Seriously, Christian folks have got to lighten up about Drag Queen Story Hour. We have an epidemic of predatory pastors, but, yeah, let’s worry about drag queens reading books to children at the local library. Drag is a performance, part…
Christian fragility, brittleness and white Christian nationalism
The Religious Right seems to be flexing its muscles these days. After all, they’ve overturned Roe v. Wade, openly embraced Christian nationalism, banned a whole slew of books, and told Florida’s teachers, “Don’t Say Gay.” I don’t think all this…
Institutional betrayal, institutional courage and the church
Betrayal by trusted people, like pastors, teachers, supervisors and coaches can inflict devastating consequences on victims. According to psychologists who study trauma, betrayal trauma affects the brain differently than any other trauma, particularly when the victim depends upon the perpetrator….
‘If they come for me in the night, they’ll come for you in the morning’
Raise your hand if the Supreme Court had to decide whether or not you could marry. Folks in interracial couples and queer folks, I see you. Now raise your hand if you’re afraid the Supreme Court might take away your…
Welcome to Gilead
The red-robed memes started immediately after Friday’s Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade and jumpstarting abortion bans across the country. When I first read Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale back in 1985, I certainly could believe some people wanted…
If I had the power to ‘Zap!’ people, I’d be using it a lot right now
In Naomi Alderman’s 2016 novel, The Power, a force awakens in girls and women that lets them send electrical shocks out from their hands. They begin to use this power to fight back against men and to become dominant. Under…
In our dystopian world, I’m leaning into the Korean concept of han
What are we to feel and to think in these dystopian times when our nation is moving backward on so many issues of human dignity, equity and justice? I feel defeated. Exhausted. Grieved. Aggrieved. Or, as one friend put it,…
I teach the things Republican legislators are trying to outlaw; here’s what we actually teach
Once again, I’m so grateful I live in Oregon. Across conservative states, legislators are interfering with what’s taught in K-12, colleges, universities and workplaces. They’ve targeted content that addresses issues of race, gender and sexuality, with a special emphasis on…
Anti-LGBTQ legislation is bad science, bad politics and bad theology, and it’s going to get people killed
Needing yet another wedge issue for election season, Republicans in many states are at work attempting to pass legislation that targets LGBTQ people, with a special emphasis on the T. The year 2022 already has surpassed the record-breaking 2021 as…
Is it an evolutionary impossibility for the pace of love to outstrip the pace of self-interest, technology and war?
If there’s intelligent life out there, it probably already has destroyed itself or is well on its way to doing so, as is our species on our own little planet. At least, that’s what a number of scientists who do…
It was fundamentalists who taught me about soul competency, and now they want to ban books?
Do some parents really think banning books will keep their children from swearing or thinking about sex? My guess is that surreptitious middle school book clubs already have formed all over the country to read Maus. Nothing like telling prepubescent…
The Worst Christmas Pageant Ever
Christmas season means a lot of things — family, presents, carols, Hallmark movies, the Grinch, lights, Santa, Nativity scenes, stockings hung by the chimney with care, and the dreaded Christmas pageant. Why, oh why, did the church decide turning over…