Hattie's behavior in this conversation is later characterized as "nasty." And her subsequent storyline is the classic cautionary tale of the "fallen woman" -- the kind in which the authors make it clear that they think "fallen woman" is redundant. So despite the apparent criticism of Rayford's motives and timing here, we're apparently still supposed to interpret Hattie's hanging up as a rejection not simply of Rayford's clumsy overture, but of the gospel itself. Read more
"It begins with the first gesture of collaboration." So don't do that. Also: Sinbad truthers; white voters and the new Ghostbusters; the importance of Jerome; and another story about a shriveled miser who mistreats his estranged nephew Fred. Read more
Here we are. The wrong road that white evangelicalism has stubbornly been following has led us here, to 2016, and the election of Donald J. Trump thanks, largely, to the overwhelming support of white evangelicals. This is not an aberration, but a culmination. This is where that road takes you. It's where you're bound to end up if you drive long enough using only the segregationists and the wealthy donors as your GPS. Read more
This is a bit of a mess, mixing Dr. Seuss analogies and the weirdest story from the book of Genesis, along with a discussion of how #notALL #notALL arguments are the ugly kind. All in service of a question we can't yet answer: Can white evangelical Christianity be redeemed? Read more
Randal, in "Clerks," describes the workers and independent contractors building the second Death Star as "innocent." But were they really? These are workers who have agreed to help build the literal machinery of death. There cannot be any confusion on that point -- this is, after all, the second Death Star, and everyone knows the first was used to destroy an entire world. (Also, just consider the name.) Read more
"Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for he was wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset. ..." Read more
Later in the book, the Antichrist exercises his mind-control powers in a way that is explicitly coercive. That scene works better than this one because we know it's supernatural and so we don't need to actually see him being charismatic and persuasive. But this scene, like the previous one at the U.N., requires that these qualities be demonstrated. When that demonstration proves utterly unimpressive, we end up losing respect for the characters who come away impressed by it. Read more
"The premise for empathy has to be equal humanity," Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie reminds us. Daniel Schultz on what it is that you're leaving if you leave white evangelicalism. Plus: Rebecca Traister on "identity politics;" John Broich on journalists and autocrats; and Church World Service on how you can help refugees. Read more
"White evangelicals don’t care as much about corruption in political leadership as they used to. A Public Religion Research Institute poll released in October reported that white evangelicals have dramatically revised their opinions about politicians’ personal morality, in recent years." Politicians' "personal morality" stopped mattering once we had a president who couldn't be attacked on the basis of his personal morality. It stopped mattering when it ceased to be politically useful. Read more
Huge, heartfelt thanks to all for the overwhelming response to my fundraising appeal this week. Thank you. Thankyouthankyouthankyou, you beautiful, generous people. You've restored a bit of solid ground beneath our feet. Thank you again, and again, and again. I can't say it enough. Read more
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