b.rox

Regarding the current foofaraw being raised over remarks by Obama’s former pastor, Xy made the following observation:

If I could hear preaching like that, I’d go to church more often.

Amen. Indeed, it’s our feeling that the real shame here is not the remarks Wright made. The shame is that Obama feels the need to repudiate them.

A question to all the Christians out there:
How would you like to see non-Christians act with regard to Christmas? How can we be both respectful to you and true to ourselves?
Clearly we can’t celebrate the religious aspect of the holiday, so would you rather we not participate at all? That doesn’t seem quite fair, since [...]

So last night, in his big “religion” speech, Mitt Romney warned of nefarious forces bent on “establishing a new religion in America – the religion of secularism.”
Meanwhile, a new poll reveals more Americans believe in the devil than Darwin’s theory of evolution.
Those results hardly suggest a rising tide of secularism. I’m forced to conclude that [...]

For various reasons I’ve made an effort over the years to eliminate God-talk from my everyday speech. I try not to make casual reference to God. For example, I don’t say “God bless you” or “Thank God.” If I hit my thumb with a hammer I may make a spontaneous exception.
And now I’ve found another [...]

On Thursday, Xy and I went on down to Spanish Plaza, caught the tail end of Dennis Quaid and the Sharks and watched The Big Easy on the big screen. (I wrote about this event in advance, but remember, I am not a marketing tool.) It was fun in a cheesy way. As Chris Martel [...]

Jerry Falwell’s passing today gives me pause to reflect. Twenty-odd years ago I was fascinated by Falwell. I got on his mailing list and joined his organization by sending in a donation of one penny. I got a membership card which I shrink-wrapped and still have today. Believe it: I’m a card-carrying member of the [...]

I’m not the praying type, but all the same I thought I’d pass on this prayer, written by Sr. Loretta McCarthy, SBS.

Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on us. You who hovered over the waters and brought all into being, grant us the grace to be people of peace and hope during this 2006 [...]

I didn’t do so well on the new BibleDudes Quiz…

Heard at the barbershop today:
The devil’s out on these streets… Kids killing each other… It’s hard… Anybody doesn’t keep themselves prayed up these days is crazy…

Viriler. That’s the word I used as the first play of our first game of Scrabble last night. (It was four-way Scrabble: Xy vs. me vs. MaPó vs. Martin, whom we had over for basil burgers.) Because it cleared my tray, it was worth 70-some points, and of course awed my opponents. A pretty good [...]

Last night we ate dinner in a cave. We woke up this morning in the DeVille Motel in Waynesville, Missouri, perhaps slightly hungover from the previous night’s bout of drinking at a local nightclub. Soon we were touring Onandaga Cave. Shortly thereafter we ate lunch at Homer’s BBQ, a little hole-in-the-wall in Sullivan, Missouri, where [...]

We’ve just about fleshed out the itinerary for our upcoming trip, and I realize now that we’ll be at my parents’ house on Sunday morning.
As a rule, this is something I’ve tried to avoid in recent years, as it brings up the sometimes awkward matter of going to church — or not going to church, [...]

Last week’s episode of This American Life was the most thought-provoking I’ve ever heard, on a subject of great interest to me: religion. And it’s now available online for your listening pleasure.

I keep forgetting to mention that, after two and a half years of work, the BibleDudes website was officially launched last month, and I’m just as proud as punch. We still have plenty of content to add, so this project will be keeping me busy for years to come.

Alas, the new pope is a conservative German guy.
The good news is he may not be around long.

I was reading the current issue of the Fifth Estate, and I came across a quotation of a provocative a passage from the same magazine in 1978, regarding the death of Pope Paul VI:
Like a full moon, like the blazing collapse of a bank in an earthquake, like the comedic sinking of an imperial barge, [...]

I’ve always been under the impression that Lent lasted exactly 40 days.
Looking at the calendar the other day, I noticed the count from Ash Wednesday to Easter was more like 46.
Turns out that Sundays in Lent don’t count. There are exactly 40 non-Sundays in there. Sunday is a celebration of the resurrection, so I guess [...]

SFGate has an interview with Rik Myslewski, and it’s not about MacAddict — it’s about his own personal brand of atheism.

So yesterday a homeless man from Austin had his case against the state of Texas heard before the Supreme Court, and yet none of my friends from Austin have supplied any details, juicy or otherwise.
I think this is an important case. It could have far-reaching implications vis-a-vis the separation of church and state.
I’m rooting for [...]

The LA Times has an interesting interview with Julia Sweeney of SNL fame about her one-woman show, “Letting Go of God.”