Today I unfriended two more people from Facebook, both for political posts. One of them was complaining about the Bernie Sanders / Elizabeth Warren kerfuffle at this week’s Democratic presidential primary debate. This person was very clearly on team Bernie. But what bugged me was not which side he was on in the argument—although I… Continue reading What Friends Do I Want on Facebook?
Seen on social media: a meme quoting J. Mark Johns, pastor of Canvas Church (the one in Alachua, FL): “Don’t let a bad church experience stop you from going to church. We’ve never let a bad restaurant experience stop us from eating out. #tryagain” This is a hoary chestnut right out of the Evangelical gaslighting… Continue reading A Bad Church Experience
Seen today… “Help America pray the rosary.” Why would I do that? I’m not that OCD. This is a good example of religious tribalism and the subtle bigotry that goes along with it. Some of us really don’t care about the rosary, and that’s okay. How about we help America to discover the rituals that… Continue reading Help America Pray the Rosary?
There’s a church near Worcester that I end up driving by frequently on the way to lunch. On the lawn outside sits a prominent sign in modern blues and greens: “Life Source.” The logo consists of a Latin cross, coupled with a symbol indicating three bars of Wifi available. Across the bottom is the church’s… Continue reading Spiritual Gaslighting on Display
When I was little, we went trick-or-treating. I remember doing that for a few years, way back in the day. Then everything changed. At some point, my parents became wise to the fact that Halloween is a pagan holiday, All Hallows Eve, dedicated to glorify Satan and demonic forces. Yeah, we were pretty ignorant, blissfully… Continue reading An Evangelical Halloween
It never ceases to amaze me how clueless and profoundly misguided are the comments of religious believers about their deeply held religious beliefs. I understand the forces at work and the processes that they go through in order to get to their desired conclusions. (That, in fact, is the core of the problem. They have… Continue reading Maintaining Contact with an Abusive God
A friend wrote to me (used with permission): “Evangelicals are so full of themselves. They think they’re the only people that are really happy.” Yes. This is exactly what I remember from my years as an evangelical. When they encounter others who are happy, this disconfirms their belief that you have to “have Jesus in… Continue reading How Fundies Isolate Themselves from Others
In the movie Good Will Hunting, there’s this one scene where Sean Maguire (Robin Williams) says to Will Hunting (Matt Damon), “It’s not your fault.” If you haven’t seen the film, Will was abused as a kid. As children, we internalized the bad things that happen to us at the hands of our caregivers. When… Continue reading It’s Not Your Fault
The lyrics of this song came to mind today. I wrote this in 1997, when I was a member of a Christian rock band. Even today, I think the music I wrote for this song is some of my best compositional work ever. It starts in 7/8 time, has a measure of 6/4, and switches… Continue reading Trapped in God’s Cage
Today is an anniversary of sorts. It’s the anniversary of the turn that saved my life. This is where I started, chanting, “Thank the Lord, for He is good; his kindness is forever.” My, how perspectives change.