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; […]
Tag: religion
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 […]
Against the ‘Mission Statement’
Couple of years back, I found myself in a heated discussion with the policy guru for the Holy See Mission to the United Nations. A major piece of “legislation” was going before the UN on the status of refugees, and the Church was negotiating protections for those who were fleeing harm. Given Pope Francis’ encyclical, […]
Dissecting the Death Rattle of American Decline
I’ve been critical of “Hillbilly Elegy” and other theories that made the rise of Trump more the result of economic disparity than white supremacy. It’s the same argument that populism is a reaction to a dying Republican party, a “death rattle” as the party becomes smaller and has to resort to extremes to win. The […]
Quarantine, Day 327, Or Cat Theology
Sometimes, when the house is particularly quiet, you can hear Freya’s paws pitter-patter across the hardwood floor, and having never had an indoor cat, there’s something special to me about the way she moves with this persistant grace that always brings me calm and gets me excited at the same time. She’s taken sometimes to […]
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 […]
Complicit Theologies: the Status Quo Church
I’m saddened and appalled by all that has happened at the Capitol, even more so by what I expect in the coming days and weeks will be horrific revelations that it’s much worse than we currently realize as evidence is already mounting to suggest as much. Saddened, appalled, yes–not shocked. Now comes the harder part: […]
The Mass Radicalization of the American Populace
Born in Nashville and having lived there for several years, I’ve been following the recent bombing very closely. The two blocks that were bombed look more like a street in downtown Aleppo than music city. Some of our family as far south as Murfreesboro could not make contact during Christmas and for forty-eight hours afterward […]
Quarantine, Day 281
It’s been two hundred eighty-one days now since I began quarantine, and while it’s probably not fair anymore to say I’m actively in quarantine, the pandemic has now consumed 75% of this year and is worse today than it ever was when it began. I’m writing for the first time in a while, having not […]
The Formation of Paramilitary Forces within the United States
Much has been written about the recent rise of authoritarian power here in the “free world,” but when we live it day-in and day-out, it’s also easy to dismiss these claims as alarmist. That’s fair on some level; we live in a world where every “memetic” moment is driven by some degree of hyperbole, and […]
