"Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much." That's how I know that Zacchaeus was "born again." Plus: What spiritual maturity isn't; giant sinkholes in Siberia; an astonishing inside look at private prisons; and some other links to distract from the absence of a "Nicolae" post. Read more
It seems that some of the same right-wing hacks who have for years suggested that Barack Obama is a secret Muslim now want us to believe that Donald Trump is a secret born-again Christian. Asked to defend his claim of Trump's secret conversion, James Dobson instead pointed out that, to him, defeating Hillary Clinton was more important than whether or not he's telling the truth. Read more
"Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil." Read more
"Vanished: Left Behind the Next Generation" is coming to theaters in September. Because religious tribalism means even very bad, money-losing movies get to be a franchise. Let's look at the trailer. Read more
As you select names for your characters, for the businesses where they work, and for the town or city in which your story is set, you may decide that these names should be not only apt, but Meaningful. Good for you. Meaningful Names can reinforce character and theme. But some subtlety is required. Read more
I'm sure not everyone in the UK who just voted to set fire to the bedsheets shared all of the ugly racism of UKIP supporters. Others apparently just thought it might be fun to swing the wrecking ball and see what happens. We could think of such people as Jesse Ventura Voters or as Arnold Schwarzenegger Voters or as Assholes Who Don't Care If Vulnerable People Suffer Just As Long As They, Personally, Are Entertained. Read more
While Donald Trump's evangelical outreach continues to flail -- "We've gotta spiritize this country!" -- another election year brings about the quadrennial ritual of articles fretting about the need for "religious outreach" by Democrats. Remember, though, that Hillary Clinton's long history with her United Methodist Church and her involvement with its women's groups doesn't count, because mainline Protestantism doesn't count. "Religious outreach by Democrats" only counts if it involves obsequious overtures to white evangelicals. Read more
"Ralph Reed worked for team Abramoff by mobilizing Christians opposed to gambling to shutter casinos. The only hitch: Reed was usually paid by other casinos who had a financial interest in eliminating their competitors. ... He was engaged in a kind of spiritual fraud: telling his supporters that he was opposed to gambling when, in fact, gambling was making him rich." Read more
Donald Trump's list of names is interesting both for who it includes and who it doesn't. I'm not talking about the conservative white evangelicals who have, commendably, been fierce critics of Trump, but about the absence of the names of some prominent white evangelical Trump-supporters and GOP-before-GOD culture-warriors. Why did those folks duck this list? Read more
Tsion Ben-Judah is being hunted down for preaching about Jesus. So he goes into hiding -- at a church that is very publicly preaching about Jesus. This seems like a bad idea. It's like being chased by dogs and then hiding in a Snausages factory. Read more
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