Just a quick little note about creationism again, because I saw a link you folks would probably dig. We’ve talked here before about “high and low” Christianity–this idea that there is a “high Christianity” full of high-end theology and education, sophisticated arguments and a whole whale of a lot of Read more
Long ago, in a galaxy far away, I got my first taste of Star Wars at a cinema. I remember lines going around the theater and around the block to get in. My mother, correctly, saw that this movie was going to be one of those big cultural things that Read more
This week I’m going to be writing about love. It seems like a good time for it. Let’s kick off with these poems attributed to the Greek poet Sappho. She’s one of the poets I love most. Her work has always spoken so loudly to me. I discovered Sappho in Read more
Well, it’s happened. I have officially hit that age where I want to shake younger people by the shoulders and scream at them not to waste their beautiful, precious, oh-so-finite youth. I can hardly bear to see young people trapped in relationships that make them deeply unhappy, toiling away at Read more
When you’re helpless and at a serious physical disadvantage, your perceptions of potentially challenging situations can get a little skewed. Can you see why I’d see that and think immediately about religion?
If you were wondering what I mean by “Mary Sues” in a roleplaying environment, I give you Exhibit A. These are two attempts a player made to create a character for a Tolkien-based text-based online roleplaying game set in a gorgeous, lush forested area. I’ve changed none of his original Read more
Ken Ham and Bill Nye had a big debate recently. I was of two minds about watching the debate at all. It seemed like such a waste of time. I mean, really: it seems like Christian creationists get a lot more out of these things than the reality-endorsing folks do; Read more
This link is about the son of Virginia State Senator Creigh Deeds, who suffered a mental illness and was unlucky enough to need long-term professional care in a country that really doesn’t care about the mentally ill. We’ll talk tomorrow about the creationism debate, but I saw this and really Read more
This blog writes itself. Case in point: The night before last, my doorbell rang. I wasn’t decent, so Mr. Captain answered it. I heard a brief conversation, ending with him politely declining whatever the person at our door wanted to sell, and when he got back, I asked who it’d Read more
It’s been a really bad week to be a moralistic, paternalistic, patriarchal, slut-shaming, ignorance-glorifying Christian. We’ll talk about Mary Sues tomorrow, but I wanted to mention this while it’s on my mind, these two news pieces that I recently saw: First up, of course, is the news that abortion rates Read more