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.
Michele Bachmann, a former US Representative from Minnesota and infamous religious fanatic and right-wing-nutjob, has decided that obviously all this negative publicity emerging about her party’s nominee is happening only because of a Democratic conspiracy. Yes. She is claiming that Democrats released the tapes and orchestrated the entire drama.
I’ve always been fascinated with how people construct communities for themselves. Certainly many atheists have wrestled with how to create communities without the trappings and shackles of untrue supernatural claims. Well, this past weekend I got to enjoy one way that people are finding to connect with each other without religion.