So, I’m wondering if any of you saw Blue Like Jazz over it’s opening weekend. As expected, I saw many posts like this on Facebook: That’s right, it’s a Christian’s duty to buy tickets for this movie, even if you can’t go, in order to send the message to the fat cats in Hollywood that we want more movies like this. It seems the “crucial” opening weekend didn’t go so well. BLJ came in 20th at the box office, according... Read more
Sarah Pulliam Bailey, writer for Christianity Today, is one of my more favorite writers in the evangelical-journalist community. Like me, she was emailed a downright absurd article posted on the Atlantic‘s website last week, linking KONY2012 to the emergent church movement. In our world, the Atlantic is supposed to represent good, serious reporting. And Christianity Today is supposed to represent slanted, non-objective reporting. Well, read Sarah’s piece if you’re ready for your categories to be upended. She completely pwns the... Read more
In my neck-o-the-woods, Bethel University‘s provost recently held an open conversation with gay students and allies, where they were able to talk openly about their experiences at a college that officially discriminates against them. At one of my alma maters, Fuller Theological Seminary, a campus-wide conversation about sexuality was recently held. Heteronormativity was ultimately upheld at each of these institutions, but here’s what I think: As soon as you give LGBT persons a voice, they are humanized. And when that... Read more
Brian McLaren thinks not: If we use Phyllis Tickle’s term “Christian Emergence” or “Emergence Christianity” to describe a broad phenomenon that is occurring across the spectrum of Christian communities (Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant …), I think the movement is stronger than ever. In Evangelical and Charismatic circles, many Evangelical/Charismatic gatekeepers have successfully driven the emergent conversation underground. They don’t talk much about emergent figures – except negatively. And people who “come out of the theological closet” are pressured and often nudged... Read more
Last month, I testified in front of the Judiciary and Public Safety Committee of the Minnesota Senate. I spoke in favor of Bill 1402, which aims to bring presumed equality to shared parenting time in divorced families. Currently, the presumption in Minnesota — that is, the guidelines that are recommended for family court judges to follow — is that one parent gets the majority (75%) of parenting time, and the other parent gets the rest. As you might guess, the... Read more
What are you giving me? A follow, maybe? If you don’t follow me on Twitter, please do. If I don’t follow you, tweet at me why I should. Read more
This amazing ad came in the “Dollars and Sense” mailer last week. Comments very welcome. Read more
Now that he’s the Republican candidate, Romney’s Mormonism is on the table. I’ve been critical of the LDS Church, and will continue to be. In fact, my response to Jake Tapper’s question wouldn’t have been much different from Rick Warren’s on Sunday. LDS teaching on the Trinity is more than a “sticking point” for me. Their Christology is also suspect. At RealClearReligion, Jeff Weiss has seven questions that he, as a religion reporter, would like to ask Romney about LDS... Read more
If you travel in the same online circles as me, you are being inundated with urgings to support and see Blue Like Jazz, the movie based on Don Miller’s best-selling memoir. Friends on Facebook who once begged me to send money to the Kickstarter campaign for the film are now pleading with me to buy tickets in advance, an effort to show theater owners how great this film is. But these efforts give me the willies. It reminds me of... Read more
I’m unfamiliar with the filmography of Kirk Cameron — haven’t seen a-one of them. I’m similarly unfamiliar with Christian Reconstructionism. But it seems that I should be afraid of both, especially when they’re put together. Julie Ingersoll provides a helpful primer on Christian Reconstructionism, using Cameron’s new documentary about…HIMSELF…as a foil. Good reading: Christian Reconstruction promotes a “biblical worldview” with three interlocking theological notions that, while framed in technical language, have been popularized for over half a century in simple... Read more
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