I sometimes find it amusing, and at other times rather irksome, the speed at which many Christians are able to pass negative judgment on secular art and culture; especially when these judgments are blatantly based more on a personal distaste than anything religious.  Often, I end up running into passionate by-the book-when-convenient Christians, who are [...]

With the change in American political administrations, I’ve been hearing loads of chatter (and fear mongering) about the freedom of religious speech.  One example is around so-called hate-speech legislation and the Fairness Doctrine.
Another and more intersting example is highlighted in a recent Pew study on government funding of faith-based social services. The results seem conflicted, which [...]

Driving home last night I switched the radio from my normal news station to a local Christian station because I wanted to do a little singing.  I sang to the last half of one song and the whole next one, but then the station broke for a word from a women’s ministry.  The spot began [...]

I first started thinking about this post last year during Advent, but I think it’s still relevant now as we look ahead a few months to Easter.  We know Advent is a time of longing for the fulfillment of God’s promises, and baby Jesus is gift we celebrate with an eye toward his death and [...]

This is a quotation from Christine Walker’s The Fall of the Evangelical Nation that I found via this post on The Suburban Christian:
A large reason megachurches grow is because of where they usually locate—in burgeoning suburbs. Young families, attracted to the suburbs’ less-expensive housing, want religion for their children. They’re energetic, and they have rising [...]

The opening lines from Christopher West’s article about the theology of sex over at Breakpoint have been stuck in my head all day:
If the typical Christian in our culture spilled the contents of his mind on a table, ideas about sex would probably look a lot more like Hugh Hefner’s vision than the apostle Paul’s…. [...]

IV Press’ Addenda & Errata blog has a post up calling writers and readers alike to stop and think before applying the labels “liberal” or “conservative” to theological positions and observations. It’s not that those labels are always inappropriate—rather that they make it too easy for us to lazily categorize views as one or the [...]

The Westboro Baptist Church has “graced” the pages of Think Xian before. But I was sent the following and wanted to pass it on…not that I think there are any sympathizers here. (Although some may agree with their beliefs but not their methods.)
Apparently WBC was “inspired” by the soap operish murder scenario of the pregnant [...]

Crunchy-Con has a post up about a suburban family giving gifts to a family that lives in a trailer park. Read the full post here.
All 30—30!—of the beneficent visitors pile into the trailer to watch the scraggly urchins open their gifts. And the guy leaves satisfied that his children now know the True Meaning [...]

Recently, my family attended a very flashy worship service: lights, cameras, rock and roll. I’ll admit even to my younger senses the ambiance proved to be distracting; however, this visual and aural assault really bothered my father. I don’t think this is a, “Oh, he’s just stuck in his ways” issue either.
Because music [...]