Yeah, another week kind of got away from me there. I apologize for that. We’ll pick up again next week without further prolonging the misery of poor, doomed Bruce Barnes. If you enjoy this song even half as much as I do, then perhaps this video will help to make up for my Trib Force Monday failings. That’s “Vomit,” from the new Girls album Father, Son, Holy Ghost, which has a handful of pretty good songs and another handful of... Read more
I know it’s not just me. At the very least, it’s me and Jonathan Dudley. Here, again, is that opening paragraph from Dudley’s book Broken Words: The Abuse of Science and Faith in American Politics: I learned a few things growing up as an evangelical Christian: that abortion is murder, homosexuality, sin; evolution, nonsense; and environmentalism, a farce. I learned to accept these ideas — the “big four” — as part of the package deal of Christianity. In some circles,... Read more
Timothy Dalrymple argues that it’s simply due to caricatures and media hype that evangelicals have come to be viewed as “hyper-politicized.” It’s all in my head, I suppose. And if I could just get over my own prejudices, I’d realize that most evangelical churches would welcome me as a full and equal member, without suspicion or hostility or condemnation due to my belief in evolution and my support for legal abortion and equal rights for GLBT people. “You’re pro-choice? No... Read more
Some of us use the game “rock, paper, scissors” to decide who has to wash the dishes or pay the bar tab. Some use the game “Satan, Hitler, Antichrist” to decide that Others are intrinsically evil and thus We must be intrinsically righteous. I like “rock, paper, scissors,” in part, because playing it is not a sin and because playing it does not turn you into an insufferable, delusional jackwagon incapable of self-knowledge. – – – – – – –... Read more
Sebastian Castellio (via Richard Beck): “On Heretics & Disagreement“ Calvin says that he is certain, and [other sects] say that they are; Calvin says that they are wrong and wishes to judge them, and so do they. Who shall be judge? What made Calvin the arbiter of all the sects, that he alone should kill? He has the Word of God and so have they. If the matter is certain, to who is it so? To Calvin? But then why... Read more
Hebrews 13:3 Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured. Read more
We’re heading to the mountains for a few days to a place with no TV or Internet (this is a feature, not a bug). I’ll be back Sunday evening — hoping to get home in time to catch the Eagles’ next fourth-quarter collapse. So in the meantime, here, in no particular order, are some random links that I didn’t have time to put together any longer or more coherent response to/comment on. Adrian Mack explores a treasure trove for “trash... Read more
Another part of my complaint about “debates” like the one we discussed yesterday (on “The World Would Be Better Off Without Religion“) is that I think such point-scoring face-offs wind up replacing the conversations that ought to be happening instead. Such debates are framed as having something to do with persuasion, but there’s little reason to think that really has anything to do with what’s going on in such forums. No skeptic has ever left such a stage saying, “Gee,... Read more
The TV show I would like to see — on MTV, or the N, or the CW — is simply this: Jesus Goes to High School. I wouldn’t call it that, of course, but that’s the whole idea, no more and no less. The story would work due to the same dynamic that allows those contemporary reworkings of Shakespeare or Jane Austen to work in a high-school setting when they otherwise defy contemporary adaptation. High school is one place where... Read more
This report on a debate at NYU on the subject “The World Would Be Better Off Without Religion” is depressing. If one is going to produce a staged re-enactment of a late-night dorm-room bull session — without even the benefit of pizza and alcohol that such conversations generally require — then at least try not to include rabidly dishonest racist jackwagons like Dinesh D’Souza. The New York Times’ Jennifer Schuessler captures my own reaction to this stale ritual when she... Read more
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