Leftover links and observations from the week that was, including: the Geico pig vs. the Lucky Tiger; back to school; surveys I'd like to see; the quest for the Golden Poo; why 2 Timothy 3:16 doesn't convince people to believe 2 Timothy 3:16; cleaning up brownfields; what it means to be almost a pacifist; a life, in boxes; and why the highest paid outfielder for my favorite team is a 50-year-old man who hasn't played in more than a decade. Read more
Hosea 11:1-11: "My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender. I will not execute my fierce anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim; for I am God and no mortal, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath." Read more
Note that the abortion rate among evangelical Christians is indistinguishable from the abortion rate of the rest of the population. That may tell us more about likely actual voting behavior than any issue-oriented polling does. Read more
Evangelism is an invitation, not an imposition. It is a form of hospitality. Hospitality never involves ganging up on the outsider and bloodying their nose. (Violently ganging up on the outsider is, in fact, what got Sodom and Gomorrah in so much trouble.) Read more
Taken by itself, the beginning of Chapter 7 is almost bearable. Unfortunately, though, we can't take this passage entirely by itself. Chapter 7 follows the previous six chapters, and those were pretty eventful -- at least in terms of body count. Read more
It's the Friday music game -- I'll show you mine and you show me yours. Today it's more songs with names in the title, names starting with D or E this week, including: Danny, Desmond, Don Juan, Earl, Ed, Eddie, Eileen, Eleanor, Eli, Elie, Elliot, Elly, Emily, Emma, Eugene, Evangeline and Evelyn. Read more
Contrast the sports section with the alleged "hard" news sections of the newspaper. Here the facts are rarely stated as plainly or as confidently as "Texas Tech 71, Gonzaga 69." Instead, all claims are treated as equally valid by virtue of the fact that someone is claiming them. News reporters consider it their responsibility to quote these claims accurately, not to evaluate them against any notion of knowable reality or anything as seemingly objective as a scoreboard. Read more
"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
Select your answer to see how you score.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In