The first Good Thing about the NAE's resolution against predatory lending is that it gives members of the white evangelical tribe permission to be against predatory lending. It tells them that this is an issue on which they are allowed to view government action and legal regulation favorably, and that this is an issue on which they are permitted to agree with liberals without risking demerits on their permanent record. Read more
"What's telling is that LaHaye and Jenkins can't seem to make a distinction between science and magic. When you're afraid to engage anything that might challenge your belief that the earth is only 10,000 years old, you don't end up reading a lot of science. This keeps you clueless enough about biology to think it's perfectly plausible that a few drops of Dr. Rosenzweig's Miracle Gro can turn sand into soil. And clueless enough about economics to think that agriculture would be more lucrative than Israel's existing high-tech industrial economy." Read more
No, no, no, the "pastors and apologists" say -- that violates the spirit of the story. It's about obedience, not epistemology. For the sake of the story, you must accept that you receive this command from God as an unambiguous revelation: You know with certainty it is a command from God. But that just restates the problem, it doesn't solve it. Obedience is always about epistemology. Read more
Religious traditions unite against autoplay video ads; terrorist puppies in Malaysia and terrorist marriage in Wyoming; dominionism is still not a liberal myth; and a study Bible that takes the scripture seriously. Read more
So, OK, two things: 1. Any preferences among these cover options? Or would the general consensus be "Ugh, none of the above"? and; 2. This would be a collection of the first couple years' worth of Left Behind posts, covering the first 200 pages of the first book. (At about 80,000 words I suspect it's actually longer than the first 200 pages of that book.) Anybody have a good sense of what a fair price would be for something like that? Read more
Greta Christina on "A Woman's Room Online;" Isabel Wilkerson on "the haunting symmetry of a death every three or four days;" The Church for All Sinners and Saints on, well, the church for all sinners and saints; Yvette Cantu Schneider on the death of the "ex-gay" movement; and Alastair Roberts on (white) "evangelical folk religion." Read more
The final chunk of Chapter 13 will be familiar to anyone who grew up watching the TV shows of Stephen J. Cannell. These pages offer gunfire, explosions, and a mad scramble across the tarmac fleeing Bad Guys with bad aim. It's almost like an episode of "The A-Team." The main difference, though -- and here's a phrase I never expected to write -- is that the writing was far, far better on "The A-Team." Read more
TGIT. Some links, including: "Real improvements in people's lives;" why it's perfectly legal and socially acceptable to steal $2,500 from a poor person who wants a nice sofa; the Friendly Atheist has a friendly chat with "The Commenter Who Always Seems to Disagree With What I Write;" and Pat Robertson warns of Africanized killer towels. Read more
I'm just saying that if you're a Big Box hardware chain and you're playing a 4-hour loop of music in your stores that includes two Indigo Girls songs, then one of those songs really ought to be "Hammer and Nail." That's all. I mean, duh. Read more
This bargain -- the exchange of phlebotinum for our willing suspension of disbelief -- is conducted by countless storytellers in the realm of science fiction, fantasy, horror, comic books, action movies, detective stories, etc. And this same bargain is made, regularly, between young-Earth creationists and the fans of that genre of speculative fiction. Young-Earth creationism is all about phlebotinum. Read more
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