Reading Time: 10 minutes A number of Christians confidently predicted that the Rapture would occur by September 23, 2023.
Spoiler: No Rapture occurred. But this failure won’t deter potential prophets any more than it ever has. It works too well.
1980s
Posted inReligion
Why evangelical youth ministers can’t ‘innovate’
Reading Time: 10 minutes Caught between the devil of a church model that many evangelical leaders openly criticize and the deep blue sea of an empty youth ministry, evangelical youth ministers have little choice.
Posted inGeneral
Ever Feel Like Our Timeline is Horked? (LSP #195)
Reading Time: 5 minutes Today, Lord Snow Presides over the ways that our timeline keeps crossing with those of popular old science-fiction movies.
Posted inReligion
It’s a Little Too Little and a Little Too Late for Evangelicals’ Credibility
Reading Time: 6 minutes Yes, I’ve seen some evangelical leaders wringing their hands about evangelicals’ supposedly-lost credibility. But as they’ll find, their concern is just a little too little and a little too late to make any kind of difference. We’re on to them now, and we won’t soon forget what we’ve learned.
Posted inReligion
John Ramirez: A Star Might Be Fading
Reading Time: 5 minutes He’s carved out a small career for himself by trying to resurrect the old Satanic Panic. Every Halloween for years now, he’s been seeking attention in the more gullible Christian circles with his tall tales. Today, let’s check in on John Ramirez and see how he’s doing this year.
Posted inReligion
The Redemption of Johnny Lawrence (LSP #161)
Reading Time: 9 minutes Hi and welcome back! Last week, we had a really good time mocking evangelist Greg Stier for idolizing Johnny Lawrence as the villain of the new show Cobra Kai. But the comparison has stuck with me ever since I heard it a while ago. There’s something fundamentally broken in evangelical leaders if they don’t understand the […]
Posted inScience
Weaponized Pet Names: Recognize This Control-Grab
Reading Time: 8 minutes Hi and welcome back! I find inspiration in the strangest places sometimes. Case in point: this story from Cheat Sheet about a TV show called 90-Day Fiance. In it, an unpopular star repeatedly calls his ex-girlfriend ‘sweetheart’ in one of this show’s ‘tell-alls.’ And the show’s fans exploded in outrage. They were right to take offense at his use […]
Posted inReligion
‘Atheist Overreach’ Explains Atheological Metaphysics
Reading Time: 7 minutes Hi and welcome back! Lately, we’ve been reading and discussing Christian Smith’s 2019 book Atheist Overreach. In part of it, he accuses a noted scholar and bestselling author of atheological metaphysics. Today, let’s examine what that is, and why it doesn’t exist — except in the minds of Christians who desperately need a way to negate […]
Posted inReligion
How Religion Hijacks the Weirdness of Liminal Spaces (Pre-Easter Post)
Reading Time: 10 minutes I want to dive into the way that liminal spaces affect us–and how they’ve impacted humanity’s view of religion ever since we realized what they were. Often, they’re at least partially responsible for those sometimes-spooky, mysterious experiences people have that they can’t explain: That One Weird Thing That Happened Once (TOWTTHO), which they often attribute to the supernatural. But they’re not supernatural. They’re perfectly natural. And today, I’ll show you how they work.
Posted inReligion
Briefly Escaping a Hotel Gala in ‘This Present Darkness’ (LSP #132, Ch. 18)
Reading Time: 10 minutes In this installment, the bad guy’s closest servant turns out to be a whistleblower, while angels help out way more than usual while somehow being way less helpful than they really should be, and we learn how little Frank Peretti knows about women’s fashion in the 1980s. Today, Lord Snow Presides over Christians’ illusions and mythology about prayer and angels.