Have you heard this one before?
One way to understand the Bible is to remember that B.I.B.L.E. means “Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.”
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The “National Anthem of Christendom”
I’m feeling patriotic today.
So I thought I’d post an old hymn that is commonly called the “National Anthem of Christendom”:
All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name! Continue reading
The Problem With Mixing Christianity and Nationalism
King Jesus Wants the Poor
“And I love all people, rich or poor, but in those particular positions I just don’t want a poor person. Does that make sense?”
-President Donald Trump Continue reading
On Taking the Bible Literally
According to a 2011 Gallup survey, 3 in 10 Americans “interpret the Bible literally, saying it is the actual word of God,” while 49% say “the Bible is the inspired word of God but [shouldn’t] be taken literally.”
That’s commonly how the survey is quoted. But if you go to the survey results themselves, a specific and important statement begins the piece: A plurality view Bible as inspired word of God but say not everything in it should be taken literally.”
American Gods and America’s gods
To peek into the world of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods is to peel back the curtain of America’s culture and see, through one artist’s creative lens, the temple of what the culture truly worships. It is a perverse world that feels too ancient, and yet uncomfortably familiar. In one way it feels like a post-colonial protest. In another it feels like an anthropological experiment. This is an untold story not just of the religious practices America does not admit are religious, but also of the religious practices that have carried over from immigrants across the world. Continue reading
What It Means to Be a Loose Cannon
I don’t remember the first time I heard the phrase “you’re a loose cannon” or “(so and so) is a loose cannon,” but it was probably on television or in a movie. It’s a fun phrase to say, and it denotes a person who is chaotic and unpredictable. Somebody calls the bombastic main character in an action film a “loose cannon.” The audience laughs all giddy. They love the reckless cavalier. Continue reading
5 Disrespectful Monuments Needing Removal (or Remodeling)
The removal of a Confederate monument in New Orleans has inspired folks in other towns to raise funds and build the momentum of removing from the public eye various Confederate monuments that have been raised across the nation.
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Taking A Course
I was never really fond of the word “class” in referring to being enrolled in a series of lessons. It’s seemed a bland, confusing word. The word comes from the Latin word classis, meaning a division of people, which is why we use the word to refer to groups of students as well as groups of people based, sort of, on income. It’s also why we use it as a noun to refer to someone as “having class” (meaning, we assume, high class). Continue reading
Handmaid’s Tale: 5 Thoughts About Our Christian Identity
The Handmaid’s Tale has been much talked about ever since the famous novel became a miniseries on Hulu. Like any good dystopian story, the novel wasn’t meant to ask “what if” about the future so much as “how so” about the present. Dystopian stories warn us of what might happen tomorrow. Great dystopian stories plumb deeper, asking what it is about us now that could bring us there.
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