Evangelical Theology is a Jenga Tower. Mainline Theology is a mosaic. -Diana Butler Bass @dianabutlerbass.bsky.social Full episode on @thesacredslope YouTube Spotify Apple youtu.be/-ljLPvZN-lc?... Get Diana's book A Beautiful Year bookshop.org/shop/thesacr... #christianity #deconstruction

🧊✈️ SEATTLE: A girl in chains boards an ICE-chartered GlobalX airplane (tail: N630VA) at Boeing Field, to be transported south to Arizona 👀

I don’t think people really see how threatening it is for Talarico to called the Christianity practiced by most Republicans “an abomination.” He is hitting where it’s gonna hurt.

WatchYourRepsTN&SC@watchyourrepssc.bsky.social · 8mo ago

They thump Bibles and scream "Jesus saves"—but watch them turn their backs on the sick, the poor, the stranger at the border. Talarico nails it: If you claim to love Jesus, start loving your neighbor. Not just in words. In action. Hypocrites take note—this is the faith America needs.

2/ Americans ask for healthcare, affordable housing, gas and groceries. Trump and Hegseth give them a public execution. American Evangelicals claim to want “the Kingdom of God” but more and more they are re-creating Rome’s Empire. The very empire that put Jesus to death by public execution.

Wow. The blunt truths are SUCH a relief to hear. As horrible as it all is, it’s like I can finally catch my breath, just by hearing a politician bluntly say them out loud.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 3d ago

Ossoff: "on Marco Rubio's watch the world is on fire, we are hemorrhaging our munitions stockpile, the administration appears to be trying to coverup combat casualties ... and he's trying to soft launch his presidential campaign. These people are not focused."

Okay so we have a number now: the Onion is officially 6 months ahead of reality.

The Onion@theonion.com · 3d ago

From The Archive: DOJ To Bring Back Firing Squad As Means Of Entertainment

Bad debate night for people named Collins.

ICE agents have shot yet another person in the street, this time a man in his car in the Bronx while his small child sat in the backseat. www.reuters.com/world/us/per...

New York City man shot in car with child present by ICE agents, mayor says

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents shot and wounded a man on Thursday in his car with a ​child present in the vehicle in the Bronx borough of New York City, ‌according to the mayor, city po...

reuters.com

“Psychotic bloodthirst” is the most on-point description of Hegseth’s worldview ever.

jamelle@jamellebouie.net · 3d ago

i am genuinely shocked by the psychotic bloodthirst on display with hegseth

Huh. This reminds me of something. It's on the tip of my brain... Oh yeah, this is it.

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 3d ago

Whoa. @haleaziz.bsky.social has the scoop on a truly insane plan to use some military training ships for deportations, with people presumably shackled or locked in cells for days at a time as they transit to Central and South America. Each journey would be staggeringly expensive — and dangerous.

The 400 richest Americans are now worth a record $8 trillion. The entire bottom 50% of American households is worth just $4.27 trillion. Read that back. When 400 people control more wealth than half a country’s population, we have a very serious problem.

Devastating 💔 Abolish ice www.instagram.com/reel/DePkMcN...

This is disgusting and morally abhorrent.

AFP News Agency@en.afp.com · 3d ago

BREAKING US execution by firing squad of Fort Hood shooter to be livestreamed: Pentagon official

NEW Episode with @dianabutlerbass.bsky.social is out on The Sacred Slope Podcast YouTube Spotify Apple podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/6...

What happens when two historians of American religion who also write about spirituality get together to talk about "losing religion," post-evangelicals, and faith and politics? Well, "everything happens" that you probably wouldn't expect! dianabutlerbass.substack.com/p/kate-bowle...

Kate Bowler and Me: Losing Religion

“Everything Happens” on post-evangelicals, politicized religion, and not demonizing the nones

dianabutlerbass.substack.com

"One Reason Why We’re Not Doomed" by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer this candle in my room lit by the candle in your room across the world

"Sorry about your dead kid. Hey, you want to see my fancy party room? Look at that gold! Lotta gold. I got a new helicopter, too! Do you feel better now about sacrificing your child on my altar? Worth it, right? Look at that gold."

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 5d ago

Trump on his meeting with Gold Star families: "I invited them out to check out the new helipad, check out the new ballroom, and check out the new helicopter"

I hate AI so much.

Did I just turn John Winthrop's "city upon a hill" against the Christian America crowd? Why yes, I did! An American Covenant? dianabutlerbass.substack.com/p/an-america...

An American Covenant?

Cultivating Conversations from the Cottage

dianabutlerbass.substack.com

How is it not treason for POTUS to invite Iran to bomb LA or San Diego? And no, it was not a joke. He’d actually love it if California were destroyed.

the hill we climb. If only we dare. It’s because being American is more than a pride we inherit, it’s the past we step into and how we repair it. – Amanda Gorman

I'm watching the Trump speech in Ohio. After all these years, I still can't figure out if he's a monster, a liar, or a deranged fool. Maybe all of the above?

Trump's speech this evening in Vandalia, OH is about 24 miles from Springfield, OH where the funeral of Pierre Damas Bel, the young man whose suicide was a result of ICE, is being held today. It is an abomination that he'd show up on such a tragic day. I doubt he's coming to apologize.

Hope locates itself in the premises that we don’t know what will happen and that in the spaciousness of uncertainty is room to act. - Rebecca Solnit

For those of you who couldn't make it to the Wild Goose festival last month, here's a handy recording of my conversation with @dianabutlerbass.bsky.social about exciting Bible scholarship updates: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zCT...

Mary Magdalene Unbound with Elizabeth Schrader Polczer and Diane Butler Bass

YouTube video by Wild Goose (Wild Goose Festival)

youtube.com

Visitors to the US are on track to drop by almost two million year-on-year. “We’re the only major country in the world losing visitation,” the head of the US Travel Association said. “It’s mind-boggling.” www.semafor.com/article/09/2...

Talking to @dianabutlerbass.bsky.social about "A Beautiful Year" & about one of my fav pods, The Convocation Unscripted w/@kkdumez.bsky.social @robertpjones.bsky.social & @jemartisby.bsky.social Ep coming soon to The Sacred Slope! bookshop.org/shop/thesacr... #christianity #deconstruction

The Kansas GOP attacking Adam Hamilton as a "woke preacher" for a sermon that urged his congregation to live more responsibly as climate change threatens should make every mainliner proud. May every one of us be attacked for caring about the future of the planet and creation.

Signs in my neighborhood.