As the images and stories of the war–brought to us by courageous journalists–fill our feeds, I can’t stop thinking about the approval rating for the war from within Russia, or the fact that Russian soldiers who took over Chernobyl had no idea what the place was, or the dangers that lurked there silently. Propaganda and […]
Tag: Christianity
A Responsible Media is a Critical Media
The New York Times ran a cover story today detailing a moment during the insurrection in which seven strangers worked together to attack Capitol Police officers. The profile on the insurrectionists, which the paper of record still refers to as Americans involved in a “riot,” as opposed to an attempted coup, is part of a […]
Fake Russian Christians making fake American Christian content fit for a Coup
Recent MIT research into an internal Facebook report unveiled that of Facebook’s top twenty Christian pages, 19 out of 20 were run by troll farms in Kosovo and Macedonia–likely the same Russian-backed “trolls” responsible for the 2016 election. The largest of those Christian Facebook pages, twenty times larger than the next, had a reach of […]
20 Years On and Rethinking Empathy and Reconciliation
I’ve been thinking a lot about an old English teacher, Faye Hardin, who passed away in 2019. She was a tough old bag. Some twenty years ago when I had her my senior year, there were students in my class whose parents and grandparents had her as a teacher. She pushed students harder than most–to […]
I Really Hate Fireworks
Listening to the fireworks, I don’t have a whole lot of love for July 4th, and I never have. It’s a holiday that admittedly means a lot of different things to a lot of different people, and I have every ounce of respect for that, the grandson of a World War II vet, an Eagle […]
A Theology of Journalism
Before there were “journalists”—even before there was writing—the world’s means of sharing “the news” was an oral and aural experience: stories by the fire intended to describe and explain the human condition; a voice shouting in a crowded marketplace, the agora, what’s come to pass—or what will—if the world continues down the path it’s on; […]
One Year, Alive.
I told myself after a year of “quarantine,” of “surviving” a pandemic, after documenting the months and months of it, that it was only fitting to make sure, one year on, that I would document that too. It’s like a rite of passage, is it not? All the loss and all of the loneliness and […]
The QAnon Cult
In the wake of the Capitol Hill insurrection, it probably comes as no surprise that I’ve devoted a lot of time to trying to understand QAnon, cults, and the rise of white supremacist violence. Being a trained seminarian, this isn’t a new topic to me; if you study religion, you’re bound to spend time studying […]
You are not Christian.
Throughout my life I was told by “Christian” pastors, children’s ministers, camp leaders, youth directors, Sunday school teachers, and other church workers and parishioners so many heartfelt, dignified, and loving words about what Christianity was through the life and ministry of Jesus. I believed them. Today, I no longer see those same people living the […]
Thinking through ‘The Cross and the Lynching Tree’
“The cross has been transformed into a harmless, non-offensive ornament that Christians wear around their necks. Rather than reminding us of the ‘cost of discipleship,’ it has become a form of ‘cheap grace,’ an easy way to salvation that doesn’t force us to confront the power of Christ’s message and mission. Until we can see […]
saunterings 