“Hope has two beautiful daughters. Their names are Anger and Courage; anger at the way things are, and courage to see that they do not remain the way they are.” — attributed to St. Augustine Josh Barkey recently highlighted an intriguing quote from Bertrand Russell, warning readers to be suspicious of anger: If an opinion contrary to your own makes you angry, that is a sign that you are subconsciously aware of having no good reason for thinking as you... Read more
From Morgan Guyton: I could say a lot about this, but I don’t have the energy to muster more than a single question. If, as Wilson writes, it is the nature of a man to “penetrate, conquer, colonize, plant” and it is the nature of a woman to “receive, surrender, accept,” then was Jesus being a woman on the cross? Here’s Matthew Paul Turner: I find Douglas Wilson’s thoughts about “biblical marriage” to be vile, manipulative, and downright dangerous. There’s... Read more
What in the name of all that is holy is wrong with these people? Before we go on I should note that much of what follows could be triggering — because apparently in order to discuss something called “The Gospel Coalition,” we’re also going to need to discuss rape and rape culture and what these strange, cruel men refer to as sexual conquering in the name of their strange, cruel God. Because, sweet Jesus, these men have issues. The Gospel... Read more
Tweet from Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association: “New pill stops HIV virus. But won’t stop AIDS since caused by extensive inhalant drug use, not HIV.” So there it is. Bryan Fischer is an AIDS denier. The chief spokesman of the American Family Association is an AIDS denier. Do you need to know anything, anything at all, else about Bryan Fischer? No. Is there anything, anything at all, else that you could possibly learn about Bryan Fischer that would... Read more
There have been a host of excellent responses to what Ed Kilgore accurately calls “Ross Douthat’s latest bout of concern-trolling for liberal Christianity.” Kilgore was not impressed, writing: Instead of lecturing “liberal Christians” about our alleged lack of serious spirituality and advising us on how to put more posteriors in the pews and more money in the coffers, perhaps Ross Douthat should spend his time proctoring conservative Christians who attend churches he actually knows something about, and whose growing tendency... Read more
Let me follow up on one point in the previous post. Over the past, say, 60 years or so, America has become increasingly suburban. Those churches that rose to prominence in city centers have declined in prominence along with their cities, while suburban forms of church have grown along with the suburbs. Ross Douthat’s attempt to frame that development as a matter of “liberal vs. conservative” theologies isn’t quite wholly beside the point, but he elevates a corollary effect to... Read more
So Ross Douthat thinks the Episcopalians are doomed and that “liberal” Christianity in general is doomed. If you want to use up one of your few monthly no-paywall tokens at The New York Times, you can read it here: “Can Liberal Christianity Be Saved?” That headline, like Douthat’s theme, is familiar territory for anyone who’s read anything about mainline Protestantism over the past 40 or so years, and Douthat isn’t breaking any new ground here. (He even starts out with... Read more
Sheila Bapat describes the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act: Amber Reeves, a pregnant truck driver … was fired after requesting accommodations in her work duties. Reeves was instructed by her obstetrician not to lift more than 20 pounds, and her job required her to lift up to 75 pounds. She couldn’t perform her regular duties, so her employer terminated her. Her employer only made modifications like this for people who are injured on the job. Unglamorous and unprotected by the law,... Read more
What is John Droz’s end-game? I’m assuming he has one. I’m assuming here that Droz — “a real estate investor who owns properties along the North Carolina coast” — has some kind of long-term plan in mind. Apart from being a wealthy coastal developer, Droz is also involved in the lucrative business of climate-change denialism. As the Institute for Southern Studies reports: He is a senior fellow at the American Tradition Institute, a conservative think tank with ties to fossil... Read more
Civil disobedience is a powerful tool for opposing, exposing and correcting unjust laws. The problem with civil disobedience, though, is that it cannot be applied in every situation or to every unjust law. Some unjust laws do not require direct civil obedience and, therefore, cannot be readily disobeyed. Let’s consider a couple of hypothetical examples to illustrate that. Scenario 1: Where civil disobedience works Boss Hogg passes a law forbidding anyone from picking up trash along the highway in Hazzard... Read more
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