Blogaround

A yellow lab who believes itself to be stuck under a laundry basket. Image source.

1. Law of Kindness: how Christianity affects my ethics (posted February 5) "There’s a mental separation I have to live with: as a public citizen, as a voter, as a member of interfaith communities and activism movements, I’m not a pacifist. I believe that mandating pacifism on oppressed peoples is another act of violence against them. I think that enforcing standards like “be kind” or “stay calm” or “tolerate ignorant shitheads” onto trauma survivors can re-victimize them all over again."

2. Why the “God Is a Father and Must Punish His Children” Defense of Hell Makes No Sense to Me (posted February 9) "A lot of justifications of hell revolve around seeing God as a parent who must punish his wayward children. But here’s the thing—I don’t punish my children."

3. Beyoncé's Formation reclaims black America's narrative from the margins (posted February 8) Also, watch Beyonce's Superbowl performance here.

4. A request from your fat friend: what I need when we talk about bodies. (posted February 7) "Every discussion about bodies — whether in the media or amongst friends — is about how to avoid the horrible fate of looking like me."

5. Cam Newton, the Super Bowl, and Racist Stereotypes Against a Black Quarterback (posted February 6) "A white reporter demanding that a black quarterback answer for white stereotypes against black quarterbacks points to the power structures of racism in American culture. Black people must answer for racism? Really?"

6. Beyoncé is Not Racist or ‘Anti-Cop’/ And Neither were the Black Panthers (posted February 10)

7. Here Is Why Only Women Showed Up to the Senate After Snowmageddon (posted January 27) "Because if you’re not a white dude, you basically have to prove everything. Forever."

8. Gravitational waves, Einstein’s ripples in spacetime, spotted for first time (posted February 11) "The observation tests Einstein’s theory of gravity, the general theory of relativity, with unprecedented rigor and provides proof positive that black holes exist." Cool!

9. Peyton Manning’s squeaky-clean image was built on lies, as detailed in explosive court documents showing ugly smear campaign against his alleged sex assault victim (posted February 13) Oh my god. [trigger warning, sexual assault]

10. The Truth About Hymens And Sex (video) "Our bodies don't come with built-in virginity detectors, and sex isn't 'supposed to'' hurt the first time."

11. Christian Ed: Not Quite Dead? (posted February 13) "The problem with Christian colleges ... is the conviction that thinking the right things is what defines us as faithfully Christian. And so we create lists of things we have to think in order to play on one particular playing field. The problem with this is that the whole point of academic pursuit is the expansion of knowledge. And if knowledge is expanding, it will always come at the expense of what we thought we knew before."

12. How I Was Moved To Support Same-Sex Marriage In The Church (posted February 4) "For 13 years I was mostly on board with leaders who maintained that marriage was between a man and a woman, assuming they were onto something I was missing."

13. Doing Christianity “Jewishly”: Asking all the hard questions (posted January 25)