Reading Time: 12 minutes Christians’ false narrative of hopelessness represents a big part of their current marketing to their target customers. But in truth, it only worsens the actual hopelessness that their salespeople claim to be alleviating.
narratives
Posted inReligion
Al Mohler and the Subtle Warnings Authoritarians Give
Reading Time: 9 minutes The contents of that speech and its intended audience both matter enormously. They tell us a lot about how authoritarians model behavior for their followers — and warn them of the consequences of stepping out of line. Today, let’s examine Al Mohler’s 2010 speech for its authoritarian signals.
Posted inGeneral
A Star Wars Retrospective: May the Fourth Be With You
Reading Time: 7 minutes Hi and welcome back! It’s Star Wars Day! Man, that whole series has some serious staying power, doesn’t it? Today, let me show you how the first movie impacted me, back in the day — and what its legacy still means today. (Posts touching on Star Wars: Yes, Virginia, There Is An Obi-Wan; The Awesome Power […]
Posted inGeneral
The Evolving Appeal of Cinderella (LSP #189)
Reading Time: 7 minutes As narratives go, Cinderella has alternated between capturing American women’s imaginations to repelling them, then back again to charming them. Today, Lord Snow Presides over a fairy tale that speaks to how we feel, ultimately, about relationships — and people are examining this age-old love narrative from a modern perspective.
Posted inReligion
Christians’ Narrative Around Deconversion Isn’t Helping Them
Reading Time: 8 minutes I recently caught an interesting YouTube video by Seth Andrews (‘The Thinking Atheist’). It shows people who’ve left Christianity talking about why they left. And it got me thinking about the drastically-different narrative that toxic Christians spin about people who leave their ranks — and why they create such narratives. Today, let me show you a contrast to the simple truths shown in this video: an article by a conspiracy-theory-addled Christian who desperately needs ex-Christians to conform to a script he created.
Posted inReligion
The SBC’s Battle Royale Over Critical Race Theory (CRT)
Reading Time: 9 minutes As one might expect, the top leaders of the SBC are dealing with the fallout of their past in different ways — all to gain power at their frenemies’ expense. And one surprising player has moved to try to take center stage away from their current Dear Leader. Today, let me show you this ailing denomination’s newest Battle Royale — over Critical Race Theory (CRT), human rights, and just how much SBC leaders should pretend to care about anything or anybody but themselves.
Posted inReligion
Evangelistic Success in China Amid the Pandemic
Reading Time: 8 minutes Lately, I’ve noticed a distinct narrative developing in fundagelicalism. It involves claims of wild evangelism success amid the pandemic. So far, nobody’s ponied up numbers supporting these claims (only contradicting them), but this sure wouldn’t be the first time Christians have made claims without evidence. This time around, though, the claims come from quite a venerable source. Today, let me show you someone from Billy Graham’s evangelism business making claims of a revival in China — and why I don’t trust this story.
Posted inReligion
The New Narrative Lie of Evangelism Success (Amid the Pandemic)
Reading Time: 10 minutes Christian evangelists and dishonesty: it’s one of the strongest pairings ever. They’ll say anything to score a Jesus sale! But we can tell a lot about their success by checking out what they don’t say in their own glowing self-reports. There’s a narrative taking form in Fundagelical-Land about evangelism amid the pandemic, and it is as false as anything […]
Posted inReligion
How Positive Thinking Backfires
Reading Time: 8 minutes Hi and welcome back! Lately, we’ve been talking about the cult of positive thinking. That’s an ideology that insists that people must maintain a attitude of perfect positivity in order to affect reality itself with their very thoughts. And today, I’ll show you the harm this mindset produces. (Previous posts in this series: Rethinking the Power […]
Posted inReligion
Reconciling Christian Experiences With Deconversion
Reading Time: 7 minutes When people realize that Christianity’s claims aren’t true, often they reassess a lot of their former experiences in the religion. And in many cases, they must. What onetime Christians once considered real live miracles while we believed those claims turn out to be simple exaggerations or misunderstandings–or worse, outright lies or even attempts to con us out of our time and money.