After a pretty heavy post yesterday, I thought we could all use some levity today. Everybody has a slip of the tongue every once in a while, right? Sometimes on accident, sometimes on purpose, but at the end of the day, it’s not front page news. Well, not everybody is the pope. Actually, just one of us is and while delivering his weekly blessing from the Vatican he dropped the biggest cuss word of them all. The one you’re really... Read more

Separate but equal. It was a doctrine enshrined into American law by the landmark case Plessy v. Ferguson. In short, the doctrine “justified and permitted racial segregation” on the grounds that such segregation was constitutional, and therefore legal, so long as services, facilities, public accommodations, housing, medical care, education, employment, and transportation of equal quality were offered. It was perversely eloquent. In word it affirmed the fundamental equality and worth of all people, regardless of race. But while its defenders were... Read more

The internet is an exhausting place. The insular and incestual nature of social media allows absurd logic to be transformed into divine revelation without a second thought. This is, perhaps, no more true than in the recent debate over the now vetoed Arizona law that would have allowed businesses to deny service to people when doing so was against their sincerely held beliefs. At the heart of this debate, at least in Christian circles, is the notion that doing business... Read more

(Painting by Eric Feather) By now you’ve probably heard that the Arizona House of Representatives voted 33-27 in support of a bill that would allow businesses to refuse service to the gay community if doing so is against their sincerely held religious beliefs. Religious beliefs being, in this case, code for the Christian faith. Fortunately, this draconian bill appears destined for a veto, but it got me to wondering, “What if Jesus had been more like the Arizona House of... Read more

From gun-toting Armageddon Jesus to a preordained NFL Draft, there’s a lot of Jesusy stuff you need to know about going into the new week. So, for your convenience I’ve combined them all into one post. First up, Jesus is a Coke guy. How do I know? Because that’s what he told a guy in Queensland, Australia to steal. If he preferred Pepsi, the Lord would have said so. Next up, if you’re a football fan, you can forget about... Read more

It’s not unusual to hear someone claim that America is a Christian nation. But usually the people the long for a more intimate church-state relationship stop at that, claiming that we need to simply get back to the Christian principles they believe the country was founded on. (Which, incidentally, it wasn’t. It was founded on Enlightenment principles, but I digress.) What you don’t often hear is the claim of former Congressman Tom Delay. According to the former Congressman, God, not... Read more

(Image By Ralph Burns) In our seemingly desperate bid to “win souls for Jesus,” we often implore our potential converts with the classic evangelical sales pitch, “Jesus just wants to be a part of your life! Wont you let him?” But as heartfelt and passionate as our plea might be, it simply isn’t true. Jesus doesn’t want to be a part of anybody’s life. He wants all of it. But somewhere between Paul’s call to die to self and the... Read more

(H/T) You may have heard the tragic news over the weekend that Pastor Jamie Coots, a snake handling pastor who starred in the reality show Snake Salvation, died after he being bitten by a snake while handling it during a recent church service. The story quickly spread in large part because of our fascination with the odd and the taboo…and you don’t get much more odd or taboo in the church world than handling snakes. And if my Facebook and... Read more

Ah, Valentine’s Day. That time of the year when way too many Christians forget that love for Jesus and romantic love are two very different things and confusing the two is just awkward and inappropriate. Of course, awkward and inappropriate has never stopped anyone from doing anything and the same is true for Valentine’s Day and Jesus. So, to celebrate, here’s just a few of the Valentine’s Day greetings (and a poem!) that simply shouldn’t be. First up, no he’s... Read more

Meet Bro. Donny Reagan. He spews his vile bigotry every Sunday from the pulpit of Happy Valley Church of Jesus Christ in Johnson City, TN. If he’s not the most racist pastor in America, then he’s at least got to crack the top 10 list. You’ll see why in this clip where he rants about the sin of interracial marriage. Which, as you can see, isn’t grainy video from way back in the Jim Crow 1950s. It was recorded in... Read more