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May 7, 2010
The Mother of Mother's Day
Anna Jarvis spent her life trying to get people to get it. Mother's Day is a sacred commitment, not an annoying obligation to be fulfilled by fattening the pockets of the florists, the chocolatiers and Hallmark. "What will you do to rout charlatans, bandits, pirates, racketeers, kidnappers and other termites that would undermine with their greed one of the finest, noblest and truest movements and celebrations?" she railed, in one of her many diatribes against the commercialization of the day she had envisioned as far more profound. "I wanted Mother's Day," she said, "to be a day of spiritual sentiment, not profit."
Read The Mother of Mother's Day
| Posted By John D. Spalding | |
January 28, 2010
Who'll Feed Fido During the Final Judgment?
"You've committed your life to Jesus," the site announced. "You know you're saved. But when the Rapture comes, what's to become of your loving pets who are left behind? Eternal Earth-Bound Pets takes that burden off your mind."
Not knowing whether to be appalled or enthralled, I read on. "We are a group of dedicated animal lovers and atheists. Each Eternal Earth-Bound Pet representative is a confirmed atheist, and as such will still be here on Earth after you've received your reward. Our network of animal activists is committed to step in when you step up to Jesus."
Continue reading Securing Your Pet's Post-Rapture Future.
| Posted By John D. Spalding | |
January 13, 2010
Wheaton Weighs Its Future
This
year, Wheaton College celebrates its 150th birthday, making it a
time to look back and look forward at the "evangelical Harvard," particularly
as the school prepares to name a new president this spring. In "Whither Wheaton?", Andrew Chignell, a Cornell philosophy prof and Wheaton alum
('96), takes stock of the current administration's successes--e.g., growth of
the endowment, expansion of the physical plant--as well as its controversies--from
some rigidly conservative hiring decisions to its top-down managerial style.
And he registers concerns of faculty, students, and supporters about what
course the college is headed as it appoints new leadership. Notes Chignell:
The sense of the
constituency interviewed for this story (and my own sense as well) is that it
is crucial to keep in mind that a college is not the church, and its presidency
is not the papacy. Even at a systemic institution like Wheaton, there must be
protected space--wiggle-room--for the creative thinking, loving disagreement, and
emphatic debate--even about interpretation of the heritage--that set academic
communities apart.
Read
Andrew Chignell's Whither Wheaton?
| Posted By John D. Spalding | |
December 21, 2009
Favorite Christmas Flicks
One of the things I most look forward to at the holiday season is
settling down with a big bowl of chips, salsa and kosher pickles and
watching my favorite Christmas movies. It's become a real tradition to
visit with old Scrooge and the other characters we've all grown to love
through the years and relive, yet again, their trials, tribulations and
transformations.
Read Mary Beth Crain's Ho, Ho, Hollywood.
| Posted By John D. Spalding | |
December 14, 2009
Palin and Prejean: Dumb and Dumber
As long as there are die-hard Christian rightists, there will always be a home for the Carries and Sarahs of the world. Sean Hannity, who proudly wrote the foreword to "Still Standing," was still standing by his blonde bombshell cutie in a sympathetic interview in which he gave her all the leeway in the world to wriggle out of her jaw-dropping faux pas.
For every intelligent, thinking person who sees Prejean for what she really is, there's a halfwit defending her for just "being human."
Read Mary Beth Crain's Bad Dream Girls.
| Posted By John D. Spalding | |
May 7, 2010
The Mother of Mother's Day
By Mary Beth Crain
Anna Jarvis, the founder of Mother's Day, hated flowers, candy, and greeting cards. Our kind of mom!
January 28, 2010
Securing Your Pet's Post-Rapture Future
By Mary Beth Crain
What will happen to Christians' pets after the Rapture? No worries. These animal-loving atheists will feed them.
January 13, 2010
Whither Wheaton?
By Andrew Chignell
The evangelical flagship college charts a new course.
December 21, 2009
Ho, Ho, Hollywood
By Mary Beth Crain
My four top Christmas Movies.
December 14, 2009
Bad Dream Girls
By Mary Beth Crain
Sarah Palin and Carrie Prejean remind us that in America, dumb and dumber equals rich and richer.
July 16, 2009
The New, Updated Gospel of Mark
By Stephanie Hunt
In South Carolina, Vacation Bible School gets Sanforized.
July 16, 2009
Why Is a Spiritual Advisor Like a Lay's Potato Chip?
By Mary Beth Crain
Answer: Betcha Can't Have Just One!
December 24, 2008
Christmas Eve Blues
By Ondine Galsworth
Your best friend is dead. Your mother is bi-polar. And you've lived your life as a fake Catholic. Where do you go from here?
December 23, 2008
Christmas Gifts of Long Ago
By Mary Beth Crain
What would it be like if today's techno-spoiled kids were forced to have a good old-fashioned Victorian Christmas?
November 25, 2008
Giving Thanks in Thankless Times
By Mary Beth Crain
In times of fear and despair, gratitude is sometimes all we've got left.
November 16, 2008
Seeing Red
By Stephanie Hunt
Obama's presidential victory is a huge step forward for our nation. But in the Carolinas, it's still North versus South.
October 29, 2008
Ghost Writer
By Mary Beth Crain
Our senior editor talks about her new book, "Haunted U.S. Battelfields," the perfect read for a creepy and kooky, mysterious and spooky, altogether ooky All Hallows Eve.
October 26, 2008
The Poison Seeds Spread by Dying Congregations
By Matthew Streib
Just as a certain presidential candidate has gone to the extremes of negativity in a desperate attempt to keep his campaign alive, so parallels can be seen on the religious front.
October 11, 2008
Palin Watch V: Troopergate, Poopergate!
By Mary Beth Crain
Confronted with a scathing indictment of abuse of power, Governor Palin thumbs her nose at the "Troopergate" report.
October 4, 2008
Palin Watch IV: Post-Debate Musings
By Mary Beth Crain
This hockey mom belongs in the penalty box.
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