The sociological research book Divided by Faith by Michael Emerson and Christian Smith shows how white evangelical Christians see the solution to America’s race problem coming at an individual level, not a systemic or legislative level (p.115, “Let’s Be Friends” chapter). The predominant thought is that if everyone became a Christian, the race problem would […]
An Agnostic and a Druid on Church in a Bar, Free Beer
We’ve been doing church in a bar, buying a free drink for first timers. Here’s an unsolicited blog comment I received this week following our 2nd time doing The Upper Room. Check out ChurchAtTheLoft.com if you’d like to come join us on a Tuesday night. This post was written by an agnostic who came to […]
Haters Gonna Hate: Flak from having beer at church
(disclaimer for clarity: “Haters gonna hate” is a tongue in cheek way of talking about people who give you criticism. It’s a somewhat popular figure of speech made much more popular by the recent Taylor Swift song “Shake it Off,” where Swift also uses it in what I think is a tongue and cheek fashion. […]
Pray for your Pastor
This reminded me of the recent blog post I did on The Struggles of Being a Pastor. This is another great reminder to pray for your pastor. I’m not posting this for self-pity or to complain, but to raise awareness as most all of these are true of me and likely of your pastor as […]
What To Do With Your White Privilege Besides Feel Bad About It
This is not a blog post to try to help white people understand what white privilege is and/or to persuade them to acknowledge it and do something about it. I did a blog post a few months ago that did that. It was helpful for many and received flak from others. I used the analogy […]
Bizzle’s Powerful Message to White Christians on Ferguson, Compassion
To my white Christian friends, when you read/listen to this, do so with humility, an open heart, and most of all with compassion. The question is not “Do you agree with all of Bizzle‘s points?” The question is, “Do you have compassion on what Bizzle, Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, John Crawford, Eric Garner and so […]