Free Speech for Me But Not For Thee

Last week, yet another rich bigot cocooned from consequences by his money imagined he is brave when in fact he is just an antisemitic moron. The stony silence that greeted him was fitting. Like all bullies, he blames everybody but himself for the consequences of his bigoted idiocy. Musk, who is no stranger to muzzling […]

The Paradox of the Desert

As we were heading into the Little Lent that is Advent, I posted a bit of what I hoped would be help for a reader who is feeling distant from God last week. In the course of it, I noted: Deserts are, in the Old Testament tradition, places where we can feel far from God […]

For those feeling distant from God

Advent is a little Lent, and therefore a good time for being in the desert while we pray. Deserts are, in the Old Testament tradition, places where we can feel far from God while, in fact, finding he is very near to us. Israel spends time there. So does Jesus himself. So does Paul after […]

It All Depends on What You Mean by “Apocalyptic Religion”

I like a good gag. I think this one is pretty funny and makes a reasonable point–to a degree. Har! Fundamentalism lampooned. Yuks all around. Fish in barrel shot. However, I also like clarity, overthinking stuff, being a buzzkill, and exploding the simplistic pieties of that other species of Fundamentalist: evangelical atheists. Because, of course, […]

Now that Christmas is on the way

…Normals will be preparing for it the way Normals do: parties, festive decorations, joy, love, and beauty in the air. The Cult will prepare as they always do: with intense pity for themselves and that tiny minority of human beings who are extensions of their egos. This time of year, that means the everlasting sobbing […]

Christ sides with the lowly

Paul, writing to the Church in Corinth, expresses his wonder at the prospect that the all-powerful God who hurled the universe into existence should reveal himself not in titanic Marvel superhero displays of power, but in the person of a crucified nobody living at the very bottom of humanity: Has not God made foolish the […]

A bit of Antichrist stuff for the Season

Being as Advent is about to begin and the Church is invited to ponder Last Things in this period as we contemplate both the First and Second Comings of Christ, it seems suitable to address the perennial Christian habit of Hunting for Antichrist. One sample of this is making the rounds in some circles in […]

A little biblical translation irony for Black Friday

Here’s a little piece from the Living Bible that periodically makes the rounds: A much more literal word for word translation (like the RSVCE) makes much clearer what the text of 2 Timothy 4:3-4 actually says: For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate […]