I thought that the above quote from Pete Enns was worth sharing. Especially the last bit, since it really does highlight a central issue in a lot of discussions that I have, too. Sometimes people seem to completely fail to recognize that, when they talk about “what the Bible says,” what they really mean is “what I think that the Bible says, assuming that I have correctly interpreted the meaning of the relevant passages, and ignoring those other passages that might suggest... Read more
Let me start by saying that Jeff Carter has rewritten a famous Fanny Crosby hymn to reflect the view that many conservative Evangelicals in the United States have about healthcare. Here is a snippet: Listen America, people are dying, but the rich and the well should not be enslaved. The sick and the poor, they’re all just lazy; if you want healthcare then you’ll have to save. Don’t buy a new cell phone, get another job; if you want healthcare then you’ll... Read more
Another meme exploring what inappropriate counterclaims of “fake news” and other distraction tactics might sound like in the Star Wars universe. Read more
Lord of the Rings meets philosophy, courtesy of Existential Comics… Click through to see how the story continues… Read more
Via Jerry Coyne comes the above image, presumably from an Ash Wednesday bulletin. Is it evidence of the truly negative view of human beings that some Christians have? Or is it just evidence of how crucial it is to proofread very carefully, and not just look for the squiggly red underlining in your Word processing software? Does anyone know where this came from originally and whether they typo was caught before the congregation saw it? Read more
Robert M. Price is the only New Testament scholar who has a PhD in a relevant area, and actually works as an academic in the field, who subscribes to mythicism and seeks to make a case for it in appropriate academic venues. Here is what he posted on Facebook for International Women’s Day: When mythicism is appalling in terms of its arguments, its treatment of the evidence, and much else, is it really any surprise to find that the behavior of... Read more
For International Women’s Day, I thought I would share some music that I just happened to find myself listening today, as a result of YouTube recommendations based on past listening. Here is Christine Tithecott performing her piece “Twelve for Ten”: Here is Solaris for Cello and Piano: Here is Heather Schmidt’s Symphony No.1: Here are concertos and other works by Heather Schmidt: Read more
From Bill Bramhall in the New York Daily News. It is symptomatic of the transformation of “faith” into mere assent to propositions, that all kinds of people have said, as part of a baptismal ceremony, that they renounce or reject Satan and all his works. And yet they seem to have given no thought whatsoever to what is involved in actually living in a way that rejects those works that are best described as diabolical, demonic, and devilish in character. Read more
This special edition Donald Trump campaign hat came to my attention via Facebook, and I thought I’d share it… Read more
Charlie Jane Anders will be visiting Butler University on April 6th, and so I’m assigning a couple of her short stories in my class on utopias and dystopias. Here are the two that I thought were particularly relevant to the theme, plus two others which are slightly less related. The Day It All Ended The Fermi Paradox is Our Business Model Six Months, Three Days Rat Catcher’s Yellows Read more
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