Readers of this blog will be familiar with the Clergy Letter Project, which gathered signatures from clergy indicating that they do not oppose the teaching of evolution or find science in conflict with their faith. There is a new letter project along similar lines, developed by Peter Hess for the National Center for Science Education, focused this time on climate change. Here is a link to The Clergy Climate Letter. If you are a clergy member, please consider signing it. And... Read more
A few years ago, I asked whether Christianity should be about believing the unbelievable or doing the undoable. Recently Christian Piatt made much the same point. He writes, Making a statement of faith and getting baptized is no more about the daily choice to follow Jesus than being married is about saying “I do.” Yes, it may be an important shared, sacred ritual, a marker in time, a way to allow others to both hold you up and help hold... Read more
I’m not sure whether this proves that saying “one God” plus one of something else does not imply the divinity of whoever or whatever is mentioned alongside God, or whether this proves the opposite. But it is an interesting addition to the words of Scripture, ironically highlighting the unbiblical character of King James onlyism in the process. Read more
The quote comes from Dianna Anderson’s book Damaged Goods: New Perspectives on Christian Purity, which I just reviewed here on the blog. Read more
I made the same point some years ago in a blog post. But the above image, shared on Facebook by the page Science & Scripture, makes the point much more effectively and succinctly. Does someone claim that they simply read the Bible and have no need for scholars, when they are reading the Bible in translation, or reading critical editions of the texts in the original languages, or using manuscripts copied by scribes, having learned Hebrew and Greek with the help of... Read more
I am grateful to have been sent a review copy of Damaged Goods: New Perspectives on Christian Purity by Dianna Anderson. Anderson’s book explores the purity culture of the Evangelical background in which she was raised, and its approach to sex and gender, arguing that there is a need for a radically different approach to sexual ethics among Christians. The book offers a combination of Anderson’s own experience, the experience of others, her interviews with representatives of Evangelical purity culture in... Read more
Gakusei Don suggested the above in response to my prompting about adding Godzilla to the Bible. One can actually make a serious point by doing this. Godzilla fits the text much better than a dinosaur would, and that supports the understanding of the text as referring to a mythical dragon and not a real prehistoric lizard. Someone else suggested David vs. Godzilla, and that already exists, courtesy of Ben Riddlebarger, whose work I’ve shared here previously in a post with... Read more
Cracked shared a series of movie posters which have Godzilla added to them, and one of them was Noah. That got me thinking: which Biblical stories would be better with Godzilla in them? Share your suggestions/stories/images in the comments section. Read more
Matthew Malcolm noticed that people read his blog more at 2pm on Tuesdays than at other times during the week. Looking at statistics could tell me when people read my blog in relation to my own local time. But I am also curious what time it is where you are when you read the blog. Feel free to include or omit what time zone you live in, but at least telling me days and times would be very interesting. When... Read more
From Existential Comics. Be sure to read the scrolling headlines at the bottom. Read more
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