Hi, all! I know it has been a very long time since I've created any new content for this site. I never intended to go into blogging hiatus for seven months, but in the meantime I've been promoting my coedited anthology, Empty the Pews: Stories of Leaving the Church. I was doing some public speaking … Continue reading A Personal Update and Some Thoughts on Pluralism
Epic Christian Fails: The Stepford Second Lady
In honor of Halloween, I've decided to make October's #EpicChristianFails entry more horror than humor. That being said, the occasion that inspired this month's blog post did elicit a dark chuckle and a smirk from me, while providing a heaping helping of disgust as well. It's definitely not a knee-slapper, but it does involve knees. … Continue reading Epic Christian Fails: The Stepford Second Lady
Epic Christian Fails: Pastor Robert Jeffress and the Greta Thunberg Contingency
Robert Jeffress, toxic Christian Zionist, pastor of the 13,000-strong megachurch First Baptist Dallas, and Trump toady extraordinaire, has a solid record when it comes to taking the Bible literally. The prominent Southern Baptist leader has never shied away from such straight-shooting statements as, "We know from the Bible that in fact, we do have a common … Continue reading Epic Christian Fails: Pastor Robert Jeffress and the Greta Thunberg Contingency
Reflections on Religion News Association’s 2019 Conference
On Wednesday, September 18, I flew to Las Vegas, Nevada to attend the annual conference of Religion News Association, an organization that has been around since 1949. https://twitter.com/C_Stroop/status/1174050109606129664?s=20 Some time back, ex-evangelical journalist Liam Adams invited me to be part of a panel on religion reporting and social media along with him, Aysha Khan, and Sophia … Continue reading Reflections on Religion News Association’s 2019 Conference
Christian Dominionism: A Beginner’s Guide to Terms and Context
At the encouragement of an anonymous colleague and friend, who has given me access to software that allows me to create infographics, I've been thinking about ways to put the software--Adioma--to good use. The first infographic I created features a set of six anti-proselytizing principles. I released it on Twitter, and I expanded on the … Continue reading Christian Dominionism: A Beginner’s Guide to Terms and Context
Epic Christian Fails: Southern Baptist Leader Plays Himself, or, an Excursion into the Curious Ways of the Respectable Evangelical
This month's #EpicChristianFails entry will take us on a journey into the natural habitat of that most genteel of all subspecies of evangelical, Christianus evangelicus respectabilis, the common name for which is the respectable evangelical. All members of this subspecies are, inexplicably, male. As with some species of Pokémon, however, there is an exclusively female … Continue reading Epic Christian Fails: Southern Baptist Leader Plays Himself, or, an Excursion into the Curious Ways of the Respectable Evangelical
Empowerment against Evangelization: Countering Conversion Attempts by Asserting Moral Autonomy
Some Confessions of a Past Proselytizer I remember how stressful it was for me, as a child and young adult, to believe I "had to" attempt to convert others to Christianity--specifically the evangelical variety I grew up in, which those in my community took to be most authentic expression of the faith. As a result … Continue reading Empowerment against Evangelization: Countering Conversion Attempts by Asserting Moral Autonomy
Epic Christian Fails: “CHRIST” on a Pickup Truck! And Other Quotation Quandaries
What would be your first thought on seeing the word "CHRIST," in all caps and quotation marks, plastered across the rear windshield of a pickup truck? If your answer falls more along the lines of "Someone is apparently swearing at me" than "Jesus take the wheel" or "Would you have a moment to talk about … Continue reading Epic Christian Fails: “CHRIST” on a Pickup Truck! And Other Quotation Quandaries
We are Not a Crisis: Lament the Problems of the Church If You Must, but Stop Erasing Ex-Evangelicals
Anyone other than an editor of a major centrist media outlet might have decided that in July 2019, the jeremiad-over-evanglelical-hypocrisy think piece should be considered passé. So of course Peter Wehner recently published just another such lament in The Atlantic. Don't get me wrong; I'd rather have pundits criticizing conservative, mostly white evangelicals for their hypocrisy … Continue reading We are Not a Crisis: Lament the Problems of the Church If You Must, but Stop Erasing Ex-Evangelicals
Not Your Mission Field 