So, yeah, the book's descriptions of Heaven and angels and the afterlife were all just made up. No kidding. Death remains "The undiscovered country, from whose bourn / No traveller returns," and it puzzles the will that anyone believed -- or was willing to publish -- a tall-tale claiming otherwise. Read more
The odd Hulk out, misandrist hymns, and Just-so Stories about snakes and zebras. Plus: Bryan Fischer says he is not a monotheist, and the one thing about which the religious right is not completely wrong. Read more
A Cleveland cop is described as a "serial abuser of women." That's not a problem in Arkansas, where undercover cops serially abuse women before arresting them for prostitution -- while good cops/decent humans who complain about that wind up getting fired. A Las Vegas cop calls for a "race war" with his tribe -- "American, Christian, White, Heterosexual" -- taking on all comers. And San Antonio briefly suspends three cops, not for beating a suspect, but for beating the wrong suspect. Read more
You don't even have to be able to carry a tune, just step up, free your inner Biz Markie, and get things started. The moment doesn't have to be beautiful in a technical, artistic sense. It just has to be fun. That's all the "message" that this needs to convey. It reminds us that fun is an option. Fun is possible. And it's stronger than hate because it's truer than hate. Read more
"We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come," the creed says, but Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins and the rest of the Christians caught up in the Rapture cult don't want to die, so they're holding out for a loophole. They look for the resurrection of the living. Read more
Tough competition at the Razzies this year -- can't everybody lose? Awful people do an awful thing at an awful church in Colorado. "Erotic Liberty" still giggle-inducing as a right-wing buzzword. An academic analysis of disposition theory as a tool for understanding the sociopolitical impact of an unfunny, racist puppet. Read more
The hallmark of white evangelical discipleship is feigned outrage. Evangelicalism in America takes its cue from the Catholic rite of baptism: "Do you renounce Satan and all his works?" We do. We just have no idea what all Satan's works might look like. So we make stuff up and then renounce that. Read more
Let me apologize for missing today's Left Behind post, and for the following, wherein I use the words "erotic" and "Al Mohler" in the same sentence. Some things I like: "Agent Carter," Dianna E. Anderson's new book, graupel. Plus, what historical movies and biopics can teach us about reading the Bible. Read more
But when it comes to the moral implications of interpretive pluralism, Richard Beck and Chaplain Mike are in the minority within evangelicalism. The more common, dominant "moral implication" derived from the fact of interpretive pluralism is this: Some people must be right and everyone else must be wrong. Therefore, don't be wrong. Read more
First, let’s be clear — this is a single study from a single location with a tiny sample size. I mention this not as a criticism of the study, but because it’s something I’ve been repeating over and over to try to reassure myself that maybe the world isn’t as horrible as this study seems to suggest. So keep in mind that these are, at most, initial findings. Before we can draw any solid conclusions, the awful results here will... Read more
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