Unemployed Theologian

This week several  "news" report s  have informed me that Katy Perry's new single " Roar " is for some reason up against Lady Gaga's " Applause " in the court of public opinion. God forbid both songs exist simultaneously in the same world without colliding into each other. We need the competition to keep things spicy, so PICK! PICK NOW! WHICH ONE? Just kidding, I don't care. I mean, the songs themselves are fine-to-good. Perry's is catchy, Gaga's a bit closer to "art," but really the only grounds for comparison is they are both performed by women. And keeping women pitted against each other is a time-honored way to keep them subjugated. It's interesting, the last time I even thought to compare the two artists was when I wrote  a blog post  about the Christian imagery in " Judas " by Gaga and " Who Am I Living For? " by Perry. I lauded both women for their presentations of honest, Christian struggles...

I have had it up to here *holds hand over head* with those who use the Bible, and worse still, the Gospel, to justify their hate and bigotry. I have HAD IT. To think the good news of Christ, of God's redemption of His beloved world would ever become a weapon used against His children, to think the cross would ever become a sword , it makes me sick. It repulses me.   When did the story of a God who stooped down low to love His children, specifically  those most outcast among their peers, become a tool of subjugation and oppression in the hands of the powerful and pious? When did we give the keys to the Kingdom back to the Pharisees? I'm afraid I know the answer: almost immediately. A few hundred years into Christendom, as soon as Christians got a little political power, we started rounding up and casting out all those on the fringes. We started neglecting the poor and equating prosperity and military victory with divine favor. When the church betrayed Her Bridegroo...