The enormous change in public response might be more encouraging if the unit of measurement weren't so horrifying. It is, undeniably, evidence of progress that our communities, our media, our politicians and churches have gotten better at publicly mourning the mass-slaughter of gay men. It is damnably indefensible that violence against LGBT people remains such a constant that it can serve as such a measurement of cultural attitudes over time. Read more
"And love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love," the playwright said, like a pointing finger. We can study that finger and dismiss that as only a hollow, empty word. Or we can start walking in the direction it's pointing. Read more
This is something humans do. When disaster strikes -- fire, flood, mine explosion, school bus accident, terrorist attack, tsunami, Reawakening of the Old Ones -- people get scared and desperate and come together, often at a church. We are born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward, and just as surely we will respond to that trouble by coming together and lighting candles. Read more
What we have here is a school -- an elementary school -- assuring every parent of every child there that school officials actively support shorter statutes of limitations for sexual crimes against children. "We want to make it harder for the state to prosecute those who prey on children sexually," school officials are telling the parents of the children in their care. "And we'd like you to help us do it." Read more
An army of energized, motivated readers has pored over more than 30,000 of Hillary Clinton's emails -- 55,000 pages of everything she sent or received as Secretary of State from 2009 through 2013. Those emails were scrutinized by journalists, opposition-research tricksters, Fox News interns, dark-money PACs, and squadrons of hostile lawyers. What they found will shock you. Read more
That one time Muhammad Ali met with Billy Graham demonstrates, yet again, the huge change in white evangelicalism as it shifted from Billy Graham mode into Franklin Graham mode. And it reminds us of how disastrously awful that change has been. Plus: Franklin loses a fight with Bella Abzug; Elihu as proto-Calvinist; and a literal re-enactment of Matthew 12:11. Read more
After today’s primary elections in several states, including big-delegate events in California and New Jersey, we should have a clearer picture of the national race. More importantly, we can begin recovering from the primaryitis that’s prompted so much intramural nastiness over the past year or so. (I recommend a couple of prairie oysters, bed rest, and collectively remembering that the Republican nominee is Donald freaking Trump.) The first time I was old enough to vote in a presidential primary was... Read more
My imaginary backstory for the character of Loretta is elaborate, fanciful, and largely unsupported by the text of this story. But it's still more credible than the official version of the character, which is too inconsistent and contradictory to make any sense. We're forced to read between the lines to find and flesh-out "meta-Loretta." And she turns out to be pretty cool. Read more
Someone left a gospel tract on a shelf at the Big Box store. This was, among other things, an attempted gesture of concern for the eternal fate of the untold millions our friend believes are damned for eternity. I appreciate that, and I'm grateful for that concern. But I also have questions. Read more
I doubt L&J would go so far as to agree with me about evangelism being a form of hospitality, but here at least they seem to agree that evangelism ought not to be blatantly inhospitable. They seem to recognize, at least briefly, that the Great Commission and the obligation to spread the gospel do not require us to offend and scare off those around us, and that treating others decently doesn't mean you're "ashamed of the gospel." Read more
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