Old Man Potter collects that $3.3 billion in interest every year and only spends part of it on his household staff, limousine maintenance, imported cigars, etc. The rest of it just sits there in giant piles that Potter sometimes swims through Scrooge-McDuck-style, but otherwise doesn't put to any productive use. Read more
Luke 11:11-13: "Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" Read more
"Witnessing that terror and hopeless fear, seeing the suffering that it brought, I stopped thinking of his 'Bible prophecy' obsession as a kooky, but mostly harmless set of beliefs. I began to realize that it was a framework that burdened its followers with the inevitability of disappointment, false hope, denial and an inconsolable fear. Its adherents were its victims. There were other victims, too, but its main damage was wrought in the lives of those who most believed it." Read more
"Like many people who blindly support[ed] this war -- including perhaps many in the White House and the Pentagon -- the writer is desperate for his life to have some greater meaning or purpose than it apparently does. He hasn't quite managed to stare into the abyss, but he's taken a quick glance in its direction and seen something deep and dark and frightening that he doesn't quite know how to deal with." Read more
Brian McLaren shares a confession, and a personal testimony, about the pernicious and pervasive temptation to bear false witness against one's neighbors. Specifically, he addresses the widespread convention among white evangelicals -- so widespread it's an expectation, almost a requirement -- that says it is somehow acceptable, and not vicious, to bear false witness against mainline Protestants. Read more
In Chapter 3, the authors destroyed the city of Chicago. Here we are, opening Chapter 8 with Rayford Steele "trying to figure a way to get back to Chicago by Sunday." That's not merely a continuity error. That's a rejection of the entire principle of continuity. Read more
Does your denomination regard marriage as a sacrament? If so, Congratulations! You support marriage equality! Or does your denomination regard marriage as an "ordinance"? If so, Congratulations! You support marriage equality! Read more
"I am a democrat because I believe that no man or group of men is good enough to be trusted with uncontrolled power over others. And the higher the pretensions of such power, the more dangerous I think it both to rulers and to the subjects. Hence Theocracy is the worst of all governments. If we must have a tyrant a robber barron is far better than an inquisitor. ..." Read more
"None of this stuff is really about morality or religion or dogma or big fancy questions about life after death. ..." Read more
Warren Buffett on the shortcomings of gold; Adam Smith on the importance of paying high wages; Alisa Harris on the hatchet jobs written falsely accusing Kathryn Joyce of writing a hatchet job; the Rev. Phil Jackson on gun violence; and Steve Benen on Meals on Wheels, cancer treatment, Head Start and other things Congress doesn't care about at all. Read more
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