Last time I complained about the hypocrisy of Christians rabidly condemning Halloween for its pagan origins while happily celebrating Easter despite its arguably pagan [...]
Some Christians even claim that 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 refers to an early Easter celebration, but serious scholars dismiss that out of hand. Still, the celebration of Easter is quite old. [...]
The common tradition often holds the Creation story in Genesis as a historical, scriptural precedent for the built-in superiority of man over woman. That's misogyny and malarkey. Typically, Genesis 3:16 is the go-to verse for substantiation of this idea that men were created superior. [...]
Paul's teachings found in Ephesians 5 have long been used to communicate that wives (and therefore women) are positionally beneath their husbands (and therefore men), as God has placed man as the "head of the household". [...]
In my youth, I took the teachings of church culture as gospel, even if they didn't sit right. Now, I openly face the hard questions that challenge my faith. [...]
Something inside knows we're being deceived. In this fast-paced world of email, smartphones, and even WebMD, we can accomplish most of our needs without ever seeing another human face. And our spirits grieve something lost. [...]
I thought the idea strange —one series of sounds from someone's mouth forms an unacceptable word while another series of sounds makes an acceptable word. Sounds are sounds, right? But like a "good" Christian noob, I obeyed first and asked questions later. [...]
In both Easter and Christmas, we’ve seen Christians attempt to redeem the festivals and holy days of pagan religions by freeing the harmless customs from the ungodly [...]
Many months ago, I asked Freya to consider sharing some insights from her family’s heritage, expecting a fascinating look into a culture that has so much to do with our [...]
When I was a child, my parents took me to a local race track with a communal urinal full of yellowed ice and the fetid bugs that had fallen from the fluorescent frivolity [...]
In recent years, I've come to see anti-semitism as what it is: a malignant undercurrent that occasionally manifests in horrible ways but never really goes away. [...]
When Phil first asked if I’d consider writing a post about September 11th, I admit I was at a bit of a loss. What would I write about? It’s at best an emotional [...]
For years, I was taught offending other people is sinful, citing verses like Romans 14:21 and 2 Corinthians 6:3. I learned Christians are supposed to be each others' morality police; if the herd says we should or shouldn't do something because they like it or don't, we should obey so we do not sin by offending their sensibilities. [...]
Recently, Clara and I enjoyed a long-overdue vacation. Part of our trip included some classic tourist trappings, and we found ourselves milling about in large crosswalk [...]
Last week, a reader sent a post from a Dallas-area mom and author who had a shift in perspective about her daughter wearing bikinis. You should go read it. Seriously, [...]