No longtime gamer has failed to notice how much easier video games are nowadays compared to their early days. The New York Times Magazine recently speculated that today’s easier video games may be a reaction to the increasing difficulty and chaos of modern life. More to the point, we can Read more…
In a 2025 article from Archaeology Magazine, Andrew Lawler suggests an interesting source of Jews’ cultural taboo about eating pork. He thinks it might have more to do with their hatred of the Roman Empire than anything else. The more I thought about this suggestion, the more plausible it sounded. Read more…
Among evangelical these days, their fondest hope is for revival. They want Jesus to send them a massive new influx of fervent converts and re-stoke their own zeal with divine strength. Right now, their current belief is that there’s a quiet revival happening across the western world, particularly among Gen Read more…
On September 2nd, Pew Research released yet another blockbuster post about secularization. It reveals that the process of secularization tends to begin with lowered participation in religious rituals, followed by fading of religious identity and eventually even de-prioritizing even affiliation in name only. This study has got to be worrying Read more…
In Alpha Course #6, Christians try very very hard to make the Bible sound utterly relevant and important to everyone’s lives. They fail, of course, just like every other video so far has failed to accomplish its own stated goals. But as usual, it’s how specifically they fail that should Read more…
Way back in 2015, Pew Research came out with their devastating Religious Landscape Study. It finally convinced Christians that their religion was well and truly in decline. If you want to trace right-wing Christians’ current behavior to its roots, this study’s fallout should be part of your essential reading. This Read more…
We’re now 25 years out from the Conservative Resurgence movement of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). Hardliners’ ultraconservative, extremely political hijacking of the denomination has had lasting effects on not only the SBC’s members themselves, but also on evangelicalism as a whole. Those effects are not positive, however. And I Read more…
On July 31, Brent Leatherwood resigned his position as the leader of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). He lasted about four years in all, which is pretty good for an SBC leader with as many hardliner enemies as he had. And oh Read more…
In recent years, more Christians are facing doubt than ever before. But their communities and leaders still haven’t learned how to respond to it. They’re still largely using the same toolbox they had in decades past. Let’s explore that toolbox—and see where it fails to fit into real-world doubters’ experiences. Read more…
Within the serried ranks of nepo babies, Franklin Graham reigns supreme. Out of all of them, he might be the best known and most successful. He’s parlayed his daddy’s evangelism empire into a generational dynasty by playing upon his audience’s biggest fears. But that audience has aged, and he along Read more…