Years ago, I wrote about Bill Schnoebelen as part of the Cult of Before Stories series. The Cult includes that vast collection of fake, bombastic Satanism-and-witchcraft-themed testimonies that hucksters peddle for attention and profit to evangelicals. These fake testimonies hit their peak around the late 1980s before petering out in Read more
Many years ago, evangelicals wielded apologetics as weapons against their worst enemies: atheists. They lost not only their battles but the entire Keyboard Wars themselves, then retreated into their current walled-garden enclaves on social media. But a community member noticed a video that might just mark the return of those Read more
When it comes to its own decline, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) might be its own worst enemy. A throwaway comment on a recent post of theirs reveals exactly why it’s so hard to evaluate that decline, much less diagnose its cause, much less reverse it. Since their entire image Read more
Next week, Matt Queen finds out what his penalty will be for lying to federal investigators about a sex assault cover-up at a Southern Baptist seminary. Through his lawyer, Queen is trying to make himself seem like a TRUE CHRISTIAN™. Yes, he just made a little bitty oopsie-doodle-boodle! He was Read more
Some years back, Christian bookstores made a mint with heavenly tourism books. These books claimed to offer not only PROOF YES PROOF of life after death, but also evidence for Christianity itself. For years, they made money. And then, the entire genre collapsed. Today, let’s talk about the rise and Read more
Recently, a rising star in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), Matt Queen, fell to earth in the most singularly SBC way imaginable: By lying to the FBI about a sex assault that had occurred on the SBC seminary campus where he worked. After news of Queen’s guilty plea broke, one Read more
When it comes to landmark freedom-of-religion cases, Kitzmiller et al v Dover Area School District et al (nicknamed Kitzmiller v Dover) might be one of the most powerful recent ones. Almost 20 years ago, this decision stopped evangelicals from sneaking religious indoctrination into public schools. Its lengthy memorandum opinion (archive) Read more
Scholars have long known that conservative politics and media distort and mischaracterize reality. This distorted reality insulates right-wing media consumers from contradictions and challenges to their beliefs. As a means to power, conservative politicians see this as a feature, not a bug.
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
The world is vastly different today from when I was young. For one thing, selling pious frauds has changed dramatically. In some ways, it’s a lot harder to sell these lies-for-Jesus to the gullible. But in many others, it’s gotten even easier. Today, let me show you some popular pious Read more