It would be really strange if every mention of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation implied that it was something sinister and a dark stain on Gates' legacy. It would be really weird if dozens of voices were hinting that they were going to expose the real truth of what that foundation really does while at the same time never ever mentioning, even in passing, any of its actual programs, efforts, successes or achievements. Can you imagine? Read more
After the death of Elie Wiesel, thousands of people shared an inspiring quote from him on social media. But I do not know quite how to be inspired by it -- I do not know what it is that it should inspire me to do or to advocate that others do on my behalf. Read more
A Virginia Grand Wizard is speaking out in favor of Wayne Grudem's moral imperative: "The reason a lot of Klan members like Donald Trump is because a lot of what he believes in, we believe in." Plus: The Birchers are making a comeback, my "Stranger" theory, and Facebook says it hates clickbait almost as much as it hates blogs. Read more
The same challenge Jenkins is tackling here faces any Christian who attempts to consider what is widely and popularly believed to be the Christian doctrine of Hell. It's almost impossible for us today to talk about -- or even to think about -- any idea of Hell that isn't thoroughly intertwined with and shaped by a host of folklore, legends, pop-culture storytelling, tabloid sensationalism, and pseudo-academic malarkey that's every bit as weird and bogus as the belief that poor Charles Walton was ritually sacrificed in 1945 in a "witch killing" intent on ensuring a bountiful harvest. Read more
"The flight to Atlanta was full and busy ..." It's the first Monday after the Rapture and everyone and everything is back to normal. Everyone is going about their business like nothing ever happened and like all of the world's children hadn't gone missing. This is Very Bad Writing, but it's also worse than that. Read more
Although David Duke won the Republican nomination, he was not endorsed by Republican officials in Louisiana. Instead, they condemned him as "unfit for office," urging Louisiana voters to stop him by voting for Edwards. Louisiana Republicans famously distributed bumper stickers reading "Vote for the Crook. It's important." Read more
"Fundamentalist" is a word that means something. It is a useful and necessary descriptive word that conveys meaning and distinction. It is a useful and necessary word that has a definition, and Tim LaHaye fits that definition. Tim LaHaye -- separatist, inerrantist, literalist, dispensationalist, creationist -- fits that definition definitively. Read more
"This is a round up," featuring two very different analyses of two very different candidates' economic proposals; the perversity of pretending children are adults; folklore as memory and history; and North Carolina's admission that it seeks to disenfranchise black citizens. Read more
"Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?" Read more
Laurie Penny on Milo and nihilists and ... a lot (just read it). Patrick Blanchfield on America's Gun. Michelle Obama gives a speech for the ages. Prof. Patricia Leary seizes a teaching opportunity. And Binyavanga Wainaina teaches us "How to Write About Africa." Read more
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