From Patreon
‘Before You Lose Your Faith’ loses all illusions of good-faith acting
Toxic Christians love encountering honest, vulnerable people. You know how they see those people? As prey.
From Patreon
LitRPG: When roleplaying games collide with fiction and anime
I saw an unusual book offered for free on Amazon last week. Its author described The Whispering Crystals as LitRPG, or literary roleplaying games. The plot involves a young woman transported to an alien world, then sent through trials to learn to survive. As she slowly progresses in essential skills, Read more
Analyzing Christianity
‘Before You Lose Your Faith’ hates its strawman of individualism
The fact that so many Christian groups require metaphorical mask-wearing and inauthentic presentation has nothing to do with evil ickie individualistic Western life. Rather, it has everything to do with the exact kind of tribalism that his flavor of Christianity most often embodies.
From Patreon
In the War on Christmas, the heathens are still winning
In the past few decades, Christians’ attempted stranglehold on Christmas has receded further with each bit of dominance lost by their tribe. Now, finally, people are embracing the real reasons for the season.
Analyzing Christianity
How ‘Before You Lose Your Faith’ fails to solve the Problem of Hell
We’re now on Chapter 12 of Before You Lose Your Faith. In this chapter, Joshua Ryan Butler tries—and utterly fails—to solve the eternal thorn in Hell-believing Christians’ side: The Problem of Hell. There’s a good reason why these thorns get capitalized names, of course. No Hell-believer has ever managed to Read more
From Patreon
Before You Lose Your Faith: Ch11 finally makes good, sorta
As a bookmark-carrying bibliophile, I might be required to like this chapter more than usual. We’re now on Chapter 11 of Before You Lose Your Faith. And for whatever it’s worth, this chapter isn’t bad at all. That’s not a huge surprise, given who wrote it: Karen Swallow Prior, now Read more
From Patreon
How my grasp of consent nearly torpedoed my 3rd grade Christmas pageant
The teachers organizing our elementary school’s Christmas pageant expected me to do something humiliating. My refusal sparked a crisis.
Their fatal mistake was calling my mother.
From Patreon
The night I got completely hooked on roleplaying
My handiwork in the alley had not gone unnoticed. The people in the inn were talking about me.
Analyzing Christianity
Captive audiences: Why Uber and Lyft are evangelicals’ newest mission field
Recently, Hemant Mehta asked a very good question: “Why are Lyft and Uber letting Christian drivers preach at passengers?” It’s a very good question. Uber and Lyft have not, as of this writing, explained why they allow this. Another good question is how evangelicals got to the point where preaching Read more
Analyzing Christianity
‘Before You Lose Your Faith’ appeals to morality, fails Unicorn Test
Utu, the Sumerian sun god and lord of justice, would NEVER.