Unemployed Theologian

First, a reading from Scripture: ‘When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”’ ~  John 21:15-19 “Do you love me?”...

In the pilot episode of HBO's Newsroom Aaron Sorkin, pontificating through his curmudgeonly protagonist, calls Millennials (those of us in our late teens or twenties) the "worst. generation. ever." In his own tirade on the woes of our culture, Louis C. K. joins in on the fun, calling us "the crappiest generation of spoiled idiots." Geeze guys, tell us how you really feel. Is that fair, though? Do we really suck so terribly as that? Critics of the Millennial generation often cite our laziness and entitlement as reasons why we're the worst, which... I don't know, maybe that's fair. I certainly don't have much ground to argue we aren't self-obsessed or work-averse. We are, in fact, the "selfie" generation, infamous for compulsively sharing every thought, shoe, food item and hairstyle for the wide internet audience. It's as though each of us assumes the world would be worse off without our unilaterally compelling subtweets and ...

The gay marriage debate is everywhere you look nowadays, or at least for the last two days. Google tells me this is because the Supreme Court will soon rule regarding the constitutionality of California's Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in the Golden State in 2008 (apologies for any unintentional rhyming). This imminent decision has ushered in a social media firestorm, blowing up my facebook feed with red equals signs: I'm a firm believer in the notion that images communicate in ways words cannot, and this one hits home in a big way. It says that, in a nation where we value equality under the law, we cannot justify the denial of marriage rights to any minority group, including the LGBT community. Sounds reasonable enough, right? Apparently not everybody is so convinced. As I peruse the facebook-scape I am confronted not only by these red equals signs but by the (unfortunately) inevitable parody placards made by Christians in favor of preserving the "sanctit...