OnlySky is dedicated to protecting America’s secular democracy through reality-based journalism, storytelling, and commentary. But as a reader-supported platform, we need your help to do this work. Can we count you in?
You can cancel anytime.
OnlySky is dedicated to protecting America’s secular democracy through reality-based journalism, storytelling, and commentary.
Thank you for registering!
An account was already registered with this email. Please check your inbox for an authentication link.
Get the best of OnlySky in your inbox every week.
Sasha Sagan kicks off the Strange Customs podcast with actor, author, and activist BRANDON KYLE GOODMAN in a thoughtful and hilarious conversation about an ancient custom that is a major part of Brandon’s life—but one they couldn’t have participated in just a few years ago.
We’ll also hear from historian STEPHANIE COONTZ about how changeable and varied this “traditional” custom has actually been over the centuries.
Reading Time: 4 minutes Folk tales are filled with stories of humans marrying animals. But the consequences are very different for men and women—a difference that illuminates longstanding attitudes toward gender.
Reading Time: 9 minutes The Respect for Marriage Act finally passed a its last vote. It’s now on its way to the president’s desk, where he’ll likely sign it into law on Tuesday. But it got there over the kicking and screaming of the Christian Right, a loose-knit assortment of hardline evangelical culture warriors and creepily-authoritarian hardline Catholics.
Reading Time: 4 minutes When Robert Fenton was 26 and a youth pastor at Abide In the Vine Fellowship in Owego, New York, he told a couple that attended the church that he was drawn to their daughter and “meant to be with her.” She was 14 at the time. The church didn’t allow them to get married because […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes If major religious differences doom a marriage, mine should have been toe-tagged at the altar. Our religious differences were arguably as major as they could get. By the time I approached that altar in a century-old church in San Francisco, I’d identified as an atheist for 15 years. I read the Bible critically at 13 […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes Let’s run through 12 problems facing people who desire to mate with others who don’t share their religious worldview. If you can’t address and deal with the following 12 items, cancel your next date and proceed no further with the wedding plans. 1. Will you acknowledge or confront the feelings of both families—grandparents, parents, […]
Reading Time: 8 minutes Not too long ago, a friend of mine unsubscribed from the Christian faith. His wife did nothing of the sort, however, and now she is worried about how their three small children will turn out. Their extended families are both devoutly evangelical, so you can guess how they feel about my friend’s apostasy. Sometimes the […]
Reading Time: 8 minutes What these men want in marriage isn’t completely unreasonable. So (I wondered) why can’t they find it?
Reading Time: 10 minutes Hi and welcome back! The other day, we took an introductory look at a relic of Creationism’s heyday: Kent Hovind, who styles himself ‘Dr. Dino.’ Hovind got arrested right at the end of July on domestic violence charges against his newly-estranged third wife. He also didn’t respond well to her decision to end their relationship. […]
Reading Time: 7 minutes Not long ago, we reviewed a Christian book called Where Have All the Good Men Gone? In this book, author A.J. Kiesling sought to find out just why it was so incredibly hard for single evangelicals to find spouses to their liking. Then, we laid a lot of groundwork about the dysfunction going on in evangelicals’ marriage hunts and relationships. Today, I’ll show you the massive dilemma facing today’s single evangelicals — and what it tells us about evangelicals as a group.
