The weight of being single

Anyone who knows me well (or has read my book – buy and/or review it here) knows I’ve been single my whole life, and that fact used to depress me a lot. When I was younger, I was obsessed with being married, and I thought my happiness was contingent on it. For many reasons, though, […]

“I Love Jesus, but I Hate the Church”

Man, can I relate to this sentiment. I’ve had a rocky relationship with a handful of churches. Several of my friends have been abused in a variety of ways by different ones – emotionally, relationally, spiritually. Physical abuse by churches is often plastered on the news. Many (maybe even most) churches are broken. When we’ve […]

Christian, the time to step up is now

I have many dear friends who have given up on the Church. I am incredibly sympathetic, because I have been struggling and wrestling with my relationship with the Church for several years now, myself. These friends are across the ideological spectrum – they’re Christians of both the “progressive” and “traditional” variety, and they have different […]

How churches manipulate us

It’s really hard for church leaders to recognize when they’re wrong. If you’re a pastor or any other kind of leader within a church, chances are good that you have very noble intentions and believe the things you do and say are motivated from a place that honors and respects God and the church. Because […]

Why the American Church is failing

The Christianity practiced by the American Church has made it largely impotent and a shadow of what it is supposed to be. Lord, where to even begin? I guess the first place is to note that, while this critique is aimed primarily at the White American Church, there is no version that is blameless and, […]

Too many Christians are voting out of fear and ignorance

Many of you who need to read this probably won’t because you’ve judged and labeled me as something that allows you to justify ignoring me, probably “liberal” or some other similar term. I’m not, but that’s what people do in order to avoid things they don’t understand, don’t agree with, or otherwise fail to properly […]

Competing Christian visions of America

I have been writing in this blog space for over seven years, and a very small number of people have faithfully and lovingly followed much of what I’ve said over that time. I write for many reasons, but primarily it’s one of the few ways you can really get to know someone short of having […]