Leo Tolstoy, David Shelton, Sarah Moon and Nelson Mandela offer insights on the fear and the failure of imagination that keep the powerful from listening to the powerless, and thus from accepting that the first and foremost thing they need to do is stop punching people in the face, stop stomping on their feet, and get off their backs. Read more
Christianity Today finds a hip-sounding euphemism for the wrong side of history. Christian leaders need good answers and good relationships. A request for a better quality of trolls, thank you. Andy Kaufman's America. The new perspective in perspective. Farewell to a bastard beloved by God. Read more
Apparent-age creationists like Mr. Caruthers think of God as a larger version of those magical monks, and they think of all of us, and indeed of the entire universe, as a magical, old-seeming young thing, like Dawn Summers. Read more
Some mid-week links, with an all-star cast including Fred Rogers, Jesus, Andy Warhol, Albert Camus, Ayn Rand, John Calvin, Pope John Paul II, Stan Rogers and Alfred Hitchcock. Read more
Lord Harries of Pentregarth (a real person and not a "Game of Thrones" character, I double-checked) on the history of marriage; Brittney Cooper on hearing the N-word on the Fourth of July; Bryan Curtis profiles Mike Cervenak, who is not a prospect; Ida B. Wells on putting the feelings of the privileged above the bodies of the oppressed; and Oklahoma state Rep. Doug Cox on his party and abortion legislation. Read more
Manufacturing doubt -- from cigarettes to climate change. Shopping for a better world, "one small change" at a time. Jeans should be made by people who get paid (and they shouldn't have a lump of seams right under your business). Hooray for actuaries! Hooray for actuaries, again! Surely personal profit has nothing to do with Rick Perry's support for a law that would enrich his family. The white theology of white evangelicals. Read more
Al Mohler is so obsessed with this notion of a grand scheme and a gay agenda that he fails to appreciate why a greater number of "mainstream" heterosexual folks seem to have become more accepting of their homosexual neighbors: They've gotten to know some of those neighbors (sons/daughters/aunts/uncles/coworkers/friends) as people. Read more
Spider-Man in London. The White House does not and cannot make a list of "hate groups." Religious right finds its ideal of moral leadership -- in Vladimir Putin. R'lyeh in Galilee. Unicorns, satyrs and the Exodus. Omid Safi on North Carolina's war on women, Muslims and democracy. Read more
All that work — weeks of literally sifting through garbage, of wining and dining old political or business rivals — all for nothing. Read more
To be honest, in my case, it's not always accurate. I often look for any chance I can find to escape from people like those Beck describes, to avoid having to listen to their stories, which tend to be frustratingly long and time-consuming, and I haven't got a lot of time to spare. I have other things I have to do -- important things, things that matter, and ... Uh-oh. Read more
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