Analyzing Christianity

The new low birthrate moral panic evangelicals are stirring up

In the wake of the pandemic, many countries are experiencing a drop in their birthrate. That won’t be surprising or big news to most of us. Nor would most of us be surprised to learn that American evangelicals themselves aren’t immune to the social forces that influence everyone else’s family planning decisions. But evangelical leaders are certainly upset about all of this. They’re trying to blame the decreasing birthrate on sin and evil ickie straw feminism, instead of taking responsibility for what’s probably actually happening. Today, let me show you the story itself — and then show you how evangelicals are freaking out about it for all the wrong reasons.

By Captain Cassidy, ago

Christian Strategies Reveal Their Disbelief in Their Own Claims

For a bit now, we’ve been looking at an evangelical podcast called Gospelbound. In the specific episode we listened to, two Christians outlined their strategies for reversing their religion’s decline. Interestingly, both strategies reveal the speakers’ distinct lack of faith in their own religious claims. Today, let’s marvel at their accidental reveal — and ask what their strategies might look like if they actually believed that anything they said about their god was true.

By Captain Cassidy, ago

Gospelbound: Authoritarians Think More Control Means Less Churn

The tagline TGC created for Gospelbound claims it offers listeners “firm faith in an anxious age.” Of course, it does nothing of the sort. Instead, it offers the usual authoritarian blahblah from the most toxic elements in their entire end of Christianity. I’ve saved the most alarming of that blahblah for last: their oh-so-very Calvinist plan for churn reduction. They think more control over congregants means less churn from their churches. Today, I’ll show you what that means — and why it’s such a laughable contradiction of the supernatural claims of authoritarians.

By Captain Cassidy, ago

An Ex-Christian Evaluates a Gospelbound Podcast

Gospelbound’s own marketing claims that it will give listeners ‘firm faith in an anxious age.’ We checked out their most recent episode, about a TGC-produced book called Before You Lose Your Faith, and we weren’t impressed. But hey, maybe they just forgot about their target audience because they were talking about their own book. So I wanted to check out what else they were telling potential doubters. Today, let’s evaluate another of their episodes — from the point of view of a Christian who desperately needs a jolt of ‘firm faith in an anxious age.’

By Captain Cassidy, ago