This is President Obama's fifth Easter statement. It's a routine pronouncement of the sort that presidents make on various religious holidays. But during the Obama administration there's been a pattern of religious right groups pretending that this president never makes such statements -- or that he only makes them in recognition of non-Christian holidays. These religious-right groups, in other words, lie. Read more
(originally posted in 2010) Nothing worth doing is completed in our lifetime; therefore, we are saved by hope. Nothing true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore, we are saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore, we are saved by love. – Reinhold Niebuhr This is my favorite day in Holy Week, this Saturday, this unrestful Sabbath, my favorite day in the whole of the liturgical calendar.... Read more
Conveniently, there’s a simple three-step test to find out if inflation worries are founded or unfounded. Step 1: March into your boss’ office. Don’t bother making an appointment, just open the door, walk in and tell him to listen up because you’re in charge here. ... Read more
This is a pattern in these books. We're told that Buck Williams is a master journalist, but since the authors couldn't be bothered to learn what good journalism looks like, we're shown that Buck is a clumsy hack ("like saying the Great Wall of China is long"). We're told that Nicolae is a great orator, but since the authors couldn't be bothered to learn what constitutes good oratory, we're shown that Nicolae is a droning bore ("Afghanistan, Albania ..."). Read more
It's the Friday music game -- I'll show you mine and you show me yours. This week it's more songs with names in the title, including Frank, Gabi, Gavin, Georgia, Gwyneth, Hank, Hannah, Happy, Harry, Helena, Hercules and Irene. Read more
The proprietor noted that Brooks' parents still come in once in a while, just as they did at the store's old Ardmore location before it moved to Wayne. "Nice people," he noted. "Teachers." It seems odd that David Brooks would cite a store his parents have shopped in for decades as evidence of a new trend. Read more
The one thing white evangelicals had been sure of was that they were morally superior. Losing any given battle in the culture war was tolerable because they could, at least, reassure themselves that they had been fighting for goodness and truth and righteousness. But when it comes to discrimination against LGBT people, not only are they losing, but their defeat is celebrated as a triumph for goodness and truth and righteousness. They're slowly beginning to realize that they are not the Good Guys in this story. Read more
Here I don't want to wade into that constitutional debate. Or into some abstract, meta-level theological debate. Here I want to just highlight a couple of bold posts from yesterday that remind the rest of us that this is not primarily about a "debate" -- it's about people. And it is wrong to treat people as something other than people. It is wrong to reduce people to "controversial issues." Read more
Those reciting and appealing to the narrative about ever-increasing violence and "things getting more worse" don't really care much whether or not this narrative is technically true. The point of the narrative is to sell you a solution to the supposed crisis — and it matters little to them whether the crisis is actual or fictional, as long as you perceive the idea of the crisis you will be receptive to the solution they're selling. Read more
I think the Apostle Paul would be surprised -- and rather angry -- to learn that later Christians were attempting to twist Romans 5 into a statement about biology, but that is what John Piper is saying we must do. Piper is saying that Romans teaches that nothing died before humans sinned. Every mayfly, every fruit fly, every microscopic organism, every creature and every cell of every creature, he says, was immortal until humankind sinned. Biology does not work that way. Read more
Select your answer to see how you score.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In