I do not celebrate the fourth of July anymore and have not for many years. There are a number of reasons for my refusal to idolize a flag and the nation state where I was born. To start with, the Declaration of Independence written by Thomas Jefferson and ratified by the Continental Congress on July …
The importance of the first amendment
Right wing ideologues have been trying to create the Constitution in their own image in much the same way they have created an authoritarian, hate-filled God in their image. They insist that separation of church and state is not in the Constitution as Lauren Boebert did during her reelection campaign at a speech she made …
Advanced praise for Theological Musings
The first volume of my collection of essays entitled Theological Musings: Collected Essays of a Tattooed Theologian comes out in August from https://quoir.com/. The collection covers a variety of topics from public theology to racism and anti-LGBTQIA bigotry. Early reviews are in and I'm quite humbled by what is being said. This remarkable many-faceted volume …
It’s Pride Month: Let’s talk about grooming
In 2016 a high profile professional footballer was sentenced to six years in prison in England. It was a tremendous scandal because the player in question was a Premier League player who had been capped a dozen times by the English national team. Because of his talent, Adam Johnson had the world at his feet. …
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The heresy of Christian nationalism
Christian nationalists are making a lot of noise these days on social media and elsewhere about wanting to set up a Christian theocracy in the United States because they don't like things such as "wokism" or "gender ideology" which in turn is because they're pro-bigotry. Take William E. Wolfe who served as the Deputy Assistant …
Leviticus 18:22 – a primer
Leviticus is one of the books in the Jewish Torah and the Christian Old Testament. Chapter 18 of the book deals with a variety of sexual issues that the authors felt were important to Israelites in the Ancient Near East. Leviticus 18:22 is one of the "clobber passages" that Christians have often weaponized to use …
Social justice is a Christian imperative Dr. Peterson
Dr. Jordan Peterson, the clinical psychologist and author beloved by many conservatives, is widely known for his crusade against social justice, the tyranny of using a person's preferred pronouns, his extreme misogyny and gender essentialism, his rejection of identity politics -i.e. he believes that white privilege is not real despite all the evidence showing that …
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Capitalism kills: A brief theological exploration of the love of money
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. 1 Timothy 6:10 Our economic system is capitalistic and it has been since Europeans first invaded the North American continent centuries ago. …
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Whither love?
Christians are often broadly painted with the same brush by people as a large homogeneous group. When I was immersed in the fundamentalist's worldview, the term Christians meant the people who believed as I did that the Bible is inerrant, penal substitution was the heart of the gospel, and all nonbelievers were going to suffer …
Let’s talk about Biblical marriage
Both houses of Congress recently passed the Respect for Marriage Act, with many Republicans joining with Democrats to pass the bill that will protect the right of same-sex couples to marry. Prior to it being voted on in the House of Representatives, conservative Republican congresswoman Vicky Hartzler gave an impassioned speech on the House floor …
The Tattooed Theologian 