"If the gospel isn’t good news to the poor, it isn’t gospel." Half of why the clobber texts don't pack a punch. Rights for us should lead to rights for all. Christian schools aren't always proud of their most impressive alumni. "Perpetrators of violence lose their humanity. So do victims." Read more
Making Light has got one of the best comment sections on the Internet. This is a comment section that makes me cheer every time someone posts an open thread. This is a place where I've seen people ad-libbing full sonnets. Very smart and very friendly don't always go together, but they do in the Making Light community. And that's a function, I think, of the character of the folks who host that community and that long-running conversation. Read more
The motto of Media, Pennsylvania, is "Everybody's Hometown." It was my hometown, too, for more than a dozen years, and it was a terrific place to live. And in 1971, it was the scene of a remarkable piece of American history that I never heard about in all my years living there. Read more
"Listen! The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter." Read more
Someone actually notices that there are a bunch of verses before and after that one clobber-text in Romans 1. Clunkers for cash and my-kid-is-in-college cars. Kids today with their rock and their roll. Souper Bowl of Caring is a bad pun, but a good first step. Ian Welsh and Rebecca Solnit describe two antithetical views of the long run. Read more
I may have mentioned this once or twice before, but I'm a huge fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And Firefly. And Dr. Horrible. And I thought Cabin in the Woods was terrific. So, yes, I read Whedonesque -- an obsessive, frequently updated blog covering all things Joss Whedon. Read more
The "Duck Dynasty" affair was a test for the Christian church -- an incredibly easy test. And the white evangelical church in America failed that test. Completely, utterly failed. The overwhelming majority of white evangelicals did not respond as pastors and they did not respond as prophets. They responded as jerks. Read more
Last week brought us two separate stories involving extraterrestrial aliens and the Canadian military. Coincidence? It would be irresponsible not to speculate. Read more
Subsidiarity for parents. If insurance companies liked fleecing their customers, they won't be allowed to keep them. Consumer Finance Protection Bureau continues protecting the finances of consumers. Tyndale Press finds novel new use for the adjective "biblical." Catholic Church wasn't opposed to insurance for contraception until the GOP instructed them to be opposed to it. Read more
To boldly endorse queer theology in the church takes courage. To patiently explain such theology takes wisdom. Joseph N. Goh is doing both of those things -- in Malaysia. Read more
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