Reading Time: 8 minutes Hi and welcome back! Recently, a study came out regarding something of great interest to me. It’s quite an interesting study, linking as it does two personality traits: the dark triad and virtue signaling. Today, I want to explore both of these traits — and how signaling can influence us all. (This post was one of those […]
In-Groups
Posted inLGBTQ, Religion
Herd Immunity for the Christian Bubble
Reading Time: 10 minutes The denizens of broken systems tend to take very poorly to critics outside the group–and even more poorly to dissenters within it. Often they reserve their most vicious retaliation for those dissenters. But of late, it’s gotten safer for Christians to dissent. In a very real sense, their tribe’s herd immunity may be fading away. I’ll show you why today–and why there’s never been an easier time to walk away from that most broken of systems.
Posted inReligion
Evangelical Churn: A Tidal Wave of False Reasons.
Reading Time: 9 minutes Sometimes we’re surrounded by something before we realize just how much of it there is. That happened to me today: I suddenly noticed just how many Christians there are who have firm ideas about why people–especially younger people–are leaving their churches. Those ideas tend to run along one of two lines, and both of those lines are totally wrong.
Posted inGaming, Religion
Agent Milo and the Case of the Useful Idiot
Reading Time: 11 minutes I’ve noticed a great many people remarking upon the downfall of alt-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos and I wanted to mention something about why he rose and why he fell, because in it we find a cautionary tale for people who might be in a similar life situation without realizing it.
Posted inReligion
The Big Problem with Denominational Infighting.
Reading Time: 11 minutes I’m reading this weird little sermon transcript about “The Difference Between Calvinism and Reformed” and it’s making me think anew about the big problem with denominational fights: namely, that their proliferation and quarrels only illustrates the lack of validity for Christianity’s claims.
Posted inReligion
Love Sonnets from the Christianese.
Reading Time: 8 minutes Christians’ coded communication can backfire around someone who knows what it means. I touched on this idea a little in a previous post by offering up translations for common Christian offenses against non-Christians, but today we’ll go into some more detail. We’ll be doing something a little different, though. We’ll be talking about why this language is used, not just what it means.
Posted inReligion
Christians and the Law of Conservation of Worship
Reading Time: 9 minutes I’ve been thinking lately about something I’ve noticed about many Christians trying to evangelize non-believers: they try to paint our various worldviews as very similar to their own, only inferior. Sometimes the lengths to which they’ll go to establish this commonality seem downright nonsensical. If you’ve ever wondered why that is, then strap into your seat because today we’ll be talking about the Law of Conservation of Worship.
Posted inReligion
The Christian’s Guide to Ex-Christians: Parables (Really Suck).
Reading Time: 6 minutes If I ever did a “Stuff Christians Like” entry, it would be about parables. Not the ones in the New Testament, though yeah, they say they like those too. No, a lot of Christians love making parables to “teach” and “reach” non-believers. They think parables show their own timeless wisdom and gentle hearts, and they […]