I’ll show you what this all-important task is, how effective it is, and why it’s that effective–and yet why the religion’s leaders can’t possibly change a thing about their emphasis on that task.
The reason I talk about the Satanic Panic is to remind people of what happens when a toxic group with real power has absolutely no tethers to reality.
Though many folks thought Ryan Bell’s Year Without God was a stunt, I had several friends who knew him–one or two quite well–and who vouched for his sincerity. He blogged about his experiences here at Patheos and often popped up in religious news and folks’ social media pages. His journey out of religion began with a question–a game-changing question that I’ll share with you today.
The administrators of BYU recently made a proclamation that really drives home exactly how out-of-touch Mormon leaders are with the next generation–and how desperate they are to win that generation back. Yes, everyone, they’re finally allowing students on campus to purchase and then consume caffeinated beverages from their cafeterias and vending machines.
The 2017 PRRI study, America’s Changing Religious Identity, has brought the religion’s leaders yet more bad news. And their response has been predictable.
I just noticed this hilarious new astrology system that’s showed up in Christianity: the Sacred Enneagram, so let’s make today about that! Everyone, say hi to the Christian astrology fad that’s just pinged Christian news’ radar (finally)!
Even I couldn’t have predicted the extent of that opportunism, however–though I could easily have told the opportunists involved here just how badly these ploys will backfire. Meet the Disaster Opportunists of Christianity, and see how their attempts to grab power for themselves through extortion fail epically.
I’m sure this news cycle suits some Christians to their fingertips because it all plays into a very peculiar part of the Religious Right’s psyche: their love of being heroes and their dislike of one particular very important detail that gets in the way of dramatic heroics. I’ll tell you what that dislike is about today–and how that worldview is keeping the rest of us from moving ahead as effectively as we could otherwise.
It’s a chilling look at how young children are preyed upon and brainwashed by the adults they trust. Eleven years later, the children featured in Jesus Camp are a striking sign of Christianity’s future. We’ll meet some of them today–and talk about the flaw in Christian thinking that led to their involvement with the camp in the documentary.
Where “I’m Not Ashamed” went seriously wrong.