LifeWay Christian Resources has put out an interesting survey called The State of Theology. Alas (for them), this survey illustrates evangelical leaders’ very worst fears about their flocks and the very future of their religion.
Often we see Christians offer suggestions that don’t actually help the problems they see. Those suggestions almost always center around giving them back the dominance they have lost and letting them try to recreate the Good Ole Days they think existed back before liberals and feminists wrecked everything. And they don’t usually understand that their suggestions not only don’t work but also highlight endemic issues with their religion.
WWJD? Obviously he would insult those who are suffering; malign those who are hurting; laugh at those who are reeling in pain. We know this because his most faithful ambassadors are showing this behavior to us right now this second.
I woke up today after a day that sucked on every conceivable level. I mean, it wasn’t just my imagination. One of my major appliances went belly-up, I had a really bad back day, Bother’s decided she mistrusts cat boxes, and a swarm of angry religious nuts, white supremacists, and ignorant malcontents have somehow elected a complete buffoon to the top leadership position of my country. At least the car is running.
Christians claim that they have one holy book and one god, one truth and one “objective morality.” But somehow they have managed to turn those simple ingredients into tens of thousands of denominations, at least as many rancorous doctrinal differences, a cottage industry of pseudoscience producers, and countless cultural squabbles.
Nobody needs to ask stuff they already know. There’s a certain element of insularity and naivete to these questions that is almost charming.
Some readers tipped me off to the latest tempest-in-a-teapot going on in the fundagelical world lately. It didn’t take long for me to notice that as usual, Christians are arguing about the wrong thing. To them, of course, the argument is of the utmost importance–and like everything they do, there’s a reason behind this controversy. It’s not a great reason, but we can’t have everything.
Evangelical leaders are forcing their followers into a showdown, one that it can ill-afford at this point. That Chick tract we’ve been discussing, “Dark Dungeons,” is a prime example of this idea. I’ve been using the term “Cruel Dilemma” for a while, and it seems appropriate now to bring it up–since it’s part of why I see Christianity losing so many people these days.
Saturday, we did a liveblog review of Dark Dungeons, a short indie movie based on the Chick tract of the same name. It was awesome and I hope y’all had as great a time as I did! Some folks had requested I gather the comments I made during the movie and put them somewhere so they don’t have to crawl through Disqus to find them. I thought I’d put them here and start a new comment thread while I was at it.
In a few hours I’m firing up Dark Dungeons. Before I do that, I make a few notes about the movie to start us off–where I’m coming from as I watch it, and why I feel so strongly about the game it demonizes.