My first up-close and personal encounter with the dominionists came back during the days I was working for Ron Sider, the Mennonite theologian and activist best known as author of the book Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger. That book, first published in 1977, lays out the massive biblical case for economic justice and radical generosity. The core of the book is an argument for what Sider calls a “graduated tithe” — a way of committing to and structuring... Read more
I’ve started collecting disingenuous qualifiers. That’s my term for those little throat-clearing phrases we tend to say that are always followed by the conjunction “but,” after which whatever is said next directly contradicts the preceding phrase. I’m not exactly sure what I’m collecting these for, I just find them interesting. I think the disingenuous qualifier is a revealing verbal tic. It’s an idiomatic quirk that can tell us something about ourselves, about our perception of others, and about how we... Read more
All for the love of molding young minds … Since we reached the end of the alphabet last week, and since it’s the beginning of September, I figured this week I’d try a thematic list to see what our iTunes libraries hold as far as school-related songs. “ABC,” Jackson 5 “Birth, School, Work, Death,” The Godfathers “Campus,” Vampire Weekend “Don’t Stand So Close to Me,” The Police “Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometimes,” Beck “Headmasters of Mine,” Jeffrey Gaines “I Don’t Like... Read more
It’s not the years, it’s the mileage. Alisa Harris may seem a bit young to be publishing a memoir, but while she can’t look back on a long life, she can reflect on a long journey. Harris proves a lively and insightful guide to that journey, which begins with her childhood in the activist infantry of the religious right during which she was picketing abortion providers as a home-schooled soldier in the army of the Lord. Harris’ memoir, Raised Right,... Read more
Jim Burroway: “Christian Dominionism Is Not a Myth“ These are not the people within the broad spectrum of Christianity, nor are they even those within the outer 10 percent of its fringes. We’re not talking about the Pat Robertsons, the Joel Osteens, the Albert Mohlers or the Rick Warrens. No, we’re talking about people who are far, far more fringe than anyone whose name immediately comes to mind whenever most people think of Christian evangelicalism. … When [Michelle] Goldberg says,... Read more
Here are a couple of documentaries to add to my Want To See list. “Gospel Without Borders“ EthicsDaily.com announces the availability of its newest documentary – “Gospel Without Borders” – on the heels of draconian anti-immigration laws passed in Alabama, Georgia, Indiana and South Carolina, heated disagreement over the federal direction of comprehensive reform, and punitive bills expected next year in Florida, Tennessee and other states. Shot in five different states, the documentary separates myth from fact, examines the biblical... Read more
I linked yesterday to Dennis G.’s mordant, but wincingly apt joke that Fox News has come to be something like “Nickolodeon for people with dementia.” That’s a bitter joke on a couple of levels but still, I think, a funny one. Dementia is a heartbreaking thing and thus, in a sense, no laughing matter. Yet the sadness and heartbreak of it can also come wrapped up and mixed together with levity amidst the gravity. At least that’s how it was... Read more
Via ABL on Balloon Juice, this quote from loathesome con-man “historian” David Barton in a Sept. 2009 Texas textbook review (.pdf link): Multiple locations in the TEKS even suggest that it is people from “racial, ethnic, and religious groups” who “expand political rights in American society.” This is an absolutely false premise. Only majorities can expand political rights in America’s constitutional society. In fact, in every case where a constitutional protection has been established for a minority, whether of race,... Read more
I want to mention one more problem that arises from biblicism, or biblical literalism: It fosters conflict. It fosters really nasty conflict — the kind that starts with the belief that The Other Side must be evil and then goes downhill from there with little hope of resolution. Biblicism invites this kind of conflict because it creates a framework in which bad intent becomes the only possible explanation for differences of opinion. This isn’t a failure of charity or generosity... Read more
Books & Culture just posted a review of the latest from Christian Smith, a sociologist who has produced some of the most insightful and useful studies of American evangelical Christianity. Smith’s new book tackles a subject essentially important to evangelical culture and faith: biblicism, or biblical literalism. He’s against it, as is clear from his title: The Bible Made Impossible: Why Biblicism Is Not a Truly Evangelical Reading of Scripture. The B&C review is largely negative. It declares right off... Read more
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