Analyzing Christianity
Gene Bailey: Testing an evangelical’s prophecies
We check out the prophecies of Gene Bailey, a buddy of Jim Bakker’s, and see how accurate Bailey managed to be.
Analyzing Christianity
Cosmic Reversi: Inverted expectations and sudden reversals in Low Christian folklore
Christians love callings that represent a complete reversal of expectations. They enjoy stories about unexpected, inverted expectations. However, these stories must end the correct way.
Analyzing Christianity
Finding your calling when the caller doesn’t exist
In Christianese, a calling represents Jesus’ orders for what his followers are meant to be doing with their lives. But in reality, finding one’s calling works in a very prosaic–and earthly–way. Even then, it doesn’t work at all the way that Christians think it does.
Analyzing Christianity
The Jesus Aura: Why this false belief persists
Many Christians have this idea that their faith imbues them with a sort of glowing-but-invisible aura that both attracts and repels non-Christians. It’s their Jesus Aura.
Analyzing Christianity
Speaking in Tongues on TikTok (LSP #207)
Hi and welcome back! I saw a story a while ago that has me kinda sighing and laughing at the same time. Pentecostals are still doing their thing, but they’ve had to branch out into social media — especially now that it’s harder for big huge rowdy get-togethers. Of note, Read more
Analyzing Christianity
Christianese 101: Translating Evangelists’ Success Stories
Hi and welcome back! Sometimes, it’s fun to reveal the real meaning of all the Christianese that evangelicals use. Because oh, they use a lot of it. And the more Christianese you see in use, the less the Christians involved have to say that’s real and true. So when I say that Read more
Analyzing Christianity
Bitter: How Evangelical Women Cope With Their Seething Anger
Hi and welcome back! Last week, we talked about anger. Then, a few days ago, we touched on how evangelicals treat women’s anger completely differently. Indeed, evangelicals have a whole word that pertains almost solely to the anger of women: bitter. Today, I’ll show you the tribe’s quirky definition of Read more
Analyzing Christianity
Matt Gaetz: The principles of power in broken systems
One thing I noticed quickly was that nobody on Capitol Hill really seemed all that surprised that his time in the sun finally got here. Nobody should be surprised at all about this whole thing. After all, Matt Gaetz is an evangelical in a deeply dysfunctional religio-political tribe. Thus, he speaks the language of power in broken systems. Today, let me decode that language to show you how absolutely unsurprising his behavior really is.
Analyzing Christianity
A Biblical Worldview: Toxic Christians’ Self-Serving Definition
Hi and welcome back! Earlier, we talked about Joe Battaglia’s book Make America Good Again. As we discovered, it’s chock-full of culture-war talking points disguised in a thick slathering of Christianese. So we spent a few days talking about Christianese. For today’s entry, I’d already planned to discuss this phrase. Read more
Analyzing Christianity
Christianese 101: ‘Biblical’
Hi and welcome back! Recently, we started talking about a new Christian book that promises to rescue America. Joe Battaglia’s Make America Good Again offers up what he calls “12.5 Biblical Principles to Unite Our Nation, Restore True Greatness, and Reshape Our Political Rhetoric.” As we discovered, however, it’s just the usual Read more