Fascinating stats here for same-sex and different-sex marriages. To think of marriage as a trophy or celebration of what two people have accomplished in life that come together into a new stage directly flies in the face of so much of what churches of all stripes and sizes (but especially my beloved Baptist tradition) have … Continue reading Changing Conceptions of Marriage and Church Marketing
Not to mention how companies and governments so haphazardly use this data for causes and purposes… The unchecked power of companies that harvest our data is a great problem—but it’s hard to get angry about an idea that’s so nebulous. Like climate change, the reaping of our data is a problem of psychology as much … Continue reading Reaping Data
Zuckerberg really needs to make a statement. This is going thermonuclear and Facebook’s sole commodity is trust via relationship. The Cambridge Analytica scandal has done immense damage to the brand, sources across the company believe. It will now take a Herculean effort to restore public trust in Facebook’s commitment to privacy and data protection, they … Continue reading Facebook is facing an existential crisis
The “America” that Baby Boomers and my fellow Gen X’ers grew up with is rapidly changing, and Protestant churches are an example of community institutions that will be most affected… and made irrelevant or obsolete if they continue to operate as if it’s still 1985. Of course, whites are a smaller share of the post-millennial … Continue reading Churches Should Turn and Face the Strange
The Mate 10 looks like a pretty amazing device and I’ve wondered at times whether I should pick up a Hauwei device to make sure I’m staying on top of things. Last week, U.S. intelligence officials warned citizens about buying devices from Chinese companies such as Hauwei and ZTE over concerns that there are potential … Continue reading Should Americans buy Hauwei phones?
Since 2013, there have been nearly 300 school shootings in America — an average of about one a week. Source: School Shootings in America Since 2013 Continue reading School Shootings in America Since 2013
“Out beyond ideas of wrong-doing and right-doing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there. When the soul lies down in that grass, the world is too full to talk about. Ideas, language, even the phrase ‘each other’ doesn’t make any sense. The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don’t go back to … Continue reading Baptist Fields
Good reflection by Julia Pennington-Russell here on the CBF’s Illumination Project work as well as moralism, legalism, and theopolitics regardless of denomination: And many, maybe most, CBF churches are so anxious about jeopardizing a fragile harmony that they avoid even the mildest conversation about human sexuality, even as their LGBTQ brothers and sisters suffer outside the … Continue reading “What is the spirit saying here?”
Here are results from the 18-month long Illumination Project that the CBF launched to address its controversial anti-LGBTQ hiring policy back in 2016. Thomas and I did an episode of Thinking Religion last night to share some thoughts if you’d like to know where I stand. To reflect the practice of most of its congregations, the … Continue reading CBF’s New Hiring and Personnel Statement
So frustrating. How do people like this climb the ladder to be something like head of AmeriCorps? “Trump appointee resigns as public face of agency that runs AmeriCorps after KFile review of racist, sexist, anti-Muslim and anti-LGBT comments on the radio” http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/18/politics/kfile-carl-higbie-on-the-radio/index.html Continue reading As an AmeriCorps alum, this is just maddening
When Adam dalf and Eve span, Who was thanne a gentilman? John Ball Continue reading Unnecessary nobility
American churches and nonprofits are in for an even louder wake-up call in 2018 and beyond. It’s definitely time to start planning for the near future to keep your church or nonprofit solvent, especially if you are smaller in size and rely on donors who make less than $75,000 yearly. Churches must begin to explore … Continue reading Churches and nonprofits must explore income alternatives in 2018 and beyond.
Interesting article from NY’s Attorney General directed at the FCC: In today’s digital age, the rules that govern the operation and delivery of internet service to hundreds of millions of Americans are critical to the economic and social well-being of the nation. Yet the process the FCC has employed to consider potentially sweeping alterations to … Continue reading Tech and Public Policy
It’s not uncommon for clergy to laud political leaders; religious groups celebrated President Barack Obama as well. But the tenor of recent days is distinct: evangelical leaders such as Lance Wallnau—an avid devotee of dominionism who participated in Trump’s meetings with pastors during the campaign—wholeheartedly endorsed the Cyrus comparison for Trump. In December 2015, he … Continue reading The Cyrus President
The 20 percent of white evangelicals who did not vote for Trump — many of whom are conservative politically and theologically — now seem to have a lot more in common with mainline Protestants. Some in my own circles have expressed a desire to leave their evangelical churches in search of a more authentic form … Continue reading Evangelical Crisis of Faith
Holy cow (literally)! I’ve never thought about this connection (and if your church wants to be like Jesus and throw the money changers / ATM machines out of the Temple and switch to online donations, Harrelson Agency can help with that). “The second dimension for consideration in the appearance of ATMs in the lobbies of evangelical churches … Continue reading ATM’s are the American Money Changers
By signing up to play Pokemon Go through Google, many iOS users have unknowingly exposed all of their emails, chats, calendars, documents and more to the game’s developer and third-parties. Source: Pokemon Go catches all your Google data (here’s how to stop it) | Cult of Mac I’ve been thinking a good deal about this … Continue reading Pokemon Go snatches all of your Google data
I’m looking forward to seeing what they — and the many great writers who’ve contributed to The Toast — do next. (At least two are working for my campaign!) As we look back at what this site has meant to so many of you, I hope you’ll also look forward and consider how you might … Continue reading Wow, Hillary just won the internet.
Amid protest, song and fears of a denominational breakup, United Methodists at their quadrennial General Conference decided yet again not to decide anything regarding LGBT rights. But in a groundbreaking move, the delegates from the U.S. and abroad voted 428-405 on Wednesday (May 18) to allow the church’s Council of Bishops to appoint a commission to … Continue reading The Death of the Denominations
It was like affirmative action for conservatives. When did conservatives start demanding quotas AND diversity training AND less people from Ivy League Colleges. I sat there, looking around the room at ‘our side’ wondering, ‘Who are we?’ Who am I? I want to be very clear — I am not referring to every person in the room. … Continue reading The Conservative’s Tituba
