K-12 school closures around the country have inspired a plethora of memes and satire pieces about homeschooling. Whether parents were yay or nay before, every mom is a homeschooling mom now, for a few weeks at least. Fun, right? I’m a homeschool alumnus myself, but I can’t say I find the joke quite as funny as all that. It was funny the first time, but it’s starting to overstay its welcome. In the time of COVID-19, let me suggest that... Read more
The evangelical blogosphere has been buzzing with the latest sad tale of lost faith to come out of the evangelical “tribe”: popular YouTube comedy duo Rhett and Link, former youth leaders and committed believers who entertained many Christian and non-Christian listeners with their off-beat humor, dropped two new episodes of their podcast announcing that they no longer believed. (Watch Rhett’s here and Link’s here.) Christians like Matt Markins reacted with surprise and sadness, but also concern. Matt first heard about... Read more
Update: This post was written before our dialogue was released. You can now enjoy it on podcast here or YouTube below. The other week, I had the distinct pleasure of recording a radio dialogue with Justin Brierley and best-selling British author/journalist Douglas Murray for the Unbelievable? program. We were very fortunate to catch Douglas and pin him down, coming off one of his routinely long legs of travel (we last found him in Mexico, I think) and still juggling a... Read more
This year, I took it upon myself to make overdue first acquaintance with the poetry of W. H. Auden. Having had the wind knocked out of me by T. S. Eliot in high school, I anticipated a similar encounter with the at once very weird and very great. I was left disappointed on neither front (though I still find Eliot the greater poet). The epic Christmas prose-poetry oratorio “For the Time Being” stands out as perhaps the chief among Auden’s... Read more
For Christians mindful of the Church year, Advent is to Christmas as Lent is to Easter—a time which, while it need not be dominated by joyless solemnity, should properly have a touch of melancholy about it. As I look through the Advent hymns in my Anglican hymnal, separated from the Christmas hymns, I fear that their distinctive quality is lost in our haste towards Christmas. Chief among these is the hymn “O Very God Of Very God,” whose lyrics never... Read more
Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Chick-fil-A is no stranger to outrage and controversy, but this past week it incurred the outrage of an unlikely demographic: conservatives. Many outlets have already covered what transpired after the organization released its latest financial statement. Nevertheless, I must keep up this little corner of the ‘net somehow, so consider this my nickel in the proverbial Salvation Army kettle. For those who missed it, it has apparently come to Chick-fil-A’s attention that the Salvation... Read more
In a recent article, the newspaper formerly known as the New York Times offers an eye-catching headline: “Racists Are Recruiting. Watch Your White Sons.” The image is an inspired piece of pop art: a blond-haired, gangly boy disappearing into a giant iPhone made of writhing snakes. One shoe is still outside the phone, the shoelaces untied. The tag on his shirt sticks out against his neck. It’s a perfect visual encapsulation of vulnerability entrapped by evil. The author, Joanna Schroeder,... Read more
Today marked the beginning of a week-long Global Climate Strike. Per the official website, this international youth-galvanized effort is being orchestrated “to demand an end to the age of fossil fuels and climate justice for everyone.” The reader may be forgiven for wondering whose sin is to be punished by the meting out of said justice, and precisely how much penance is required to satisfy it. As you scroll down, a video thumbnail presents itself with the hope of further... Read more
No words will suffice but "good" and "evil." No language will suffice but the language of war. Read more
When I bought and read Chris Arnade’s book Dignity, I was determined to be one of the first in line to say all the good things about it that could be said. But life had other plans, and other people said them first. So I now find myself sheepishly shuffling in late to add my own too-lengthy thoughts. They haven’t been easy to pull together. But then, Dignity is not an easy book to review. My first taste of Arnade’s... Read more
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