Analyzing Christianity
What ‘Before You Lose Your Faith’ doesn’t understand about community
‘Before You Lose Your Faith’ keeps pushing a vision of community that categorically does not exist and can’t ever exist in their flavor of Christianity.
Analyzing Christianity
‘Before You Lose Your Faith’ hates its strawman of individualism
The fact that so many Christian groups require metaphorical mask-wearing and inauthentic presentation has nothing to do with evil ickie individualistic Western life. Rather, it has everything to do with the exact kind of tribalism that his flavor of Christianity most often embodies.
Analyzing Christianity
Why Christian hypocrites describe their darkest deeds as ‘sin’
When an abusive evangelical pastor, Christian Watts, tried to downplay his grooming of a teenager decades earlier, he described his predation as ‘my past sin.’ That’s a time-honored tactic for people caught in his exact circumstances. Let’s take a closer look at this tactic to see why it works so well in evangelical culture.
Analyzing Christianity
‘He Gets Us’ can’t possibly clean up Christians’ tainted brand
Recent stories indicate that the evangelical-backed He Gets Us campaign is still going strong. But the evangelicals responding to it have missed an important point that destroys whatever goodwill they might be fostering through their endless billboards and carefully-placed ads: their god does not have a brand, but his followers Read more
Analyzing Christianity
Risk aversion: The Catholics desperately trying to make Christianity sound wild and dangerous
Mike Amodei wants young proto-Catholics to see themselves as the daring, brave, risk-taking ambassadors of a living god who’d absolutely let them suffer enormous pain if it suited him.
Analyzing Christianity
Why Christian extremists are menacing an Idaho library
It’s not enough that Christian extremists in Idaho control what their own children read. They don’t want control of just their own children’s reading choices. They already have that. Instead, they want control over the reading choices of everyone, most especially the children of heathens.
Analyzing Christianity
Matt Chandler, yet another hardline evangelical, has fallen like so many others
Well, well, well. The leader of The Village Church (TVC), Matt Chandler, has finally gotten caught doing something off-limits enough to his church board that he had to take a leave of absence. I’m sure the stories about it vastly minimize what actually happened, but nobody will be shocked to Read more
Analyzing Christianity
Ammon Bundy: Lying for Jesus, yet again
Ammon Bundy needs attention again, I suppose. After a frenetic summer of grandstanding outside of a hospital, he continues to campaign for public office in Idaho. To help him win the upcoming governor’s race, he planned a September 10th rally at a park in Boise. However, his election committee lied Read more
Analyzing Christianity
Jesus sure changes people: Ted Haggard Edition
When I hear about evangelical sex scandals, I’m usually just relieved if everyone involved is of-age. But that’s about to change with this Ted Haggard story.
Analyzing Christianity
‘There is a payback coming’ as evangelicals dream of revenge and dominance
Let’s check out a recent gathering of authoritarian evangelicals. I’ll show you their plans–and the not-so-hidden desires of their hearts.