My ex-C friends are reeling–as they should be–at the news that a recent Republican scandal hit a little close to home this past week. To me, the story illustrates one of this blog’s primary messages: that deconversion doesn’t actually instantly confer enlightenment or wisdom upon anybody.
I was even more interested in the responses to the stuff women are sharing on #ThingsOnlyChristianWomenHear. These responses reveal a lot about the religion and its direction–and why it is failing so fast and so hard. They are the reaction to a tell-tale heart in hashtag form.
Yesterday I found myself attending to an age-old ritual that actually works, and I was thinking about how different my experience with it was from the ones I performed as a Christian. It starts with bacon, as most wondrous things do in my world.
With one of the biggest holidays in the entire Christian calendar coming right up our butts, this seems like a good time to describe altar calls.
An hour or so ago, right as I sat down to write a post today, I got word that my father had passed away. (I apologize in advance if this post contains more information than you ever needed about my personal life.) Today, let me show you how weird people can get about love, and yet how precious it is for all the weirdness that erupts around it.
Creationist charlatan and serial liar-for-Jesus Ken Ham did a little bubble maintenance this week, and I want to show you how and why he did it.
When I heard about Carrie Fisher’s heart attack, I was shocked–and very hopeful that she would survive despite the desperate circumstances around it. But instead, the news reported shortly afterward that she had in fact passed away. She joins a constellation of amazing, talented people that we have lost this year. For those who are maybe a bit young for her iconic starring turn in Star Wars, it’s hard to put into words just what she means for my generation–and what her role as Princess Leia Organa gave the world.
Donald Trump may well have simply given up on this election. One can only hope. But he asked a question today during a speech that reveals much about his mindset and worldview–and where he sees himself in relation to other people.
I don’t think anything else that I’ve seen lately better encapsulates the problem with this election cycle. Even if/when Hillary Clinton wins, as does indeed look more and more like an inevitability, America has a very big problem on its hands.
The whole reason that Trump came to power was that he tapped into the roaring, blazing rage of the Religious Right, and now the whole reason he is falling is that the Religious Right simply doesn’t hold the power that it once claimed. But the kind of people who still support him are also the kind of people who take a little longer to see the writing on the wall when there’s been a massive sea change in circumstances. Weirdly enough, the same attempted justification is being used by both his supporters and the defectors from his banner. It backfires both times.