‘Liberal theology’ is not the opposite of political conservatives’ theology

Last updated on: July 17, 2014 at 5:24 pm By Fred Clark

Every once in a while, this needs to be said: "Liberal" politics and "liberal" theology are not the same thing. "Conservative" politics and "conservative" theology are not the same thing. Right-wing politics do not make one theologically "conservative" or orthodox. Left-wing politics do not make one theologically "liberal" or heterodox. The theological spectrum does not mirror the political spectrum for many, many reasons, the most important of which being that there is no such thing as the "theological spectrum." Read more

Al Mohler: Standing athwart Pentecost and yelling ‘Stop!’

Last updated on: July 16, 2014 at 6:00 pm By Fred Clark

Al Mohler's main problem is not that he's on the wrong side of history. His main problem is that he's on the wrong side of Pentecost. That is his entire career, his entire agenda and mission statement: Standing athwart Pentecost, yelling Stop. Read more

I don’t expect you to explain

Last updated on: July 16, 2014 at 1:46 pm By Fred Clark

• “In its majestic equality, the law forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, beg in the streets and steal loaves of bread.” (Anatole France, 1894) • Here’s a headline from Christianity Today: “Transgender Students Battle Christian Universities.” Here’s a more accurate headline for that story — and one you will never, ever see at Christianity Today: “Christian Universities Battle Transgender Students.” • Here’s everything you need to know about the current trajectory of white evangelicalism in America:... Read more

Free to good home(s): One ginormous ‘Bonfire’ list of blogs by Christian women

Last updated on: July 16, 2014 at 2:49 am By Fred Clark

OK, so, what happened was I made a list. And then, as sometimes happens, I got kind of carried away. See, this guy had published his list of The Top 200 Christian Blogs or some such, and it turned out to be, like, almost all men. And then when people asked him why he hadn’t included more women, he was all, like, “I would have, but there just aren’t any out there.” This seemed like one of those rare occasions... Read more

‘Apocalyptabuse’ and funny stories about death

Last updated on: July 15, 2014 at 11:09 pm By Fred Clark

Rapture ideology, I believe, is a product of anxiety about death. It's a way of coping with the fear of death by denying its inevitability, inventing a way that some special few of us will get to escape it. Read more

There’s a Tim LaHaye reader born every minute

Last updated on: September 10, 2014 at 12:37 am By Fred Clark

This is Tim LaHaye's umpteenth book of charts, graphs, timelines and checklists in which he purports to help readers of Revelation decipher the impenetrable mystery of what that book might possibly mean when its speaks cryptically of "the great city that rules over the kings of the earth." Read more

I see the skull beneath the skin

Last updated on: July 15, 2014 at 2:45 am By Fred Clark

Pacifists still have to pay for bullets, but they're allowed to discriminate against LGBT students. Profiles of two delusional nativists. Why some Christian colleges refuse to be trustworthy. Plus Johnny Cash proclaims woe unto the rich, Junia is a little less alone, dubious decor from Sears, and, oh, also too, the excerpt function on WordPress still isn't working on my front page. Read more

Dear Thomas Kidd: Bite me.

Last updated on: July 14, 2014 at 12:23 pm By Fred Clark

Oh my. I can hear the pearls being clutched from here. That’s not very “civil” is it? OK, let’s try this: Dear Thomas Kidd, With all due respect in re: your pronouncements regarding “The ‘Evangelicals’ Who Are Not Evangelicals,” You Are Henceforth Cordially Invited to Bite Me. Let’s not play games. There is nothing “civil” about the gatekeeper power games Kidd is playing. From the scare-quotes of his title on through, this is a nasty piece of work and anyone... Read more

If ‘evangelical morality’ harms others and can’t justify itself, is it ‘unfair’ to mention that it’s losing the argument?

Last updated on: July 14, 2014 at 9:30 am By Fred Clark

Evangelical morality is not losing the argument because it is insufficiently "progressive." Evangelical morality is losing the argument because it is insufficiently moral. Evangelical morality has demonstrated itself to be immoral -- to be a source of harm to real people. Those people -- rightly, justly, and understandably -- are demanding that this harm stop. "Evangelical morality" insists that this harm continue, but has thus far been unable to offer any reason why it should. Read more

Sunday favorites

Last updated on: April 30, 2014 at 3:19 pm By Fred Clark

"They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more; but they shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees, and no one shall make them afraid." Read more

Cast all your anxiety on him because he ____ for you.