It is simply wrong -- unjust, unfair, uncouth, inhospitable, immoral, sinful -- to say to "young boys who have done nothing wrong ... 'You're not welcome here.'" And that's exactly what the Boy Scouts' anti-gay policy said to countless young boys for many years. Read more
Twelve more reasons to celebrate, including: Marriage equality in France and Minnesota; cornstarch is better than cyanide; music lessons replace metal detectors; we Americans are murdering one another a lot less this year; tiny foxes make a big recovery; a place called Grace Church lives up to its name; and Sarah Moon brings her blog to Patheos. Read more
I'm happy to discover that this Hudson Taylor was, in fact, named after that Hudson Taylor. The founder of Athlete Ally is, in fact, the great-great-great grandson of the pioneering missionary. Read more
New Southern Baptist "ethics" spokesman Russell Moore is every bit the culture warrior that Richard Land has been, but he's a full generation younger. The difference is a bit like the contrast between Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan -- similar views substantively, but the younger man uses Twitter and lacks the older man's palpable discomfort at the presence of others who are not part of the old-white-guy club. Read more
Stephen Fincher seems to be confused about several things. He's confused about how food stamps work, who they help, and why that help is needed. And he's terribly, terribly confused about the context and the meaning of this passage from 2 Thessalonians and how it has been understood by centuries of Christian teaching. Read more
Penelope Garcia is good and kind and honest and she would only ever use her otherwise-unaccountable and unchecked power to protect the innocent and to punish the guilty. That is essentially the same argument being offered to defend the otherwise-unaccountable and unchecked power of the NSA. And it's a lousy argument. A presumption of benevolence is never a sufficient check on power. Read more
So we've learned that the government now has access to a lot of the data that big corporations have been collecting for many years. Let's step back for a moment from the recent revelations about the government's access to this data and consider some of what the private sector has been collecting about us, and what they've been unable to do with it. Read more
The same old story from two more manufactured-home neighborhoods; lecturing the poor while cutting food stamps and Meals on Wheels; "deficit reduction" turns out to be job-reduction for 1.5 million Americans; taxpayers subsidize low wages at Walmart; Ben Bernanke reminds lucky rich kids that they're lucky. Read more
When politicians are working this hard to demonize some group, when they’re this desperately intent on distracting you with fear, it always, always, always means they’re up to something else they hope to distract you from. Read more
Isaiah 30:18-22 Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him. Truly, O people in Zion, inhabitants of Jerusalem, you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when he hears it, he will answer you. Though the Lord may give you the bread of adversity... Read more
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