservatives Can Empathize with Black Americans’ Distrust of Police

Last updated on: May 8, 2017 at 6:42 am By Rebecca Florence Miller

The old adage goes, "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help." If you are a white conservative, that sentence makes you shudder. And yet...many of you trust the police and justice system will get it right. Read more

Does the Bible Approve of the Sexual Violence in The Handmaid’s Tale?

Last updated on: April 28, 2017 at 9:52 am By Rebecca Florence Miller

As I write, streaming service Hulu has just released the first three episodes of the much-anticipated, critically acclaimed adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s classic dystopian novel, The Handmaid’s Tale. In this story, America has become a fundamentalist authoritarian state, Gilead. The authoritarian state is established in response to the widespread national infertility of women, which is viewed as God’s judgment. In the desperation for offspring, Americans have yielded or had taken from them, all control over their lives. Women are forced... Read more

The Immorality of Profiting Off Opioid Addiction

Last updated on: April 24, 2017 at 3:59 pm By Rebecca Florence Miller

In the middle of the day on cable news, what was I seeing but an ad from AstraZeneca for a new prescription medication to treat something called “Opioid-Induced Constipation”? Our protagonist smiles sheepishly into the camera as he explains that he after being prescribed opioids for a back injury and chronic pain, he became very constipated and nothing worked to fix the problem. But not to worry! There is a solution! A medication to treat this awful side effect so... Read more

Resources for Christians Learning about Race, Class, Poverty, and Justice

Last updated on: April 20, 2017 at 1:24 pm By Rebecca Florence Miller

It is easy to overestimate what we think we understand about another human being’s experience, particularly in regards to the systemic forces of race and class that produce poverty and injustice throughout America. My experience of white culture in particular is that people tend to have lots of opinions but little engagement with information about the situation as it actually is (rather than how we assume it to be). In the past couple of years, particularly since the rise of... Read more