Analyzing Christianity

Expertise, Apologetics, and David Marshall

Recently I ran into this debate between David Marshall and Richard Carrier regarding whether or not belief in Christianity is “reasonable.” It got me thinking about apologetics generally, and about this new name specifically because I’d never even heard of him till now. Today I want to talk about how apologetics plays into right-wing Christians’ distrust of education and credentials, and what David Marshall’s brand of apologetics represents in the religion.

By Captain Cassidy, ago

The Titanic Band is Striking Up the Next Song

Some churches like their lights to be super-bright; some prefer their churches to be dark and secluded-feeling. Some vote for the lights to start bright and then dim during the sermon; others prefer the dead opposite. The Worship Matters blog argues for both before settling on “brightly lit”, as does this rather inconsistent music minister. One blogger identifies the fight as somewhat generational before landing on “both are nice at different times.” But Thom Rainer himself insists in his comment section that this fight is indeed heating up and getting ugly.

By Captain Cassidy, ago

The anatomy of doublespeak: That ACBC conference

Last time I talked about a recent conference held at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. At the time I was concentrating more on a speech given there by Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) leader Al Mohler regarding reparative therapy. Today I want to delve more deeply into the errors of the conference itself because I think it serves as a firm declaration by evangelicals that despite being consistently defeated in every single way imaginable, they still aren’t ready to give up on the idea of bigotry-for-Jesus.

By Captain Cassidy, ago

The Twin Selling Points of a Fundamentalist Rapture Scare.

In the same way, it is simply bizarre to me that people who have built up this total conspiracy theory around all these “Bible codes” and arcane secret societies and government plots seem to be so incapable of coming up with what really should be one of the easiest parts of their predictions: what’s going to happen, exactly, and when. But that’s not even the worst part of these constant streams of Rapture scares.

By Captain Cassidy, ago

Bible Verses Are Not “Magic” Cards.

It’s amazing to me that Christians can take a book compiled over thousands of years with dozens of mostly-anonymous authors, a book of (revised) history and (imagined) science, of folk magic and supposedly-divine intervention, of petty racism and soaring nationalism, of beautiful poetry and stunning brutality, of–yes–transcendent language and startling insight at times, and reduce it down to sound bites they can select, warp, and then fling at their pleasure to score points against those they view as inferior opponents. To me it seems extremely disrespectful for a Christian to treat their holy book in such a simplistic and reductionist way, but I see it all the time regardless.

By Captain Cassidy, ago

And Speaking of Josh Duggar: The (Second) Fake Rehab Center He’s Going To.

One definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results.” It’s simply dismaying–if not infuriating–to see that charlatans-for-Christ can prey upon unwary and gullible flocks by offering them real solutions for serious problems–and I think we can all agree that Josh Duggar has some very serious problems.

By Captain Cassidy, ago