“Responsible action must decide not simply between right and wrong, good and evil, but between right and right, wrong and wrong.” — Dietrich Bonhoeffer I wish I’d read that Bonhoeffer sentence last week before babbling on for too long in this post trying to say the same thing. “I threw out the moneylenders for a reason” Common Sense Jesus (a response to Herman Cain) “Survey: Frequent Bible Reading Can Turn You Liberal” Carol Howard Merritt: “Seven Things Guys Need to... Read more
Karl Giberson and Randall J. Stephens, who we discussed a few weeks ago in “Evangelicals vs. Science,” have an op-ed column in today’s New York Times on “The Evangelical Rejection of Reason.” The Republican presidential field has become a showcase of evangelical anti-intellectualism. Herman Cain, Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann deny that climate change is real and caused by humans. Mr. Perry and Mrs. Bachmann dismiss evolution as an unproven theory. … The rejection of science seems to be part... Read more
Tribulation Force, pp. 425-426 The double ceremony in Bruce’s office two weeks later was the most private wedding anyone could imagine. If you’re getting married and your dad is getting married at the same time in the same room by the same preacher, then I can actually imagine a much more private wedding ceremony. Only the five of them were in the room. Bruce Barnes concluded by thanking God for all the smiles, the embraces, the kisses and the prayer.... Read more
Alice K. Turner’s The History of Hell is not a book of theology. The book draws on several disciplines, with art history, literature and folklore all playing a much larger role than any formal theology. And that’s only fitting, because our idea of “Hell” has been shaped over the centuries far more by art, literature and folklore than it has been by any formal theology. The word “Hell” is an awkward English translation for several different words in our Bibles.... Read more
The American Family Association is a religious right organization that is viewed as a bastion of wild-eyed right-wing extremism even by other religious right organizations. AFA is the home of, for example, Bryan Fischer, who seems almost to believe the outrageous and vile things he regularly says about gays, Muslims, Mormons, and the rest of the barbaric hordes he sees as threatening white straight Christian civilization. AFA’s website hosts blogs by Fischer, Chuck Norris and David Limbaugh, as well as... Read more
Deuteronomy 24:17-21 You shall not deprive a resident alien or an orphan of justice; you shall not take a widow’s garment in pledge. Remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this. When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be left for the alien, the orphan, and... Read more
Wall Streeter Joshua Brown (a “Reformed Broker“) offers one answer in a post candidly titled “This Is Why They Hate You and Want You to Die“: You want to know why everyone in this country hates you and wants you dead, you big stupid [frakking] bank? Here’s why, pay attention: Bank of America Corp will pay $11 million to ousted executives Joe Price and Sallie Krawcheck … Let me clarify that “Hates You and Wants You to Die” refers to... Read more
Taegan Goddard points us to this Bloomberg story, noting that no less than four of the contenders for the Republican nomination are on record as saying they were called by God to run for president. The Almighty has reportedly called Texas Gov. Rick Perry, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann and businessman Herman Cain to run for the same office at the same time. (Bloomberg’s Francis Wilkinson drily notes that “Mitt Romney, Jon Huntsman, Ron Paul and... Read more
A while back, a discussion/flamewar of theism/atheism in comments here led me to re-read Glenn Tinder’s famous/infamous essay “Can We Be Good Without God,” which was published in the Atlantic Monthly in 1989. Tinder’s was an odd, almost Burkean, argument in which he warned, among other things, against “the universal disaster of revolution.” In 1989 — 1989! — Tinder wrote that “There is perhaps not a single example in our time of a determined effort to produce swift and sweeping... Read more
Henry Blodget says “Here’s What The Wall Street Protesters Are So Angry About …” The problem in a nutshell is this: Inequality in this country has hit a level that has been seen only once in the nation’s history, and unemployment has reached a level that has been seen only once since the Great Depression. And, at the same time, corporate profits are at a record high. And he has charts. Lots of charts (courtesy of FRED — Federal Reserve... Read more
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