LE Blog

As a good Pentecostal-Evangelical child I remember my horror at seeing signs for “X-mas trees,” but also my disappointment at missing Trick-or-Treat so that we could be at the church for a more wholesome candy-based celebration. My parents weren’t the kind of Evangelicals who panicked when “the world” trod heavily

First, a plea for pity. As the blogger here at LE.orgI’m faced with the task of constantly sifting the religious and political news and thinking about how I might thoughtfully respond. I try to avoid spouting off and often purposefully stay away from events and ideas that create particularly emotional

Many, many years ago, when I was a young boy in Kentucky, I had my first real encounter with someone who had lost touch with reality. This event happened at a video store in Florence, KY and it was so long ago that the video store was still an actual

One of my favorite sports writers, Dan Shaughnessy, recently penned a piece for Sports illustrated where he tells about some of the old time ball players and how much they cultivated a sense of hatred for their rivals. They would avoid engaging one another socially in order to keep one

As the blogger here at LiberalEvangelical.org I often find myself in conversations with Liberals and Evangelicals who cannot understand how and why I am willing to identify as both a Liberal and an Evangelical. When I talk with Evangelicals, many of whom are conservative, I point to the life of

It’s hard to believe that the two year anniversary of one of my favorite brewing days is almost here. On August 24, 2008 I brewed a 5 gallon batch of a beer that would come to be known as “Election Wheat.” I planned to allow the beer to ferment and

My 4 year old thinks it’s hilarious, the picture in his Kids Bible of the disciples with flames on their heads. And he is right; the picture is funny. An image of 12 robed men with their hair on fire should strike a child as comical. We tend not to see

Liberals must reclaim a robust notion of sin. Yes, you read that correctly. Liberal Evangelicals, insofar as we have shied away from the term “sin” and allowed Conservatives to claim it as their property, must reclaim this classic Christian idea. I would even go so far as to say that

It’s just so easy to sit around and wait for someone to do religion for us. Isn’t that why so many of us crave charismatic leaders; inspirational people who can step into our tired churches and mundane lives and “get us going.” In all honesty that’s frequently what I’m looking for

Are you wasting time at work researching little known college teams looking for upsets? As a nation we are collectively in love with March Madness! It’s great fun, but I think it also provides us with some much needed clarity and simplicity. When the college football season ends, there is

As President Obama and Congressional Republican leaders prepare to gather for a “Summit” on healthcare, I pause to consider the value of political processes. Let us not lie to ourselves! Any time homo sapienstry to make decisions together, the process is inevitably political, so we ought to expect typical human

My text for today comes from the final season of NBC’s The West Wing. Specifically, I’m quoting from the character Arnie Vinnick, the progressive Republican Senator from California who is running for the Republican Presidential nomination. “I don’t see how we can have a separation of church and state in

“But why did those people hurt baby Jesus?” It’s a tough question to answer, and I guess that’s what I get when I let the Gospel tunes of Johnny Cash so deeply influence my young son. As I’m sure many of you have been doing these past few weeks, my