As we all pause to appreciate our military veterans today, I’ve been thinking about the meaning of patriotism. It’s been disturbing for me to watch the battle for control of the definition of patriotism devolve into a wrestling match between white Christian, nationalist Trump supporters and the rest of the country. Obviously, I generalized things a bit in that last sentence, but there is a lot more truth in it than I wish there were. Conservative Christians seem to think… Read more
November 11, 2019
Conservative Christian, You Don’t Own Patriotism-You Might Not Even Understand It
November 11, 2019 By Shane Phipps
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November 5, 2019
Conservative Christian, the Bible Should Humble You, Not Make You Feel Superior
November 5, 2019 By Shane Phipps
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There is not a book in the history of the world that has been so meticulously studied, interpreted, reinterpreted, misinterpreted, debated, used, abused, and weaponized as the Holy Bible. The only other books in the running would be the Torah and the Koran, both of which share much of the same story. A recent article I wrote got me to thinking about this topic. In that article, I wrote the following statement: “We are a nation with a large number… Read more
October 31, 2019
Just Look What’s Become of Us
October 31, 2019 By Shane Phipps
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We now are a nation of tribes engaged in war. We are now a nation with a surplus of people with megaphones and a critical deficit of listeners. We are now a nation of people who are losing our capacity for empathy, always in a defensive posture, always quick to lash out at the first sign of a perceived slight. We are a nation with a large number of Christians who have lost touch with the most important themes in… Read more
October 30, 2019
Public Education is in a Critical Crisis and the Solution Could Be So Simple
October 30, 2019 By Shane Phipps
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The current state of public education in America is an extremely serious crisis. The vast majority of school districts around the nation are having terrible difficulty in filling their ever-increasing teacher vacancies. Millions of teachers are leaving the profession and schools of education in universities around the nation are reporting ever-dwindling enrollments. Teachers are being worn down by the increasingly heavy load that comes with the job; overcrowded classrooms, dealing with discipline issues they should never have to put up… Read more
October 28, 2019
Sometimes it Can Take Decades Before God’s Plan Makes Sense
October 28, 2019 By Shane Phipps
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My wife and I were married in 1994. For the first several years of our marriage, we were unable to get pregnant. Although at that point in our marriage we couldn’t really afford it, we decided to pursue fertility treatments. Eventually, my wife did become pregnant. We were so happy. We proudly showed the ultrasound pictures to friends and family, began preparing the nursery, and we picked out a name. She was to be called Hannah. Hannah would have been… Read more
October 25, 2019
Good Works or Faith? What’s in a Legacy?
October 25, 2019 By Shane Phipps
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The topic of faith vs. good works goes back a long way in Christendom. Ultimately, that question is the reason we have two branches of the Christian faith, Catholicism and Protestantism. Sometimes I feel like the Protestant slant that we are saved by faith alone gets a bit abused. I sense that sometimes, people use that as an excuse not to do good works. That’s not how it’s supposed to be. After all, it was the original Protestant, Martin Luther,… Read more
October 22, 2019
This is the Church–Or Should Be
October 22, 2019 By Shane Phipps
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I’m pretty tired of what the Church has become. As far as I can tell, in many denominations, there is very little left of what the Church is supposed to be. No one should ever enter a church and be uncomfortable because they are made to feel unworthy of being there. Yet, millions of people have left their churches for that very reason. Churches are pretty good at conveying the message that no one is worthy of God’s grace. It’s… Read more
October 11, 2019
I Really Wish Christians Would Start Paying Attention to Jesus Again
October 11, 2019 By Shane Phipps
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My most recent piece, I Dreamed I Was Dreaming, received quite a few comments on the social media pages on which it was shared. Most of the comments were supportive of the things I wrote. But like many writers, I often tend to skim over the supportive comments and dwell on the few that take issue with me. One person apparently didn’t like what I wrote and didn’t care for all the people who’d posted positive comments, either. He wrote… Read more
October 10, 2019
I Dreamed I Was Dreaming
October 10, 2019 By Shane Phipps
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I dreamed I was dreaming when an unscrupulous, misogynistic, billionaire reality tv star announced his candidacy for the presidency. That couldn’t possibly be true. I dreamed I was dreaming when Trump selected Mike Pence as his running mate after I had just watched Mr. Pence severely damage Indiana’s public education and bring a cloud of shame over the Hoosier state with his bigoted anti-LGBTQ agenda. I cringed as I saw so many conservative Christians from my state hold Pence up… Read more
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Christian Trump Supporter, Stephen Miller Just Blessed You with Another Sign, What Will You Do With It?
Over the last couple years, progressive Christians have been shouting to anyone who would listen about the cruel and anti-Christian immigration policies along our border with Mexico. Tens of thousands of asylum-seeking families have been detained, separated, and have faced terrible abuse in concentration camps. This should never be associated with the United States of America. What’s been going on at our southern border is exactly the kind of thing that America has a history of putting a stop to when… Read more