Grab your 20-siders. We're going in.

What a skeptic is—and isn’t

Countless Herman Cain Award winners who died for a(n anti-vaxxer) lie. A YouTuber who leapt to the only logical explanation for a spooky clip: a ‘paranormal entity.’ And countless Christians giving their testimonies about converting to their religion through the usual logical fallacy-riddled bad arguments and emotional manipulation. They all have one thing in common: they all proclaim to be skeptics. They definitely want their audiences to think so, too. But they aren’t. In reality, they don’t even know what a skeptic is, nor how to think like one.

By Captain Cassidy, ago

The Big Quit has hit pastors too

Even in the best of times, pastors have a very difficult row to hoe. With every passing year, their job just seems to get harder, pay less, demand more of them, and feel more thankless. And yet there always seemed to be roughly one quintillion more aspiring pastors than there were churches needing the position filled. Well, now, amid the general Great Resignation/Big Quit trend, that last truth is changing at lightning speed.

By Captain Cassidy, ago

Why authoritarians love—and hate—an apology

A couple of months ago, an interesting news story passed my desk. Republican senator Tom Cotton held up an important congressional vote about the justice system. And why, one might idly ask? Well, because long ago, a Democrat involved with this procedure had interrupted him. Cotton was still furious about it, and he wanted an apology. Today, let me show you why that apology mattered so much to Tom Cotton.

By Captain Cassidy, ago

Why dissenters won’t (and can’t) save Christianity or evangelicalism

Eventually, one after another, various Christians have become completely positive that they know exactly how to save their religion from utter irrelevance. A recent New York Times op-ed post represents only the most recent of the tribe’s guesses about how to do it with evangelicalism. Today, let me show you some of the previous guesses. Then, let’s check out this most recent one. And then, let’s explore why it won’t work either–and why it can’t.

By Captain Cassidy, ago

Why evangelicals keep trying to sneak into public schools

In West Virginia, public school students found themselves in the middle of a midday evangelical revival on school grounds. There is absolutely no way this should have happened or been allowed, and yet it was. But there’s a reason why it was, of course. Evangelicals are fighting for every single thing that’s important to them: dominance, cultural power, numbers, everything. And they know that victory will come to the side that owns the hearts and minds of today’s children.

By Captain Cassidy, ago

SPIRITUAL WARFARE: Catholic edition

Out of every strange practice in Christianity, spiritual warfare might just be my favorite of all. Just hearing a Christian use the phrase puts a great big silly happy smile on my face and laughter in my heart. Spiritual warfare is one of those super-context-dependent Christian practices. When removed from its very specific context its practitioners look like they’re playing a Happy Pretendy Fun Time Game — which they always were.

By Captain Cassidy, ago