Reading Time: 9 minutes This investigative report has revealed that the SBC power structure allows abuse, protects abusers, and shamelessly protects itself at victims’ expense. That fact was apparently new to a lot of people! Today, let’s see what the hopelessly-corrupt, self-serving, and cowardly leader of this organization has been saying about the story.
The Authoritarians (Blog Series)
Posted inReligion
Abuse of Faith: The SBC Braces For a Long-Overdue Reckoning
Reading Time: 8 minutes Tonight, two Texas news outlets prepare to unleash a major report regarding an epidemic of abuse in Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) churches. They titled it Abuse of Faith. I can well imagine how the SBC’s top leaders must be bracing for it! Today, I’ll show you a little of what those leaders are afraid will come out in it–and what their reaction so far looks like.
Posted inReligion
Antiprocess: How Christians Deal With Challenges to Their Beliefs
Reading Time: 11 minutes When people receive information that challenges a cherished belief, they have at their disposal a number of methods to help them negate that information. We call those methods antiprocess. The further from reality the belief is, the more antiprocess believers bring to bear to protect it–so you can imagine that authoritarian Christians bring their A game to that task! Today, I’ll show you how antiprocess works, how it looks in the wild, and what it means for Christianity’s future.
Posted inReligion
Stuff Authoritarians Like: Historicity
Reading Time: 6 minutes Did you ever notice that the most intrusive and control-hungry Christians also tend to claim that Christianity boasts a historically-accurate Bible? There’s a reason for that. I’ll show you why, today.
Posted inReligion
Historicity: Testing the Claims of Christianity
Reading Time: 8 minutes We’ll lay out a basic definition of claims and defenses of claims. And we’ll start looking at one major claim within the religion: that it is based on real history. We’ll see how persuasive this claim really is–and see if the evidence stacks up behind it. And then we’ll examine some big problems with the idea of historicity as a claim for the religion’s truthfulness.
Posted inReligion
Seeking the Winning Team’s Banner
Reading Time: 6 minutes To be an authoritarian Christian is to live in constant, unending, ever-ratcheting-upward fear. They fear so many things! Today, I want to show you another important feature of these folks: their terror of loss. I don’t mean simply loss of objects or people they love, either. They’re also terrified of losing any confrontations in which they find themselves, as well. Here, I’ll show you the lengths to which this fear drives those suffering from it, and how they seek to soothe that fear.
Posted inReligion
Why Mockery Destroys Authoritarians
Reading Time: 7 minutes Bludgeons can’t have soft edges. And neither can those wielding them.
Posted inUncategorized
In Search of the TRUE CHRISTIANS™
Reading Time: 11 minutes Last time we met up, we explored the authoritarian urge to control how people use language. Today, we dive into a specific example of that urge. One of the biggest power plays in the religion is occurring right now as we speak, and it concerns who exactly gets to define what a TRUE CHRISTIAN™ is. […]
Posted inReligion
Authoritarians, Designated Adults, and Control of Language
Reading Time: 8 minutes Authoritarian Christians try hard to police how people share information and how they share it. Today, I’ll show you why they keep trying to police how others communicate.
Posted inReligion
The Attack of the Evangelism Apps!
Reading Time: 11 minutes I downloaded a whole bunch of evangelism apps last week and ran through them. I’ll show you what they are, how they work, and how likely they are to accomplish literally anything of use to the Christians who create and use them. Join me for a grand tour of evangelism apps!