New Film Chronicles Unlikely Friendship in Battle Over God and Guns
…nd demonstrating how it contradicts the Christian life and message.” The Armor of Light opens in theaters in 20 cities on Friday. Tickets are free for NRA members….
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What Will Orthodox ‘Republicanity’ Look Like?
…that Democrats need to get better at telling stories than at crunching the numbers, in this battle of the budget, the numbers actually matter. Hell, it’s a fight about numbers. And balance. And the virtue of justice. What this latest budget battle, and the question of raising the debt ceiling, and the straw polls are revealing, is just how Tertullian a wing of the Republican Party has become. It not only offers absurd arguments with a straight fac…
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The Trouble With Francis: Three Things That Worry Me
…dinals. But on closer inspection, it is clear that women ought not to book tickets to Rome just yet. Juxtaposing “valued” and “clericalized” is odd at best, pernicious at worst. In a church in which ordained male clergy have jurisdiction— that is, authority to make decisions about things that matter—to claim that women who cannot be ordained are valued is a hard case to make. Valued for what and how? We have heard from Francis all about women’s su…
Read MoreHouston’s Pastor Subpoenas: A Meme Made for Fox News
…joining the fight. This is wrong. It’s unbefitting of Texans, and it’s un-American.” But even cooler heads have a point: even if not evidence of a big bad government plot to oppress Christians, the subpoenas represent a strange overreach, one that additionally failed to foresee the predictable parlaying of the incident into a conservative cause celebre. As Rachel Held Evans tweeted, “I support LGBT equality but the subpoena thing in Houston seems…
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The Question of Evil: Politicians Weigh In
…es his overestimation of the goodness and power of humanity in general and Americans in particular. It’s not surprising that McCain and his audience, comprised of persons who could afford to buy $500 tickets, would frame a discussion about evil in terms of America versus Islam. McCain’s response contains several problematic assumptions. The first assumption is that America is good. Perhaps my experience as a professor at an HBCU, historically blac…
Read MoreHuckabee Channels Rushdoony
…ow: These lectures are the most theologically complete assessment of early American history available, R.J. Rushdoony reveals a foundation of American History of philosophical and theological substance. This series extends through 1865, the year that marked the beginning of the secular attempts to rewrite history. There can be no understanding of American History without an understanding of the ideas which undergirded its founding and growth. In “…
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The ‘Freedom Convoy’ is Inspired by a Biblical Account of Divine Massacre: Welcome to the Jericho March
…and occupying space around Parliament for about 20 days, though in smaller numbers than in American rallies. It’s part of the broader effort to bring global attention to the “convoy.” CBC has reported on the prayer circles and speeches and signs, while Christine Mitchell has written about the Christian nationalist imagery of 2 Chronicles in the crowd. More worrisome, though, is how much international presence, interference and support there is. Fo…
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Orthodox TV Channel Offers Gays One-Way Ticket Out of Russia; And More in Global LGBT Recap
…at’ to Polish identity.” Russia: Orthodox TV channel offers to buy one-way tickets to help gay people leave country Tsargrad TV, a channel affiliated with right-wing Russian Orthodox activists and modeled after Fox News, offered to pay for a one-way ticket overseas for gay people who want to emigrate. The channel was funded by Konstantin Maofeev, a billionaire known as “God’s oligarch” who dreams of Vladimir Putin becoming a Tsar. More from the BB…
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Necessary Sacrifice: Sundance, Mormon Movies, and the Race to Oscar Night
…aft. Some time ago, Colleen McDannell proposed that the visual cultures of American Christianity are too easily conflated with kitsch, demonstrating how the art forms produced by ardent believers defied artistic categorization. Sitting in Orem, the connections between kitsch (LDS film) and modernism (Sundance), between precious decor and austere hauteur, were apparent. The main absent friend in Orem was explicit sacrifice. Film seeking mass distri…
Read MoreIs Joel Osteen, Success Mag Cover Boy, Really “God’s Best”?
…reduced to a kind of majordomo or personal assistant. He fixeth my parking tickets, he secureth me a good table in the restaurant, he leadeth me to book contracts. Even in these minor tasks, the invocation of God seems more of a courtesy than a necessity.” Gone, too, from Osteen’s theology is any mention of topics that might intrude on happy thoughts: Osteen avoids using current events in his messages so he doesn’t get sidetracked in controversy….
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