We're turning the page after a sad New Year's Eve for our family. Plus: Shouldn't retailers be happy when tens of millions of their customers get a raise? Why voters prefer good fans of the wrong teams over bad fans of the right ones. And why it's not safe to share a home with American police officers. Read more
I don't think Warren Buffett's philanthropy can atone for the exploitation of poor and minority families he's enriching himself with through the despicable practices of Clayton Homes. Plus: Soul-less Neaderthals and the Nephilim; pulling ourselves together; my failure to make the Worst Christian Book Covers list; and dancing to Donald Trump's nightmare. Read more
Ed Dobson was a lieutenant in Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority and helped to create the religious right. The Michigan pastor also worked with ACT UP to find ways that his fundamentalist mega-church could help people suffering from AIDS. Read more
"In denouncing the Republican Party this week, Graham made a pitch for the prayer rallies he will hold in every state next year, starting in Iowa in January shortly before the crucial first presidential primary." That almost sounds like Franklin Graham is organizing for an independent run for president. Read more
"The Meredith was designed to haul cargo and only had accommodations for 12 passengers and a 47-person crew. On the afternoon of Dec. 22, in gale force winds and swirling snow, the crew began to load the refugees into the cargo holds using makeshift booms and gangplanks. ... It took nearly 24 hours, but the crew somehow managed to fit 14,000 refugees within the ship's five cargo holds." Read more
However they got there, and whatever it is they think they mean, this is a Very Bad thing, Nothing good has ever come from Christians asserting that they and Jews worship different gods. This is an ideology that has fueled centuries of oppression, injustice and bloodshed -- including the monstrous genocide of the 20th century. This notion also has far-reaching implications for Christians themselves, including the basic assertion that God is untrustworthy. Read more
"When the song of the angels is stilled, when the star in the sky is gone, when the kings and princes are home, when the shepherds are back with their flocks ..." Read more
Some Christmas traditions that shouldn't be forgotten, including Anne Lamott, the Pogues, David Sedaris, and Kenny Loggins. Plus Drew G.I. Hart reminding us that there's so very much more to the story than the "sweet baby Jesus [who] gives us warm fuzzy feelings." Read more
Mandy Patinkin wishes that Sen. Ted Cruz better understood Inigo Montoya. (I just wish he had listened to Vizzini.) Also: Five failed prophecies for 2015; the biblical prophets and the He-Man and She-Ra Christmas special; when language gets strangled to death. Read more
Wil Gafney on Wheaton's whitening of faith; Wheaton student Ellie Roth and alumnus Tobin Grant discuss the school's shame; Susan Campbell and Ivy George examine this fear-driven "orthodoxy;" and John Schmalzbauer provides more historical context. Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In