Tricks and truth: Play at debate, but avoid the shut-eye

Last updated on: July 17, 2013 at 2:08 pm By Fred Clark

"Debate" invites the audience -- and even more so the performers themselves -- to regard it as something more than simply the skillful execution of tricks. The audience is asked to believe that this prestidigitation is meaningful, that it reveals truth. And, even worse, it asks the performers themselves to believe that. It convinces them to be tricked by their own trickery. These skilled illusionists become delusionists, infected by the old shut-eye. They are tempted to believe their own patter and wind up convincing themselves that the parlor trick of debate has something to do with the open-minded, single-minded pursuit of truth. Read more

7 things @ 11 o’clock (7.17)

Last updated on: July 16, 2013 at 8:46 pm By Fred Clark

A politician's lies can tell us something about the trajectory of the debate. Lifestyles of the not-rich and not-famous. The senator who represents me isn't from my state. The gatekeeper epistemology of white evangelicals. Judge rejects opinions that "lack scientific support, tend to be based on unsubstantiated concerns and are generally at odds with solid medical evidence." A decent song with indecent theology. Hail Volturnus! Read more

6 years ago: Origins of the God Gap

Last updated on: July 13, 2013 at 1:25 pm By Fred Clark

Evangelicalism’s otherworldly focus is a theological adaptation that arose to accommodate the awkwardly indefensible situation of white Christians “owning” Christian slaves. The largest single bloc of American evangelicals, the Southern Baptist Convention, was created in 1845 in defense of the principle that missionaries be allowed to own slaves. Read more

How frail a foundation, ye saints of the Lord

Last updated on: July 16, 2013 at 2:39 pm By Fred Clark

If Jesus is the basis for your faith, then your "approach to authority" and "the way in which you read the Bible" can be completely disassembled without you having to "kick your entire faith out the door." In fact, if Jesus is the center of your faith, then you're probably going to have to regularly and repeatedly "completely disassemble" your ideas about authority and the way in which you read the Bible. Your faith will require you to do that. Constantly. Read more

7 things @ 11 o’clock (7.16)

Last updated on: July 16, 2013 at 12:06 am By Fred Clark

Women you'd be wise not to mess with. The creeping anti-contraceptionism of white evangelicals continues creeping along. Eric Metaxas judged a Top-10 hottie by former "Love Boat" guest star. Honest mistakes versus evil lies sold by swindlers. Manufactured home life on two different continents. Dirty-minded censors see "pornography" everywhere. Walmart boasts of paying $12.40/hour, but says paying $12.50 would put it out of business. Read more

McDonald’s own McBudget shows workers underpaid

Last updated on: July 16, 2013 at 10:25 am By Fred Clark

Remember, this budget was designed for McDonald's employees -- designed by people who ought to know some such employees, or at least know where to find them. So the fact that McPay isn't enough to cover the rent anywhere in America shouldn't have been a mystery. Read more

9 years ago: The Abominable Shellfish: Or Why Some Christians hate gays but love bacon

Last updated on: July 13, 2013 at 1:23 pm By Fred Clark

n our fondness for Easter ham, we Christians have fervently clung to the surface-level meaning of Peter's vision. But we haven't been as enthusiastic about embracing the larger, more important lesson God was teaching him there on the rooftop. Read more

Smart people saying smart things

Last updated on: July 15, 2013 at 10:54 pm By Fred Clark

Registered Runaway on Jesus and the marginalized; Mike Lux on dancing in the streets; Mary Elizabeth Williams on the right to speak on behalf of "our children;" Angela Bonavoglia dismantles the claim that denying women workers the health coverage they've earned is a matter of "religious liberty;" and William Lindsey asks what's left after a faith community purges "its thinkers, its poets, its artists." Read more

7 things @ 1 o’clock (7.15)

Last updated on: July 15, 2013 at 12:47 pm By Fred Clark

How to dance on the ceiling. Farewell to Tunch. Vatican copyright lawyers want to make sure no one reads encyclicals or the Catechism. Republican lawmakers and accurate sex education. A Bad Jackie story from Virginia illustrates why it will always be the season of the witch. The apocalypse of Johnny Cash. Read more

5 years ago: Lemon-aid

Last updated on: July 13, 2013 at 1:21 pm By Fred Clark

Wikipedia provides a nice summary of the three-part Lemon Test: 1. The government’s action must have a secular legislative purpose; 2. The government’s action must not have the primary effect of either advancing or inhibiting religion; 3. The government’s action must not result in an “excessive government entanglement” with religion. Read more