"Beware of these scamsters," says Pat Robertson. "Especially scamsters in religious garb, quoting the Bible. I mean, run from them." Yes, the Rev. Marian Gordon "Pat" Robertson -- CEO of the Christian Broadcasting Network, host of The 700 Club, peddler of dubious "sentergistic" health shakes, second-place finisher in the 1988 Republican caucuses in Iowa, deflector of hurricanes and thrift-store exorcist -- really said that. Read more
What we earlier saw with Sen. Mark Kirk is still true for Sen. Rob Portman. It is good to see his perspective change due to "direct personal relevance," but it would be better if he could learn to expand his perspective even without it. That's the next necessary step, the next epiphany awaiting these senators. How can we encourage that next step? Read more
I've sometimes characterized much of the "Teavangelical" right-wing of America as people caught up in a delusional fantasy -- and elaborate make-believe role-playing game in which they pretend to be heroic champions battling against Satanic baby-killers, Satanazis, and other imaginary monsters. Some have suggested I'm exaggerating, but I'm not the one who made this video. Read more
Google is "retiring" Google Reader on July 1. We have until then to transfer our RSS subscriptions "to another product." But part of the reason I've been relying so much on Reader is that I haven't found another product that does what I've come to depend on Reader doing. So what's next? Read more
Some vintage Clash and some Wednesday morning links, including: most people are deviant; getting it right; the bad theology of Christian Mingle; the parable of the dogmatic young theologian; why quoting Leviticus may not be terribly persuasive; Keep it simple, Whitney; and a Victorian novel involving the exploits of Messrs. Bunk and McNulty of Scotland Yard. Read more
March 20, 2003: "CNN is appalling. Wolf Blitzer is making his 'O face.' He's covering this war like it's Bobby Thompson's home run. He's wound up like a little kid on Christmas morning." Read more
William deBuys says Phoenix "stands squarely in the crosshairs of climate change;" Rachel Barenblatt and Chauncey DeVega discuss slavery -- as seen from Passover and as seen from CPAC; Dan Wetzel on Steubenville and the arrogance of rape culture; and Joan Chittister on the weariness of waiting for a better pope. Read more
Melissa Rogers is Baptist in the Roger Williams sense of the word, and I agree with the Baptist Joint Committee, the ACLU, the Interfaith Alliance, Americans United, the American Humanist Association, the Anti-Defamation League, Mark Silk, John Fea, Hemant Mehta, Joel Hunter and David Saperstein that Rogers is an excellent choice to direct the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Read more
Worse than that, though, is what these tribal trustees are doing when it comes to LGBT people. They're not treated as people at all -- just as short-hand symbols who provide a convenient test. For the tribal gatekeepers, LGBT people do not matter as people. They do not even exist as people, but only as a useful gauge of any given defendant's beliefs about the "authority of the Bible." Read more
Rob Bell and Hillary Clinton take sides; reinventing Promise Keepers; biblical special effects; a new Salem witch hunt; someone really said "This is a government institution, not a secular institution;" Lindsey Graham mistakes "Birth of a Nation" for CNN; and CPAC activists want to see more Republican outreach to white people. Read more
Select your answer to see how you score.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In