We aren't told the specifics of the awful thing or things that Jeff did. He may have cheated. Or drank. Or maybe he hit her. Perhaps all three. For LaHaye and Jenkins, it really doesn't matter what he did, all that matters is Sharon's duty as a good, godly wife to forgive him and preserve their marriage no matter what. Read more
"Those who say, 'I love God,' and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen." Read more
For Scott Walker, et. al., the word "abortion" refers to evil baby-killing performed on behalf of irresponsible sluts for unknown -- but presumably evil and indefensible -- reasons. The termination of a pregnancy by good, white, Christian people may be the same procedure, but since they're good, non-slutty people, they get to call it something else. Read more
Considering the ever-changing nature of gas prices, most of us would barely notice and quickly forget about a much-needed update in the gas tax. But we'll definitely notice what happens to our roads, bridges and tunnels without it. Plus: Adoption and the human condition, get ready to make a whole bunch of wishes, Burger King vs. the Book of Kells, and southpaw kangaroos. Read more
Yolanda Pierce on the "cauldron of proslavery ideology" that shaped American theology. LBJ on the Voting Rights Act, 50 years before John Roberts killed it. John Oliver on sex education. Robert Chao Romero on "Montesinos and the Birth of Brown Theology." And Tina Dupuy on guns and people who want to be "pro-life." Read more
A man known for boorish behavior and saying appalling things demonstrates boorish behavior and says appalling things, and is thus criticized by the people who have long loved him for his boorish behavior and his enthusiasm for saying appalling things. OK, then. Plus: More mugshots, the ghost at our beach house, how tides work, Jonah-blogging, and why church youth groups are not masters of their own domain. Read more
"As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the earth beside the living creatures, one for each of the four of them. As for the appearance of the wheels and their construction: their appearance was like the gleaming of beryl; and the four had the same form, their construction being something like a wheel within a wheel." Read more
Everything about this scheme was poorly thought-out and then poorly executed -- it's like the plot of a darkly humorous Cohen brothers movie. Particularly hilarious is Courser and Gamrat's weird certainty that faking a gay prostitution scandal would surely eclipse concern about their plain-vanilla adultery. They seem to imagine that everyone views the world the same way they do -- imagining that everyone thinks gay secks is the Worst Possible Thing Ever. Read more
Max Ehrenfreund on Kansas' efforts to kick the poors. Ta-Nehisi Coates on "Color-Blind Policy, Color-Conscious Morality." Randall Kennedy on "The Civil Rights Movement and the Politics of Memory." Jill Lepore on arguments from privacy and arguments from equality. And Sr. Joan Chittister on "pro-life" vs. pro-birth. Read more
Originally posted May 6, 2005. Left Behind, pp. 89-96 The good news: Buck Williams is finally out of the men’s room stall. The bad news: He spends the next five pages in a phone booth. I recently came across Kurt Vonnegut’s “Eight rules for writing fiction.” It’s a good list, the value of which becomes clearer when applied to a book like Left Behind, in which each of these eight rules is repeatedly, egregiously violated. LaHaye and Jenkins seem to have misconstrued Rule... Read more
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