I got lots of comments — and more than a little hate mail — for suggesting that premarital sex might not be that bad for Christians and that maybe we should get over it. My thoughts were primarily theoretical. Not so for Jamie Wright, the Very Worst Missionary. She’s got teenage sons, and she most definitely does not want them having sex: I want my kids to be armed with the truth (and maybe with condoms, but mostly with the truth),... Read more
Geez Magazine is running their second sermon contest: 30 (More) Sermons You’ll Never Hear in Church: Winnipeg, Canada – The social gospel is on an upswing, and the crowd-moving sermon deserves another chance. Geez magazine is calling on the un-churched and over-churched for holy admonitions from the fringes of faith. The sermon has become a stage where white men with white hair preach condescending three point clichés. Self-help sermonizing has made the plea for social justice passé. While those in the pews may... Read more
Five years ago, three cray cray dudes spent the summer on the road, barnstorming 32 cities in a biofueled RV. Did you attend the Church Basement Roadshow? Got any memories to share? Read more
I’ve blogged in the past about the injustice in the parenting time laws in Minnesota and other states. In fact, I testified in front of a Minnesota Senate hearing on the matter. The law passed on a bi-partisan basis, but was vetoed by our short-sighted governor, after he was lobbied by divorce lawyers. As it stands, dads still get the shaft in most states when it comes to post-divorce custody. Now, Gail Rosenblum reports, women are joining the fight. In... Read more
It’s tough representing your entire gender. I feel the pressure every time I climb those super-intimidating stairs to stand behind one of those super-intimidating old-school pulpits to give a sermon I spent extra hours preparing because a small part of me still believes I’m unworthy to give it. I feel it every time I post a blog or write an article or publish a book, every time I give an interview or am asked to speak. “We wanted to feature... Read more
Wonder Woman. Oh yes, images of Linda Carter and her spectacular blue eyes fill your head. And her twist (oh yeah, the twist.) Not to mention the Golden Lasso of Truth. When Dc Comic books designed the character it was 1941. The “we can do it” women’s effort was full on, and so was World War II. Our heroine was drawn with this cool skirt and red shoes. She was a 2000 year old Amazon. Amazons were a mythical race... Read more
For as inclusive and LGBTQ-friendly the progressive Church likes to imagine itself, there are still deep, linty pockets of gender bias and old habits that haven’t been broken. And how could they be, if no one has pointed them out? Actually, I take that back. How could the Church realize its biases if if the people in positions of power won’t entertain the possibility that they have them? The tragic truth is that the people in power do not need... Read more
Tony invited feminists to post on his blog, and since I consider myself one, I decided to write something. It’s not about feminism, however, because what I want to write about goes much deeper into each of our Christian identities than whether or not we identify as feminist or not, emergent or not, evangelical or not, or any other facet of identity that we hold close in our hearts. In my brief time in seminary, one of the classes I... Read more
In 1993 I participated in the LGBT March on Washington. This was an event in which hundreds of thousands of American gay people gathered in Washington, D.C. to demonstrate for equal protection under the law. I was 32 years old. I had been an out lesbian for 14 years. It wasn’t like today. Many of my friends were not out, especially not in every aspect of their lives, and all of us had been abused in some way due to... Read more
I was shocked and saddened by the negative comments on actress Angelina Jolie’s decision to have a preventive double mastectomy. Jolie made this decision after learning she has a mutation in her BRCA1 gene that gave her, according to her doctors, an 87 percent risk of breast cancer and a 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer. The fact that Jolie saw her mother fight breast cancer for 10 years before succumbing to it at the age of 56 no doubt... Read more
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