Leslie D. Callahan, “Black Jesus: We Have Other Things to Boycott”
I know that there are some who think that what we say and think about Jesus is more important than disagreements we might have about women and their proper roles in the church, but in reality what we believe about women tells us a lot about what we believe about God and Christ, too. Jarena Lee put it succinctly in the 19th century as she defended her call to preach when she asked “If the man may preach, because the Savior died for him, why not the woman? seeing he died for her also. Is he not a whole Savior, instead of a half one? as those who hold it wrong for a woman to preach, would seem to make it appear?” This is not just a political or social matter; it’s theological too. Women are a part of the body of Christ and made in the image of God.
Valerie Tarico, “Hey, Christians. Don’t Be Evil”
Demeaning and subjugating women is evil. When it comes to dignity and equality for women, instead of acting as moral torchbearers, Bible believers have been at the back of the pack for generations, along with conservative factions from other Abrahamic traditions ranging from Islam to Mormonism. The American Quiverfull movement, “complementarianism,” the expulsion of Southern Baptist women who were making inroads into the clergy, the Mormon Patriarchy’s threats to excommunicate women who seek equality, the Vatican’s decision to crush nuns who thought poverty was a bigger problem than abortion . . . Need I say more?
Samantha Pugsley, “I Waited Until My Wedding Night to Lose My Virginity and I Wish I Hadn’t”
Ten-year-old girls want to believe in fairy tales. Take this pledge and God will love you so much and be so proud of you, they told me. If you wait to have sex until marriage, God will bring you a wonderful Christian husband and you’ll get married and live happily ever after, they said. Waiting didn’t give me a happily ever after. Instead, it controlled my identity for over a decade, landed me in therapy, and left me a stranger in my own skin. I was so completely ashamed of my body and my sexuality that it made having sex a demoralizing experience.
Michael and Lisa Gungor, “What Do We Believe?”
If you try to find some value in them as stories, there will be some people that say that you aren’t a Christian anymore because you don’t believe the Bible is true or “authoritative.” Even if you try to argue that you think there is a truth to the stories, just not in an historical sense; that doesn’t matter. To some people, you denying the “truth” of a 6,000 year old earth with naked people in a garden eating an apple being responsible for the death of dinosaurs is the same thing as you nailing Jesus to the cross. You become part of “them.” The deniers of God’s Word.
Rebecca Gordon, “American Torturers: We’re All Jack Bauer Now in the 25th Hour”
When it comes to torture, President Obama has argued that “nothing will be gained by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past,” but this is simply not true. One thing that could be gained would be a public consensus that the United States should never again engage in torture. Another might be agreement that officials who are likely guilty of war crimes should not be allowed to act with impunity
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