It’s a gorgeous super-early-Monday morning; insomnia’s got me watching the dawn while the cowcat is having a Grooming Emergency beside me, and her frantic grooming session reminded me of something I realized not long ago. The birds are singing, the world’s waking up, and I was just thinking about the Read more
One group of Christians, however, is finally coming to grips with their own drop in numbers. They might have the wrong explanation for it and the most nonsensical way possible of dealing with it, but they’re at least dimly aware that their denomination is starting to falter. That group is the Southern Baptist Convention, who recently declared that their denomination is facing a “baptism drought.” Today we’ll talk about why they’re facing it, and why they think they are, because those are two different things.
A few days ago, I was watching a Christopher Hitchens video. In it, a Christian asked him why he spoke out like he did against Christianity’s overreach. Right then, I realized that vocal non-Christians get asked that a lot. Christians certainly ask me that question! It’s one of their favorite silencing tactics. So today I want to talk about why I speak out like I do. Spoiler: It’s because of love.
Seriously, folks, we’re going to have to be really careful about how we present atrocities to Christians. We thought bringing up slavery would get them to see that the Bible isn’t an eternally-valid prescription for human societies. We were wrong.
We haven’t waltzed together into the Unequally Yoked Club for a while, have we? Strike up the music: today I want to talk about something sparked in me by a comment on a progressive Christian blog. My thoughts aren’t particularly aimed at the person who made the comment; she seems Read more
We haven’t waltzed together into the Unequally Yoked Club for a while, have we? Strike up the music: today I want to talk about something sparked in me by a comment on a progressive Christian blog. My thoughts aren’t particularly aimed at the person who made the comment; she seems Read more
I was going to put these links at the end of various full posts, but I didn’t want them to get lost, so here they are in a semi-organized lump. Here’s what I’m reading lately from the netosphere that I think you might like too: * Remember that Modesty Survey Read more
We are a better people than what these laws represent, and it is time to discard them into the ash heap of history. Judge John E. Jones III, Memorandum Opinion, Whitewood v. Wolf, 2014 That’s the last sentence in a presiding judge’s opinion paper regarding one of the latest equal-marriage Read more
You want to hear something funny? I’ve only rarely had to seriously moderate comments on this blog; y’all are the best community in the world, and I have every reason to think that way. A year into blogging and there’s been not one single physical threat, and only a few Read more
As I look back at my experience living abroad, brief as it was, one thing that really springs out at me is how secular Japan was. It might have Shinto shrines in its shopping arcades and monasteries sprinkled around its urban residential neighborhoods, its television might have the occasional spiritual Read more