Jae Chong plays Radiohead, plus some weekend links, including: Punk rock prophets, polling for "I don't care," please don't rinse that chicken, peak water, Blessed are the Tricksters, who wrote the Bible?, bursting from the bubble, 380 years for pears, the Emperor of San Francisco, and some really tough gerbils. Read more
A scientific explanation of my Ouija Board Story: Chevreul's Pendulum. Leeds man beats telemarketers at their own game. Satanic Panic victims still in prison. Which do you think is more accurate: Drunk History's version of Mary Dyer? Or Jerry Jenkins' new novel on the life of Paul? A groovy birthday celebration for the late James Coburn. Read more
Whether they describe America as Babylon or as the New Jerusalem seems to depend on how you phrase the question. Ask them if America is "good" and you'll get an uncritically patriotic affirmative. Ask them if America is "moral" and you'll get a fire and brimstone warning of the wrath to come. Read more
Here in Nicolae, for the authors, the presence of the Temple is meaningless except as some lights in the background behind the Western Wall. For the authors, the rebuilt Temple means nothing. It changes nothing. That is simply impossible. And it renders everything else in this chapter impossible as well. Buck Williams is in Jerusalem, and yet it is a kind of Jerusalem that would be unchanged by the rebuilding of the Temple -- which is to say it is not Jerusalem. It is nothing at all like Jerusalem. Read more
To supplement our ongoing tour through the World's Worst Books, I'm taking some time on Fridays to remember what the book of Revelation, and other apocalyptic literature in the Bible, is really all about. This week's reminder comes from Rachel Held Evans in her first book, "Evolving in Monkey Town." Read more
Liberals want full employment, conservatives want to punish the unemployed. Matthew Hagee says Baptists are going to Hell. Joss Whedon and "that thing in 'Temple of Doom' where they revisit the shooting trick." Stanley Hauerwas (and others) on Syria. Conservatives do not understand what consent means or why it matters. Happy Birthday Lewis Black. Read more
"My heart went out to her. No wonder she had been so nervous. She must have to ask this of everyone, absolutely everyone, she meets. That is Christian witness. It makes sense, given its premises. I wanted to make her as happy as possible, reward her courage, and run." Read more
For these folks, men's authority over women and women's submission to that authority is a central, essential keystone to their whole understanding of Christianity. Take it away and everything falls apart. Read more
Raleigh police crack down on charity, justice. What to do with "kind of slimy" theologians. Family Research Council rewrites Satan's Big Three threats to godandamerica. Newspaper responds to police criticism of sensationalistic Satanic-panic fearmongering with more sensationalistic Satanic-panic fearmongering. Republican Senate candidate Steve Lonegan is sick of people talking about single mothers. A new system for naming hurricanes. Read more
Mrs. Mog believed that we were capable of being better, of being good, of being great. And because she believed it, she made us believe it too. She made us want to be better, good, great. We wanted to become the people she seemed to see when she looked at us, and thanks to her we believed we could. Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In