Most Americans don't do things way before the deadline. Louisiana -- where church isn't boring. Flood stories and fairy stories. When are we gonna get a movie of "The Man Who Was Thursday"? A suggestion for "repeal and replace." Read more
Most Americans don't do things way before the deadline. Louisiana -- where church isn't boring. Flood stories and fairy stories. When are we gonna get a movie of "The Man Who Was Thursday"? A suggestion for "repeal and replace." Read more
If you want to understand the ongoing "battle for the Bible," then you need to understand this: The words people use to describe the Bible are often the clearest indication of how those people think of themselves. Listen carefully to the adjectives they use and the attributes they ascribe to the Bible. These are often words that the speaker longs to be associated with. Read more
Brittney Cooper is not pleased with the call for her to simmer down and keep things polite and civil so that we can all just get along. Neither is Bruce Garrett and neither is Eric Waggoner. Robert Boston notes that, yes, they are coming for your birth control. Read more
It says something about the sorry state of biblical understanding among biblical “inerrantists” that we were left to learn this from Gary Gygax rather than from Galatians, Isaiah, Amos or the Gospels. But once we learned it — once we came to see the possibility of it — then the whole ideology we’d been taught came into question. Read more
Eric Reitan says reluctant bigotry doesn't exempt us from responsibility for our choices. The War on Lent. Crash blossoms and whales from space. A reminder that Big Brother was a young-Earth creationist. Charity, injustice and an Amazon gift registry. A song request for Toby Keith. Read more
I've read quite a bit of speculation as to who it is who will ultimately "win" the Game of Thrones -- who will finally claim the Iron Throne. That prize has so far been won mainly by those who thought it was the Most Important Thing, which tends to be true of imperial thrones and the people who manage to sit on them. But it seems to me that Martin knows better. I don't think he believes that prize is the Most Important Thing and I don't think he's telling us the kind of story in which it represents the ultimate reward. Read more
"Equality, Innovation, Honesty and Advancement are all words we choose from a list." Rep. Randy Weber is working hard to put Texas' 14th Congressional District under water. The creepy, creepy men who run a Virginia Christian school. Bryan Fischer doesn't seem to have ever seen "Modern Family." An odd measure of progress. A reminder that progress is never "inevitable." A lovely example of what progress looks like. Read more
Young-Earth creationism involves more phlebotinum than any science fiction or fantasy epic ever written. And it functions exactly the same. It is a magical talisman made of Handwavium, a bit of techno-babble and mumbo jumbo tossed forth to induce the audience to continue suspending disbelief so that they can continue to enjoy an impossible story. Read more
Look, for example, at that really bright star ... no, not that one. That's not a star, that's Venus. The other really bright one -- look, see the big bow tie? OK, see those three stars in a row across the middle of the bowtie? Draw a line through those and keep going down and to the left to that really bright star. That one, yes, good. That's Sirius, and that bluish light you're looking at is 8.6 years old. You're looking back in time. You're seeing what Sirius looked like back when Countrywide was still a hot stock. Read more
We’re sad because we don’t want Jaime to be in Hell. He was a good guy. Every portrayal of him in this story was positive. He was loyal, faithful, reliable and brave. Those are good qualities and it seems wrong that someone who displayed such good qualities should be punished — punished absolutely with the same absolute punishment that awaits Nicolae and Stonagal and Fortunato and every other despicable villain in this story. Read more
Select your answer to see how you score.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In