Analyzing Christianity
Burnout: Pastors’ Wives Confess All
Today I’ll show you what this problem looks like, what the women dealing with the problem make of it, and what it means for the religion as a whole.
Analyzing Christianity
Stages of grief at the end of apologetics
I’ve been coming into contact with a lot of different ideas about apologetics itself as a field. One of the more intriguing of those ideas comes from Myron Penner, a Christian who wrote a book called The End of Apologetics. He did an interview with a blogger when the book came out, and the reactions to that interview were so fascinating that I wanted to show them to you.
Analyzing Christianity
Lord Snow Presides #3: The Backlash Against the Internet Begins in Earnest
I’ve seen pastors try off and on to stop their congregants from accessing the internet, but this new book that just came out, What Falls from the Sky, really takes the cake on that score.
Analyzing Christianity
Christian coercion: From tolerated to dominant
We’ve been talking lately about the early history of Christianity and how different it is from the history offered up by most Christian apologists and leaders. This definitely is not a history I learned growing up Catholic or as a fundamentalist lass! If anything, it’s even more fascinating to me than Read more
Analyzing Christianity
Ray Comfort and the Cruel Dilemma
It’s a collision that doesn’t need to happen, and one that no longer gives the results Christian leaders want.
Analyzing Christianity
The Predators in Plain Sight (in a Broken System)
It seems like there is a never-ending litany of miserable stories about abusers, predators, and scam artists lurking around Christian churches. If I wanted to write one of those blogs that concerned itself chiefly with exposing and discussing these people, I’d have to seriously step up my schedule–because there are that many stories, and each is more nauseating and horrifying than the last. But for some strange reason, Christian churches rarely engage with the problem they’ve created for themselves and perpetuate through their cultural practices and beliefs, and today I’ll touch on why that might be.
Analyzing Christianity
The Handbook: The ‘original Greek and Hebrew’ (is still nonsense).
Back in my Pentecostal days, there was a phrase I heard non-stop: “the original Greek and Hebrew,” used to describe my denomination’s doctrines and creed. The idea was that our denomination, unlike those of all those other inferior Christians doing everything wrong, had gotten our ideas from “the original Greek and Hebrew” and therefore were closer to what our god wanted out of his followers than all those other Christians were. I notice that Christians still love that phrase, so I want to talk about it today.
Analyzing Christianity
Jordan Root and Yet Another Child Abuse Scandal Erupting in Christianity Right Now.
We’re still reeling from the Duggar sex abuse scandal, but on the heels of it comes another involving Christian leaders totally misreading a child-abuse situation and handling it in the poorest, most insensitive way possible. Another day, another fundagelical scandal involving sex abuse. Say hi to Jordan Root!
Analyzing Christianity
The Christian’s Guide to Ex-Christians: You’ve Got to Quit This Tone Trolling.
Today I saw an article about Kevin Sorbo, who has clearly ridden the short bus past his stop and ended up going all the way to Crazytown, talking about Bill Maher and dismissing him entirely because he sounds “angry” and “hateful.” Now, back in the day, Kevin Sorbo was famous Read more
Analyzing Christianity
Bill Gothard: To catch a (Christian) predator
I want to introduce you to Christian leader Bill Gothard. He’s got a folksy good-ole-boy crooked smile. He’s at just the right age where an old white dude gets a lot of cachet in certain fundagelical circles, and he’s a rock star in the homeschooling/”purity culture” crowd. And he’s also Read more