I laughed to keep from crying as I read Al Mohler’s response to Kirk Cameron’s recent podcast in which he discussed the doctrine of hell. Annhilationism is the notion that hell is not a place of eternal conscious torment for…
Oh fudge, I said the B-word
Pulling the Lifebuoy soap from young Ralphie’s mouth, his mother interrogates, “Where did you hear that word?” In this wonderful scene from the classic movie A Christmas Story, a voiceover of Ralphie reports he had heard the vulgarity several times…
If Trump thought Epstein was a pedophile, did he report the crime?
During a Nov. 12 press conference, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt addressed the release of emails by Jeffrey Epstein — the financier who was convicted in 2008 of procuring a child for prostitution and then died of alleged but…
Tommy Tuberville versus the tenderness of true faith
Right-wing news outlet Newsmax reported Nov. 7 that, in reaction to Zohran Mamdani’s election as mayor of New York City, Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama predicted the city will be “completely Muslim in three or four years.” I’m sure…
JD Vance has an odd way with words
In a video podcast with a crucifix-wearing host, Vice President JD Vance discusses his faith and views on immigration policy. Along the way, this happens: VANCE: “So, I would talk to constituents in Springfield, Ohio. This was when I was…
Struggling for words these days
What’s a four-letter word that means feces? Dung. What’s a four-letter word for something many people love to do with a partner multiple times per month? Golf. Thus, if you need to instruct someone to hit a manure ball with…
Trump’s poop-bomb video shows us what his base wants
I recently witnessed, in the course of a few hours, a stunning contrast between three presidents. First, our nation’s current president shared an AI video depicting himself as a crown-wearing fighter pilot who bombs No Kings Day protesters with liquified…
Is Christian nationalists’ use of Romans 13 kinky or perverted?
A pastor praying outside an ICE facility in Chicago gets shot in the head by a pepper pellet and collapses to the ground in pain. Commentators dispute whether the protesters had been warned to leave, although currently circulating videos don’t…
Cancel church for ice and snow, not ICE and shootings
Mass shootings will outnumber snowstorms this year. That sentence hurts to write; may it haunt us. The decision to cancel church for inclement weather involves the complex interaction of values — safety vs. commitment; feelings — fear of injury vs….
7 things to do to oppose MAGA authoritarianism
“Time heals all wounds.” That’s the most galactically stupid saying in the English language. It’s like saying, “Time hits all baseballs.” While it takes time for a baseball to get from mound to plate, time doesn’t hit the ball. We…
How not to be a ‘brood of vipers’
“We have to stop demonizing people by calling them whitewashed tombs and vipers.” That might have been a quote in the AD 30 Jerusalem News when a scribe or Pharisee complained about the language Jesus used to describe them. But…
No, MAGA supporters aren’t the same as Nazis
We humans love dichotomies. For example, when we meet someone, our brains tend to classify the person as masculine/feminine, taller/shorter, etc. Of course, false dichotomies abound. While a woman is either pregnant or not, a person can have both masculine…