AI Is A Gateway To The Welfare State There’s a story being told about artificial intelligence that sounds, at first, like a story about liberation: AI will free us from boring jobs, make... Read More October 6, 2026 | Keith Giles
The Pharmakon of Autism Turns out, I’m autistic. I didn’t know I was autistic until recently, but I’ve lived my entire life as such. Everything I do is autistic, down to the... Read More October 1, 2026 | Matthew Distefano
Dolly Parton, Miley Cyrus, and the Trouble With Dead Bibles A month after Dolly Parton died, the first rush of tributes has begun to settle. The songs haven’t. A loop repeats exactly what it was given. An e... Read More September 28, 2026 | Stuart Delony
Not My Circus: How “Blame the Devil” Theology Protects Abusers and Guts Survivors “That wasn’t God. It was the devil.” If you are anything like me then you have heard this line. You’ve probably said it yo... Read More September 26, 2026 | Rev. Heather
No One Is Coming To Save Us So many of us were taught to just wait on God. Pray. Believe. Stay faithful — and God would swoop in and rescue us before it was too late. Not eve... Read More September 24, 2026 | Rev. Heather
Some People Need to Die? Or We Just Like Violent Solutions? A commenter recently shared under one of my posts on the death penalty: “Some people need to die.” I haven’t been able to stop thinking ... Read More September 23, 2026 | Paul Swearengin
The American Dream is Dead. Long Live My American Dream I thought we were capable of improving humanity; I no longer can hold onto that dream For me, the American Dream is dead… Oh, not that Ameri... Read More September 12, 2026 | Paul Swearengin
After 9/11, We Chose to be Jonah, not Jesus None of us will ever forget what we were doing Twenty-five years ago, will we? We all sat and stared at our televisions as we saw the results of an a... Read More September 12, 2026 | Paul Swearengin
MICHAEL W. SMITH KNEW On September 11, 2001, Michael W. Smith released an album called Worship. Reunion Records. It went double platinum. I’m not asking you to believ... Read More September 9, 2026 | Stuart Delony
Addressing the Recent Heretic Happy Hour Podcast Episode Today, September 8, Pastor Evan McClanahan joined the Heretic Happy Hour—a podcast I’ve been co-hosting for nine years now—to offer a Christian defen... Read More September 8, 2026 | Matthew Distefano
The Fake & Fraudulent Prophets Around the President When Christians Enter the Halls of Power, Who Will Tell the King the Truth? If you recognize any of these names, then you are at least familiar wi... Read More September 4, 2026 | Daniel Henderson
The Christian Right Is Changing Religions Most of you are not going to read the whole thing. I don’t blame you. The New York Times recently published Elisabeth Zerofsky’s sprawlin... Read More August 31, 2026 | Stuart Delony
Finding Yourself Is Not Abandoning God A few weeks ago, someone left this comment on one of my posts: “That’s the problem. Finding yourself. So many people are looking for them... Read More August 20, 2026 | Rev. Heather
When Walking Away is Walking Towards Christ On grief, permission, and the Christ your family never actually met There’s a specific kind of silence that happens when you realize it. Not the... Read More August 15, 2026 | Rev. Heather
We Knew The Michael Jackson biopic opened in April, cleared a billion dollars worldwide by July, and became the highest-grossing biopic ever made. It b... Read More August 11, 2026 | Stuart Delony
THE MACHINE | Post 8: The Reckoning What It Looks Like When the Machine Breaks Down — and What We Build Instead Picture a room full of people who were not supposed to find each other. They came from different denominations, different decades, different versions ... Read More August 12, 2026 | Rev. Heather
Yes, Max Miller, She Would Have Made You Empanadas Ohio GOP Representative Max Miller is an alleged abuser of women and girls. His ex-wife, Emily Moreno, has, in my opinion, credibly accused the Repub... Read More August 10, 2026 | Matthew Distefano
Is It the Drums or Is It the Holy Spirit? The founder of the New Evangelicals, Tim Whitaker, once described that he had the same feeling when playing drums for a secular band as he did when h... Read More August 4, 2026 | Karen Tibbals
When Institutions Fail Our Children: The Awakening Of Mothers Every few days, a new headline breaks. A new denomination. A new state. A new child. And every time, the pattern is the same. I want to walk you throu... Read More August 16, 2026 | Rev. Heather
Mr. Jambo Goes on a Mission Trip ▶ Watch “Mr. Jambo” by Kyle Gordon on YouTube. Kyle Gordon’s Barry Bergen lands in southern Africa and greets a man wit... Read More July 31, 2026 | Stuart Delony
THE MACHINE | Post 7: The Exit Tax What It Costs to Leave Picture a woman standing in a parking lot. She has just walked out of a meeting she was asked to attend — a conversation with two elders and the pasto... Read More July 26, 2026 | Rev. Heather
The Anthony Bourdain Approach For the past week, I have been in Maui with my wife and daughter. It’s been, in a word, incredible. But more than just a relaxing vacation with my tw... Read More July 24, 2026 | Matthew Distefano
Jeffrey Epstein and James Dobson: The Theology That Taught People to Look Away When the newly released Epstein files showed that Jeffrey Epstein sent a James Dobson article to a girl complaining about her father, it wa... Read More May 14, 2026 | Jeremy Steele
Love Offering Island Love Island USA wrapped its season. Congratulations #Brinity!Now the culture briefly has to survive without a cast of beautiful people betraying ... Read More July 20, 2026 | Stuart Delony
Hypocrisy Is religion about acting a certain way, believing a certain thing or having a relationship with a Higher Power? James and Paul clearly disagreed, one... Read More July 22, 2026 | Karen Tibbals
What If the Story of TransFemale Athletes is Not What You’ve Been Told? There is a story Americans have been told about transgender women in sports. It goes something like this: A mediocre male athlete decides he canno... Read More July 19, 2026 | Paul Swearengin
The Family Line — How the Machine Plants Itself in the Next Generation Picture a family on a Sunday morning. The father leads devotions before breakfast. He has a study Bible, a notebook, a plan. The children sit around t... Read More July 18, 2026 | Rev. Heather
The Kingdom of God A big part of Christianity is anticipating the Kingdom of God. Evangelicals believe that the term refers to the afterlife, and Israel has somet... Read More July 13, 2026 | Karen Tibbals
Tarot Is Occult to Evangelicals, Psychology Says Try It Whether you’re an atheist or a Christian, you should probably explore tarot. Yes, really. And Carl Jung would agree, which already complicates the... Read More May 14, 2026 | Jeremy Steele
America at 250? Time for Therapy to Face Our History, Rather than Whitewash It They say “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Yet, one must admit there are photographs that record history. And those that change... Read More July 5, 2026 | Paul Swearengin
I Debated Andrew Wilson, Here’s What I Learned This past Monday, I had the unpleasure of “debating” one of the worst internet personalities on the planet: Mr. Andrew Wilson himself. The guy who as... Read More July 2, 2026 | Matthew Distefano
The American Gospel of Never Enough Elon Musk is the world’s first trillionaire. A trillion dollars. Can you imagine that? That number is so large that it barely means anythin... Read More June 28, 2026 | Paul Swearengin
How corruption in megachurches leads to high pastor salaries and manipulation around donations(from a former megachurch staff member) You’ve seen the videos pastors with Bentleys and private jets, probably alongside stories from your own community. You’ve seen the church with 5,000 ... Read More May 14, 2026 | Jeremy Steele
Fertility Isn’t Falling. Compliance Is. The panic is everywhere. Elon Musk says low birth rates are “the biggest danger civilization faces.” JD Vance built a political identity a... Read More June 15, 2026 | Stuart Delony
THE MACHINE | Post 5: The Warden Accountability Structures That Protect Abusers I remember being told to go back. Not in those words exactly. It was framed as reconciliation. As Matthew 18. As the biblical process. There was a mee... Read More June 17, 2026 | Rev. Heather
Jesus Enters Public Domain As Copyright Expires New York – June, 2026 After nearly 2,000 years, the Christian Church’s copyright on Jesus has expired. Sources reveal that exclusive rights to the... Read More June 16, 2026 | Keith Giles
The Church Welcome Sign Lie: When All Aren’t Welcome Churches love to say “All Are Welcome.” It looks good on a sign. It sounds generous. It feels safe enough to post in a strip mall window or on a webs... Read More May 14, 2026 | Jeremy Steele
When in Doubt, Blame Obama My family and I (along with a friend of our daughter’s) are on a family vacation. Our first stop? The Ariana Grande concert. I didn’t att... Read More June 11, 2026 | Matthew Distefano
Is the Bible Inerrant (Without Error)? There’s a current movement among certain religious people to claim that they take the Bible seriously by accepting that it is without error. By this ... Read More June 11, 2026 | Karen Tibbals
And It Came to Pass — A Genesis of Christian Nationalism In the beginning, there was a wall. And the wall separated the church from the state, and the Founders looked upon it and said it was good. But th... Read More June 1, 2026 | Stuart Delony
America Worships Violence America was born through violence. Tea thrown into a harbor. Open fire when you see the “whites of their eyes.” The Confederacy fighting ... Read More June 2, 2026 | Paul Swearengin
Permission for Now It’s graduation season and high school seniors all over the country are leaving Last Will and Testaments in their school newspapers. I don’t remember... Read More June 1, 2026 | D.T. Bryant
Beyond Thoughts and Prayers: Caring for Children’s Bodies If we just talk of thoughts and prayersAnd don’t live out a faith that dares,And don’t take on the ways of death,Our thoughts and praye... Read More June 1, 2026 | Flo Paris Oakes
The Hierophant Challenges the Unregulated use of AI My family and I live in the Arizona desert where the water is scarce and the temperature rises to 110 degrees for successive months. There are two da... Read More May 28, 2026 | Gil Stafford
Books That Push Faith Beyond Fundamentalism If you’re going to spend your Christmas money on books, please don’t use it to buy another “the Bible is obvious if you just read it literally” fanta... Read More May 14, 2026 | Jeremy Steele
THE MACHINE | Post 4: The Silencer Spiritual Language Used to Shut People Up I remember the first time I was called bitter. I had said something true. I know that now. At the time I wasn’t sure — because that is exactly w... Read More May 27, 2026 | Rev. Heather
Reading Galatians Right Reading Romans Right came out well over a year ago. March 18, 2025, to be exact. And while the majority of the responses have been glowingly positive... Read More May 25, 2026 | Matthew Distefano
Is the Bible the Inerrant WORD of God? Modern Biblical scholars have many reasons that cast doubt on the idea that the Bible is the inerrant word of God. They have identified issues with t... Read More May 25, 2026 | Karen Tibbals
Alpha Males and Biblical Headship Are the Same Grift I was watching Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere when a strange feeling crept in.At first it played like a documentary about a culture I had never... Read More May 4, 2026 | Stuart Delony
THE MACHINE | Post 3: The Script How Women Are Taught to Perform Submission Before a girl knows what she believes, she knows how to behave. She knows to sit a certain way. To speak a certain way. To want certain things and n... Read More May 27, 2026 | Rev. Heather
Haunted By My Future Ghosts The reality of being a ghost in the future haunts me. What’s odd is that right now I’m being haunted by my future ghosts. I feel like I’m being watch... Read More May 25, 2026 | Gil Stafford
Why Pastors Hide Academic Bible Scholarship from Their Congregations Most pastors know things about the Bible they will never say from the pulpit. I know that because I was one of them. This Substack is reader-su... Read More May 14, 2026 | Jeremy Steele
THE MACHINE | Post 2: The Gatekeeper Picture a room. It doesn’t matter which room, exactly. It could be a seminary admissions office in 1987. A church elder board meeting in a sub... Read More May 12, 2026 | Rev. Heather
Second Screen Faith As a freshman in high school, I made the kind of decision that feels efficient in the moment and foolish almost immediately after. I had put off readi... Read More May 4, 2026 | Stuart Delony
The Machine – The Blueprint On How Patriarchy Became Theology I was maybe nine years old the first time I understood that my voice had a ceiling. I don’t remember what I said. I remember the correction. Qu... Read More May 10, 2026 | Rev. Heather
The Second Coming of Christ Several passages of the New Testament can be interpreted to say that Jesus was coming back in the lifetime of the apostles including Paul. That ob... Read More May 5, 2026 | Karen Tibbals
An Evangelical Case for Trump as the Antichrist I spent roughly 25 years in evangelicalism. I remember the prophecy charts, the altar calls after yet another hellish sermon, the constant hum of ... Read More May 3, 2026 | Matthew Distefano
America Didn’t Choose a Free Press, It Chose the Unchecked Free Market Let’s take an honest look at ourselves for just a minute. Let’s drop the platitude of “America, Land of the Free!” Let’... Read More May 1, 2026 | Paul Swearengin
How Spiritual Formation Works It doesn’t usually feel like control. It feels like guidance. Like clarity. Like growth. Like finally having someone in your corner who gets it... Read More April 29, 2026 | Stuart Delony
Bittersweet Reflections on Book Launch Day Today is launch day for Saints, Sinners, and Clickers. I should feel nothing but excitement. And I do, at least in part. Writing a book, finishing it... Read More April 28, 2026 | Matthew Distefano
Belinda Carlisle Gets Heaven Right In 1987, Belinda Carlisle released a pop song that accidentally wandered into theology. The song was called “Heaven Is a Place on Earth.” At first gl... Read More April 21, 2026 | Stuart Delony
Mercy for MAGA? How to respond when they finally wake up. In the last few weeks, we’ve seen several high-profile MAGA pundits begin to turn on Trump, and these are not obscure names. We’re talkin... Read More April 22, 2026 | Keith Giles
The Temptation Jesus Refused — and Christian Nationalism Accepted Christian Nationalism promises to “take America back for God.” But when you place it next to the Gospels, an uncomfortable possibility appears: th... Read More April 15, 2026 | Stuart Delony
Listening to the Disabled God Better to listen to the Disabled God than the Emperor who thinks he’s Jesus Christ. Erasma Ibuado-Reyes was deported to Mexico on March 7th. He ha... Read More April 15, 2026 | Gil Stafford
The Strange Line MAGA Christianity Just Decided to Draw We’ve all seen the picture of Trump depicting himself as Jesus Christ. And after everything, apparently now it’s blasphemy. I genuinely don’t u... Read More April 15, 2026 | Matthew Distefano
Living in a Science Fiction Novel Lately, I have been feeling like I am living in a science fiction novel. The news about artificial intelligence (AI), including the speculation... Read More April 10, 2026 | Karen Tibbals
The Fool’s April Tarot’s Fool walks in rhythm with the Zodiac, traveling from Aries to Taurus during April. Tarot relies on a compendium of resources that all operate... Read More April 12, 2026 | Gil Stafford
When Theology Becomes Foreign Policy For a lot of Christians, Israel has become a kind of shortcut. Say the right thing about it, and you’re in. Question it, even slightly, and som... Read More April 6, 2026 | Stuart Delony
The Day I Sat Down and Listened I want to tell you about a conversation that changed my life. Not the kind of “life-changing” people throw around casually. I mean t... Read More April 13, 2026 | Rev. Heather
Christian Nationalists Are Coming For Your Public School In my last post, Critical Thinking Citizens Or MAGA Loyalists?, I compared Russia’s school program of direct propaganda in trying to create... Read More April 5, 2026 | Daniel Henderson
Our “Abuser-in-Chief” (And How To Protect Yourself) Donald Trump Is An Abusive Person Politics today feels more like an emotional rollercoaster than a civic debate. Each day brings a new insult, a n... Read More April 5, 2026 | Daniel Henderson
Easter for Sale: When the Church Chooses Caesar In ancient Hebrew scripture, there’s a moment when the prophetic tone shifts. There are no more gentle invitations nor soothing poetic metaphors. Jus... Read More April 4, 2026 | Paul Swearengin
Happy Sadistic Friday (To Those Who Celebrate) I live in a state whose leadership has little energy for justice and an apparent insatiable addiction to injustice. They are, to put it in terms the ... Read More April 4, 2026 | D.T. Bryant
10 Things The Last of Us Teaches Us About Our World Note: Spoilers for The Last of Us (Part I and II) ahead. I didn’t write a book about The Last of Us because I was trying to be clever. Rather, I w... Read More April 2, 2026 | Matthew Distefano
Electrician or Exorcist: Who You Gonna Call? When something goes wrong in your home, it’s important to contact the right professional. Most issues fall into familiar categories—electrical, struct... Read More March 23, 2026 | Stuart Delony
It’s Not Prophecy If You Start the War Every time conflict erupts in the Middle East, a particular corner of American Christianity starts acting like sports fans watching the fourth quarter... Read More March 23, 2026 | Stuart Delony
The Fool’s Secret of Silence The Fool travels deep into the dark forest seeking cover from prying eyes. But how will The Fool communicate while eluding constant internet surveill... Read More April 13, 2026 | Gil Stafford
Why Nuremberg Shows People Don’t Have to be Stupid to Fall for Fascism – Just Vulnerable Out of curiosity, I went back and again watched the movie Judgment at Nuremberg. Doing so, I was struck by something that should disturb all of us: ... Read More April 2, 2026 | Paul Swearengin
The Danger The Duggars Reveal This Is Not a Glitch: What Joseph Duggar’s Arrest Tells Us About the System On March 18, 2026, Joseph Duggar — seventh child of Jim Bob and ... Read More March 30, 2026 | Rev. Heather
A Second Coming That Undoes the First There is a version of Christianity that has grasped power in America that should trouble anyone who takes Jesus seriously. It shows up in the rhetori... Read More March 22, 2026 | Matthew Distefano
“Mr. Nobody Against Putin” – A Cautionary Tale About Authoritarianism Last Sunday, the film Mr. Nobody Against Putin won the Oscar for Best Feature Documentary. I watched it that afternoon before the Oscar pre... Read More March 22, 2026 | Daniel Henderson
Wrapped in Prayer and Patriotism: The Old Script MAGA Thinks Is New The current nationalist movement in America likes to imagine itself revolutionary. It is not. The script is familiar. Step one: Convince the m... Read More March 15, 2026 | Paul Swearengin
Bombs, Bodies, and The Bible by Desimber Rose Wattleton-Njie There is a dangerous pattern woven through history, of bodies willing to use the Bible, bodies willing to distor... Read More April 26, 2026 | Desimber Rose
Happy St. Paddy’s Day, You Pagans Every year, it shows up the same way. Green everywhere. Beer dyed to match. People wearing symbols they don’t understand, celebrating a story they... Read More March 17, 2026 | Stuart Delony
James Talarico: Flipping Tables & Flipping the Script We will have to wait and see if Rep. James Talarico of Texas can turn his newfound celebrity into a Senate victory in that state in the fall. However... Read More March 16, 2026 | Daniel Henderson
My Universalism Demands Hell Universalism has a reputation problem. For a lot of Christians, the word sounds like moral surrender. Everyone gets saved, no matter what they’... Read More March 16, 2026 | Matthew Distefano
The American “Manly” Male Social Contract Has Always Been a Lie “My life finally makes sense.” That statement was my first thought after hearing I was carrying an emotional system with Dissociative ... Read More March 15, 2026 | Paul Swearengin
You Are Not My Assignment This essay first appeared on SnarkyFaith.com and is republished here. There’s a short passage that circulates constantly online. It usually appears un... Read More March 12, 2026 | Stuart Delony
The Dangerous Fantasy That Bombs Can Bring Democracy For more than two decades, American foreign policy has been guided by a persistent belief: that military intervention can remove tyranny and open the... Read More March 8, 2026 | Paul Swearengin
Petty Schisms for a Petty God Protestantism loves to tell itself a heroic origin story. The brave reformers stood up to corruption, reclaimed scripture, and restored faith to the p... Read More March 5, 2026 | Stuart Delony
War (with Iran), What Is It Good For? For years, FIFA peace-prize winner Donald J. Trump sold himself as the anti-war candidate, mocking the architects of the Iraq War, ridiculing “... Read More March 2, 2026 | Matthew Distefano
When Leaders Lie, Innocent People Die. You Good With That? So, here we are again, at war in the Middle East. Despite blistering critiques of other presidents, claiming they would bomb Iran in order to try and... Read More March 2, 2026 | Paul Swearengin
Sometimes Death Is Death. Pulling the Death card out of a Tarot deck is more than disconcerting; it sets my spidey sense on fire. Saturday morning at five, I pulled ... Read More March 2, 2026 | Gil Stafford
Hollow Gospel, Hollow Followers In conservative Christianity, there’s a magic phrase that excuses almost anything: “at least he preached the gospel.” It’s the theological duct tape ... Read More February 26, 2026 | Stuart Delony
Conservative Christianity and Trading Curiosity for Certainty It was cool, breezy, and perfectly ordinary at last week’s farmer’s market. Then I noticed the shirt. “I don’t debate. I tell you wha... Read More February 23, 2026 | Matthew Distefano
Understanding Trump’s ICE Policy (It Isn’t About Crime) Border Patrol agents shot and killed 37-year-old Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on January 24. Pretti was an intensive care nurse at a Veterans Affairs h... Read More February 22, 2026 | Daniel Henderson
Christian Nationalism, Biblical Literalism, and the Collapse of Shared Reality Did you know that Donald Trump speaks in coded language to his ardent followers? Only “they” can discern his meaning. There was also a child traffick... Read More February 22, 2026 | Daniel Henderson
Cosmic Winks and Quantum Whispers Ever had a moment that made no sense and yet felt important? A brief event that didn’t fit your plans but stayed with you. Maybe you ignored it. Mayb... Read More February 18, 2026 | Stuart Delony
The Real Work of Anti-Racism In a world where conversations about race often become muddled by defensiveness and denial, I am reminded of an episode of Heretic Happy Hour from la... Read More February 18, 2026 | Matthew Distefano
When the Bible Becomes State Propaganda Once upon a time, the Bible was dangerous. It got people killed—not for reading it, but for living it. Prophets lost their heads. Disciples were hunte... Read More February 9, 2026 | Stuart Delony
Bad Bunny and Kid Rock: A Lesson in Authenticity Last night we were treated to two halftime shows. One pulsed with culture and confidence. The other felt like a grievance rally set to a backing t... Read More February 9, 2026 | Matthew Distefano
Church Scandals Prove Christianity is Incapable of Making Anything “Great Again” We keep treating church scandals and political corruption as a separate category. They are not. They’re branches from the same tree with th... Read More February 6, 2026 | Paul Swearengin
We Never Saw the Whole Movie (and That Was the Point) I grew up watching movies the way Gen X watched everything: in pieces. On TBS. Edited for television. Interrupted by commercials. Out of order. You d... Read More January 21, 2026 | Stuart Delony
Trump Announces Ghislaine Maxwell as His 2028 Running Mate WASHINGTON, DC — In a move one aide described as “bold, gutsy, and prototypical Trump,” Donald J. Trump has announced Ghislaine Maxwell a... Read More February 2, 2026 | Matthew Distefano
Guess Which Group Gives Unqualified Support to ICE? Have you wondered why Trump’s approval polling for his horrific and violent attacks against American cities via ICE raids and assaults remains at rou... Read More February 1, 2026 | Daniel Henderson
Offering Systemic Sacrifice In a 1970 letter to Angela Davis, James Baldwin observed how Americans measure safety in “chains and corpses.” In the same letter, Baldwin wrote of t... Read More January 31, 2026 | D.T. Bryant
First they came for… Pastor Martin Niemöller’s famous poem’s relevance has increased since the second iteration of the Trump regime began. In America, first t... Read More January 30, 2026 | Dillon Naber Cruz
From Prophets to Assholes There’s a quiet myth baked into comedy—and culture more broadly—that great disruptors have to self-immolate at their peak. That burning out is noble.... Read More January 21, 2026 | Stuart Delony
We Are All Renee Good & Alex Pretti What is it that allows someone like Kristi Noem to blame victims of an ICE agent’s crime, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, for her own death? In the most ... Read More January 28, 2026 | Daniel Henderson
Fighting the Algorithm I just read a substack newsletter that helped me see how different the news feeds are that each of us gets. Here’s a link Because the poster is a ... Read More February 27, 2026 | Karen Tibbals
The Moral Bankruptcy of MAGA and Christofascists Join us in fighting for a just future: Unlock Full Access to Exclusive Content This article is available exclusively to members. By joining you not on... Read More January 25, 2026 | Dillon Naber Cruz
Governor Newsome: If Not Now, When? The following is a letter I have sent to Governor Gavin Newsome, the governor of my state of California. Governor Newsom, In 2025, you public... Read More January 25, 2026 | Matthew Distefano
Rights on Paper, Violence in Practice I’m taking a break from my deconstruction series this week, because there are moments when silence feels like complicity — and this is one of them. ... Read More January 25, 2026 | Rev. Heather
Late-Stage Elvis Was Sad. Late-Stage Trump Is Dangerous Late-stage Elvis Presley was sad.Late-stage Donald Trump is dangerous. That’s the whole argument. Everything else is just people trying not to look at... Read More January 21, 2026 | Stuart Delony
Why Are We So Divided? I’ve read various explanations of why we are so divided and they all have a bit of truth in them. Let me summarize what I think I have learned. Fi... Read More March 16, 2026 | Karen Tibbals
MAGA Is A Lie: Top Ten Reasons American Is NOT Great Donald Trump created a political movement based on the promise that he, and only he, could make America great again. It was a lie, and he has not del... Read More January 19, 2026 | Daniel Henderson
Art: The Soul of Resistance The Party Did Not Sing During a Tuesday morning chapel service at my Private Christian High School, the Superintendent of our school led us in... Read More January 17, 2026 | D.T. Bryant
Who Are You Without Permission? (Reclaiming Yourself After the Church) After the noise fades and the quiet becomes more livable, a new question often emerges. It’s quieter than the others. Less urgent. But deeply unsett... Read More January 17, 2026 | Rev. Heather
Hope is Transmuted into Action The Aurora Consurgens is the mystical space of magic between the shades that linger between the darkness and the rising sun. Where there is no now. On... Read More February 27, 2026 | Gil Stafford
The Church Canonized Transgender Saints Before Evangelicals Feared Them Transgender saints are not a modern invention, no matter how often evangelical pastors insist otherwise. They are not the result of liberal theology,... Read More January 16, 2026 | Jeremy Steele
Why Protesting ICE Is Not Necessarily a Violation of 18 U.S.C. § 111 There’s a familiar tactic that shows up whenever power feels threatened: take a law meant to address real violence and stretch it until it beco... Read More January 15, 2026 | Matthew Distefano
Apocalypse Porn and the Death of Responsibility Apocalypse porn trains people to confuse vigilance with virtue. When collapse becomes entertainment and prophecy becomes a dopamine hit, responsibili... Read More January 19, 2026 | Stuart Delony
What Do Venezuela, White Supremacy & The Doctrine of Discovery Have In Common? Is anyone really surprised that wealthy white men in the United States are encroaching on the sovereignty of a Latin American country with impunity t... Read More January 15, 2026 | Daniel Henderson
The Reality Show President Invades Venezuela Once again, DJT has demonstrated that what matters to him is how things look, not how they work. This has been his MO in the presidency, and he was t... Read More March 16, 2026 | Karen Tibbals
America needs an intervention A malignant narcissist remains the President of the United States. He only ran for president to keep from being prosecuted for his lifetime of crimin... Read More January 10, 2026 | Dillon Naber Cruz
New Year Tarot Draw Starting the New Year with a Tarot draw can be fun, exciting, and frightening. Tarot is a many faceted technique: divination, dream work, soul-making,... Read More February 27, 2026 | Gil Stafford
How End-Times Christianity Trained America for Conspiracy Every few decades, American Christians discover—again—that the world is secretly run by unspeakable evil. Children are being harmed. Elites are hidin... Read More January 13, 2026 | Stuart Delony
Apologetics: A Tool of Control Disguised as Defense The pitch is simple. Faith is under attack. Believers need arguments. Reason will save the day. But when you step back and look at how apologetics ac... Read More December 16, 2025 | Jeremy Steele
When the Noise Finally Stops If you’ve recently left the church, you may be surprised by what came next. Not chaos. Not divine punishment. Not some dramatic unraveling of your l... Read More January 6, 2026 | Rev. Heather
How Long Will Christian Nationalists Support Trump? (Don’t Count on the Epstein Files for Help) White Christians, primarily white Christian nationalists, represent the true core and base of the Republican Party. Ryan Burge, a leading expert in r... Read More January 5, 2026 | Daniel Henderson
Healthy Conflict I think part of the problem in our relationships is that our expectations about relationships may be faulty. We expect there to be no conflict; we wan... Read More January 5, 2026 | Karen Tibbals
Here, at the End of the World… Living here at the End of Days, I tell you the truth: that the Apocalypse has already begun. In these last days, two who were sleeping in the same... Read More January 5, 2026 | Keith Giles
All Animals Are Equal (Until Further Notice): ANIMAL FARM and the Failing American Experiment George Orwell’s Animal Farm is one of those classic books Americans tend to remember just enough to misremember. We recall the pigs, the slogan... Read More January 4, 2026 | Matthew Distefano
You Just Left The Church – Now What? If you just walked away from the church—whether quietly, explosively, or somewhere in between—I want you to hear this first: You are not broken. You... Read More January 1, 2026 | Rev. Heather
How to Break the Fever America is burning with a fever we keep pretending is just a seasonal bug. It’s not. It’s terminal. Violence isn’t an anomaly in this country—it’s the... Read More November 17, 2025 | Stuart Delony
The Church Welcome Sign Lie: When All Aren’t Welcome Churches love to say “All Are Welcome.” It looks good on a sign. It sounds generous. It feels safe enough to post in a strip mall window or on a webs... Read More December 16, 2025 | Jeremy Steele
A Roadmap For Democratic Success in 2026 (If the Democrats are Listening) It isn’t often that I can say, “I told you so.” Therefore, when the opportunity arises, I’m going to take it. I’ll start by referring to two colum... Read More December 29, 2025 | Daniel Henderson
The Three Wise Men vs. Christian Nationalism The story of the wise men is usually told as a sentimental Christmas scene: exotic travelers, mysterious gifts, a star in the sky. It feels harmless,... Read More December 16, 2025 | Jeremy Steele
Distance Is Not Repentance Ever since the files dropped, I’ve watched a familiar pattern play out. Christians—particularly evangelicals—are suddenly scrambling to draw lines i... Read More January 4, 2026 | Rev. Heather
Shaming Doesn’t Convince Anyone. I see headlines all the time describing encounters that so and so “owns” so and so. Owning someone isn’t a win and it doesn’t convince anyone. In fac... Read More December 18, 2025 | Karen Tibbals
Kýrie Eleison: The Sacred Liturgy of Mr. Mister For Those Who’ve Left the Church but Still Crave a Benediction Let’s be honest—if most modern worship music makes your soul want to rupture from bore... Read More November 17, 2025 | Stuart Delony
The Tattooed Theologian’s Year in Review Join us in fighting for a just future: Unlock Full Access to Exclusive Content This article is available exclusively to members. By joining you not on... Read More December 22, 2025 | Dillon Naber Cruz
What Jesus Would Say to Billionaires If Jesus were walking around today, the ultra-wealthy would not find him comforting. He would not praise their philanthropy, applaud their foundation... Read More December 16, 2025 | Jeremy Steele
Trans Kids Should NOT be Culture War Collateral Damage “There should be no such thing as a ‘trans kid,’ said the commenter, “A minor cannot consent to drastic bodily changes.” That cl... Read More December 21, 2025 | Paul Swearengin
Weird Chariot Across the week, if I draw the same card twice, I pay attention. When I draw it consecutive days; my spidey antennae starts sparking. While the Chario... Read More March 2, 2026 | Gil Stafford
Winter Solstice and Redemption – A Christmas Reflection for Non-Religious People The Winter Solstice will happen on Sunday, December 21, 2025, at 10:03 a.m. EST. This marks the shortest day and longest night as the Northern Hemisp... Read More December 20, 2025 | Daniel Henderson
███████████████████████████████ Don’t ask us how, but we at The Quollective got our hands on the Epstein files, and here they are in their entirety! UNITED STATES DISTRICT ... Read More December 19, 2025 | Matthew Distefano
How Do You Know Whom to Trust? In our polarized society different sides are getting our information from different sources and they just don’t agree. Plus, the “mainstream media” i... Read More February 28, 2026 | Karen Tibbals
Why We Believe in Miracles but Not Magic People believe God can part seas, raise the dead, and multiply fish—but tarot cards? Nonsense. Energy healing? Witchcraft. Somehow divine magic gets ... Read More November 3, 2025 | Stuart Delony
What Patriotism Really Means according to Romans Patriotism, according to Evangelical American Christianity, is often reduced to obedience. Whoever holds power is assumed to be there because God put... Read More December 16, 2025 | Jeremy Steele
Seven Reasons Women Are The Biggest Losers In Trump World Trump is Following the Christian Nationalist Project 2025 Plan for Restoring the Cult of Domesticity So many people have been harmed and are being... Read More December 12, 2025 | Daniel Henderson
Political Polarization We all know the country is polarized but we may not be aware of one of the factors that are underlying polarization. To quote Brian McLaren in ... Read More December 5, 2025 | Karen Tibbals
Dear Peter Thiel… You’ve been in the news a lot lately because you have some sort of monomania regarding the antichrist. As a theologian, I may be able to help y... Read More December 12, 2025 | Dillon Naber Cruz
The Tower’s on Fire Tarot has a few cards that are disturbing. Death is one, obviously. The Three of Swords are piercing a heart. There are Ten Swords stuck in the back o... Read More December 12, 2025 | Gil Stafford
Megyn Kelly’s Gospel of Cruelty Megyn Kelly has had quite a few weeks. First, she dove headlong into the defense of pedophilia by suggesting that the 15-year-old girls Epstein traff... Read More December 12, 2025 | Matthew Distefano
Did Jesus Really Kill Kermit’s Dad? Jim Henson shouldn’t have died the way he did. In 1990, strep and pneumonia were treatable. But when Henson finally went to the hospital, the infectio... Read More November 3, 2025 | Stuart Delony
The Original Live Nativity Was Subversive The original live nativity happened 700 years ago on Christmas Eve. It has nothing to do with the spectacles put on by megachurches and very little t... Read More December 9, 2025 | Jeremy Steele
How Can We Deal with Fake News? If we’re trying to heal the politics in our country, one of our obstacles is fake news. We disagree about what’s true. As someone I know put it, we u... Read More December 12, 2025 | Karen Tibbals
Making Tarot Sense of the Non-sense Making sense of the daily non-sense being slopped our way without getting sucked into a spiral of anger and depression often requires a bit of soul d... Read More December 5, 2025 | Gil Stafford
It’s Not Persecution, It’s Just a Bad Paper: On the Christian Persecution Complex Every time a Christian student earns a failing grade on an assignment involving gender or psychology, a familiar chorus begins: accusations of bias, ... Read More December 5, 2025 | Matthew Distefano
Litmus Tests for Hollow Faith Some people chase miracles. Others chase merch. Either way, modern Christianity has mastered the art of skipping the hard parts. Faith is supposed to ... Read More November 3, 2025 | Stuart Delony
When “Reconciliation: Becomes A Trap: The Dangerous Messaging Behind Oprah’s New Podcast Lately, there’s been a surge of messaging—Oprah’s latest podcast, Mel Robbins’ recent commentary, and even a Psychology Today article—urging estrange... Read More December 5, 2025 | Rev. Heather
Is the United States A Christian Nation?…It Depends! Is the United States a Christian Nation? Well, everyone seems to have an opinion on this, especially my Christian Supremacist friends who believe tha... Read More November 30, 2025 | Daniel Henderson
The Christmas Tree That Woke the World Up Before it carried lights and ornaments, the Christmas tree carried a story, one that has profound implications for the shitstorm we live in today... Read More November 29, 2025 | Jeremy Steele
More Evidence That We Have a Reality Show President I keep running into news stories that provide more evidence that we have a reality show president, that the only thing that matters is how things loo... Read More December 5, 2025 | Karen Tibbals
When Compassion Feels Impossible: Following Jesus In A Time Of Hatred There are days when I genuinely wonder how I’m supposed to see the humanity in people whose beliefs strip humanity from everyone else. People... Read More November 29, 2025 | Rev. Heather
The Closet Logic of Conservative “Choice” Are you in need of a fun Thanksgiving mind game to plan on those conservative relatives? Just ask them when they chose to be straight. Pass the gravy ... Read More November 3, 2025 | Stuart Delony
A Case for (Cautiously) Listening to MTG There are people so deep in the fever dream, so committed to the performance, that any break in character sends a quake through the whole ecosystem. ... Read More November 26, 2025 | Paul Swearengin
We’re Burning Christianity Down from the Inside (the stats don’t lie) Every few months, a politician or pastor warns us that Christianity is under attack. They say secular culture is erasing faith, that prayer is being ... Read More November 20, 2025 | Jeremy Steele
Weaponizing Identity – The MAGA Cynical War on Transgender People Transgender Awareness Week runs from November 13 to 19. You probably didn’t know this since no government officials are rushing to recognize thi... Read More November 23, 2025 | Daniel Henderson
How to Have a Peaceful Thanksgiving Holidays (and especially Thanksgiving) represent a special opportunity/challenge if you have family members who disagree. Our relationships have b... Read More November 19, 2025 | Karen Tibbals
Transgender Day Of Remembrance: A Lament And A Call To Rise Today is Transgender Day of Remembrance. Every year this day arrives heavy. It presses on my soul in ways I can feel in my bones. And every yea... Read More November 20, 2025 | Rev. Heather
Silent But Violent: The Lactose Problem America loves to pretend it doesn’t have a lactose problem. Ask around. Most will tell you they tolerate dairy just fine—no issues, no discomfort, com... Read More November 17, 2025 | Stuart Delony
Jesus Wouldn’t Survive a Republican or Democratic Primary Every election season, both political parties try to claim Jesus. They talk as if he would stand on their stage, echo their slogans, and bless their ... Read More November 18, 2025 | Jeremy Steele
Why Does It Matter If We Have a Reality Show President? Last week I wrote about our current president being a reality show president. When I first started thinking about this, I was thinking that appr... Read More February 28, 2026 | Karen Tibbals
America’s Mental-Health Crisis — Is a Dunning–Kruger Crisis How Confidently Ignorant Right-Wing “Experts” Gaslight a Nation and Target Queer Lives There’s a story I return to often — almost biblical in its ... Read More November 18, 2025 | Paul Swearengin
Dear US Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem Dear Secretary Noem, I hope this letter finds you well, perhaps out on the prairie practicing your famously compassionate approach to animal stewa... Read More November 17, 2025 | Matthew Distefano
“The Dog That Hasn’t Barked”: An Honest Response to “Apolitical” Christians There’s a peculiar kind of Christian in America today. It is one who doesn’t wear the MAGA hat, doesn’t cheer at the rallies, and doesn&#... Read More November 17, 2025 | Matthew Distefano
Privilege, Power, Patriarchy – Epstein is the Rule, Not The Exception We feign shock and surprise at the blatant and reprehensible actions of Jeffrey Epstein for his free lance abuse of young women and the complicity of... Read More November 16, 2025 | Daniel Henderson
Hope Isn’t Dead- The Light of Mia Hamant I haven’t written anything in a few weeks. Not because I didn’t want to, but because my heart’s been tired. You ever feel that way — like the wor... Read More November 13, 2025 | Rev. Heather
The New Inquisition: Trump’s War on Science The Renaissance had the church. We have Trump. Both treated truth like a threat, not a tool. In the 1600s, Galileo peered through a telescope and dare... Read More November 3, 2025 | Stuart Delony
👉 The Hardening of Hearts: America’s Rightwing Cruelty Crisis and the Call to Repentance Something is dying in America, and it isn’t our democracy alone.It’s our collective capacity for empathy. We are witnessing the hardening of heart... Read More November 12, 2025 | Paul Swearengin
“The Power of the Powerless” – How to Unravel an Authoritarian Regime Just recently, I had a conversation with a friend who is a strong supporter of Donald Trump. We are still friends and speak civilly to one another, s... Read More November 11, 2025 | Daniel Henderson
Stats Don’t Lie: We’re Burning Christianity Down from the Inside The Real War on Christianity Is Coming from Inside the Church Every few months, a politician or pastor warns us that Christianity is under attack.... Read More November 10, 2025 | Jeremy Steele
The Absurdity of a Trillion Dollars Within the next decade, we’ll likely see something truly grotesque: humanity’s first trillionaire. And sure, the word “trillion” ge... Read More November 7, 2025 | Matthew Distefano
The Reality Show President The most successful thing our current president did before running for president was star in The Apprentice for 14 seasons. I think those were format... Read More November 18, 2025 | Karen Tibbals
Right Here, Right Now: From Waking Up to Forgetting When Jesus Jones sang “Right Here, Right Now” in 1990, the world was shaking off a nightmare. The Berlin Wall was rubble, Mandela walked f... Read More November 3, 2025 | Stuart Delony
The Legacy of Dick Cheney and the Danger of Christian Nationalism A story of faux-Christianity and a Christian Nationalist resistance to guilt, empathy and the ways of Christ “We will be greeted as liberators.” ... Read More November 4, 2025 | Paul Swearengin
The American Dream Needs Hospice Care I don’t mean this as hyperbole or some dramatic act of rebellion. I mean it in the same way we talk about a beloved relative who’s lived a long, full... Read More November 3, 2025 | Keith Giles
Trump In Search of an Insurrection “We have an insurrection act for a reason. If I had to enact it I would do that,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, adding, “if people were be... Read More November 3, 2025 | Daniel Henderson
What Trump Is Doing To The White House Is A Criminal Act For the past 10 months, Donald Trump has been demolishing the Federal government. He has systematically torn down systems of checks and balances, he ... Read More October 30, 2025 | Daniel Henderson
Marion Stokes and the Memory Wars A Woman, Her Tapes, and an Obsession Marion Stokes was the kind of person who would have been dismissed as eccentric—until history caught up to her. A... Read More October 21, 2025 | Stuart Delony
Why We Can’t Just Get a National Divorce The concept of a “national divorce,” has gained prominence in recent years as a shorthand for mass state secession from the United States... Read More October 28, 2025 | Claire Vane
The Party Tree and the White House Magnolias When Tolkien wrote of the Party Tree’s felling in The Return of the King, he gave us one of the most quietly devastating moments in all of literature... Read More October 26, 2025 | Matthew Distefano
How Weaponized Abortion Groomed Christians for Empire and Cruelty It All Began with a Big Lie ❌ “Nations that allow abortion are cursed.” This lie—pounded into the heads of Christians for decades—taught that ... Read More October 23, 2025 | Paul Swearengin
Jesus: The Radical Left Lunatic C.S. Lewis once said that Jesus was either a liar, a lunatic, or Lord. But maybe he forgot a fourth option, the one that would make the most sense to... Read More October 23, 2025 | Matthew Distefano
Sticker Shock Why Secular Kids Might Be More Christlike Than Church Kids For years, we’ve been told that religion is the bedrock of morality. Without Sunday Sch... Read More September 25, 2025 | Stuart Delony
Unwilling Cucks: How America’s Police Are Getting Sidelined by the Military It’s not often I feel even a shred of sympathy for America’s police. Sorry, but when you’ve built your reputation as an occupying f... Read More October 21, 2025 | Matthew Distefano
Anxiety “Disorders” in the Apocalypse The slow-burn apocalypse that we’re living through sure has come with a lot of things to be anxious about. The unending loop of catastrophic na... Read More October 17, 2025 | Anna Clark Miller
The Apples Don’t Fall Far The Apples Don’t Fall Far: Why We Shouldn’t Be Shocked by Young Republicans I grew up in a Republican home with deeply Republican parents. My dad tr... Read More October 16, 2025 | Rev. Heather
Still Just a Rat in a Cage: Why Rage Is Righteous Now “Despite all my rage, I am still just a rat in a cage.” That line from the Smashing Pumpkins’ Bullet with Butterfly Wings hit ... Read More September 3, 2025 | Stuart Delony
Christian Nationalist Mischief in Oklahoma Hopefully Comes To An End “…the Stitt-Walters era has been an embarrassment to our state…even worse, test scores and reading proficiency are at historic lows…focus on quality ... Read More October 15, 2025 | Daniel Henderson
Trump’s Don Quixote Syndrome Trump and Don Quixote Alonso Quijano, an aging gentleman, decides to become the knight Don Quixote and defends honor and justice in the world. He ... Read More October 15, 2025 | Daniel Henderson
Strange Fruit Still Hangs: How Hayley Williams Turns Art into Resistance Art is rarely neutral. And it shouldn’t be. Not in a time such as this. And that’s why what Hayley Williams did on The Tonight Show Starr... Read More October 13, 2025 | Matthew Distefano
Navigating Political Discussions with Fair Fighting In today’s tense political climate, finding a way to have respectful, productive conversations about politics can feel nearly impossible. While... Read More October 9, 2025 | Anna Clark Miller
The Anti-Fruits of the Spirit When did the fruits of the Spirit become optional? Or worse—when did Christians start actively rejecting them? Because let’s be honest: if modern Ame... Read More September 25, 2025 | Stuart Delony
When Love Becomes The Antidote To Fear We were taught to call it faith, but it was really fear. Fear disguised as devotion. Fear masquerading as obedience. For too long, fear has b... Read More October 10, 2025 | Rev. Heather
Foolishness & Stupidity: Militarizing American Cities – A Lesson On How To Increase Crime and Violence Donald Trump, in complete foolishness and stupidity, believes that deploying US troops into major cities will help reduce crime. It will not. In fact... Read More October 7, 2025 | Daniel Henderson
God, We Need to Talk: It’s Not Me, It’s You “Godlessness” is NOT the problem. We actually have too much God in America Every time there’s a new crisis in America, someone ine... Read More October 7, 2025 | Paul Swearengin
Why My Husband Doesn’t “Help” in the Kitchen When I say deconstruction saved my marriage, I’m not exaggerating. Earlier today I watched a video that stopped me in my tracks. At first, it showed... Read More October 4, 2025 | Rev. Heather
Opinion: Oh No… I Think I Might Be Woke (This is a guest piece by J.C. Whiteman, author of the book Home of the Saved. For years I’ve dedicated my life to fighting the scourge of wok... Read More October 3, 2025 | Matthew Distefano
Fascism Doesn’t Need to Storm the Castle Fascism never storms the castle—it’s carried in on the shoulders of conservatives who think they can tame it. They never do. They feed it, it eats th... Read More October 21, 2025 | Stuart Delony
Fascism: How Did We Get Here? There’s one thing that all Americans, regardless of our political leanings or religious affiliation, can agree on: fascism is bad. Unfortunatel... Read More September 30, 2025 | Anna Clark Miller
Attacks on Free Speech? We’ve Been Down This Road Before – We Know What To Do Attacks on freedom of speech? We’ve been down this road before. In 1800, James Callender, a political journalist who wrote against the Federalist ... Read More October 3, 2025 | Daniel Henderson
The Rapture That Never Came This past week, the internet was buzzing with certainty that the rapture was finally about to happen. TikTok lives, YouTube sermons, even local pulpi... Read More October 8, 2025 | Rev. Heather
When to Turn the Other Cheek—and When to Swing Back The church loves to peddle “turn the other cheek” like it’s a universal cure for conflict. Got an abusive spouse? Turn the other cheek. Racism in the... Read More August 25, 2025 | Stuart Delony
Holy Mindfucks What do Tibetan monks, American pastors, and state-sponsored Chinese bureaucrats have in common? They all want control of your soul—and they’re... Read More August 28, 2025 | Stuart Delony
Listening was the Key to Ending the Troubles in Ireland. Two years ago, George Mitchell, former Senate majority leader and special envoy to Northern Ireland, visited Ireland to celebrate the 25th anniversar... Read More September 27, 2025 | Karen Tibbals
Its Time To Look At Ourselves In the Mirror – What If This Is Who We Are Today was another day in American life and over 300 people were shot (based on averages) and just over 100 of them died, and around 22 of them were c... Read More September 18, 2025 | Daniel Henderson
When Words Kill We live in a time where words travel faster than ever. A single statement made on television or online can ripple through society with consequences w... Read More September 22, 2025 | Rev. Heather
When Nonviolence Is Called Violence: On the Fallout After the Assassination of Charlie Kirk The news broke like a thunderclap: Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, assassinated. The reaction was swift and predictable. Before any f... Read More September 18, 2025 | Matthew Distefano
Jim Bakker and the Church of Eternal Grift In the wake of Jim Bakker’s death, here’s a remembrance of the life he built, sold, and profited from. Originally published June 3, 2025.I remember w... Read More October 6, 2026 | Stuart Delony
Nope, Therapists Aren’t Alright At a routine doctor’s appointment last week, the physician asked me what I do for a living. After telling him my profession as a therapist, there was... Read More September 16, 2025 | Anna Clark Miller
Dealing with the DEI Backlash With the current administration, there has been a severe backlash to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs. The White House has called them... Read More September 24, 2025 | Karen Tibbals
Perhaps Charlie Kirk Is A Victim of His Own Ideology Was Charlie Kirk, to some degree, a victim of his own ideology? When a person preaches extreme gun rights that allow the absolute proliferation of gu... Read More September 14, 2025 | Daniel Henderson
We Need to Talk about Charlie Kirk (Especially if You’re a Christian) We need to talk about Charlie Kirk, especially if you’re a Christian. And what I’ve got to say is probably not what you’re expecting. Because this is... Read More September 12, 2025 | Jeremy Steele
Grieving Without The Script The Church and the Complexity of Grief I was going to write about something different this week, but in light of recent events I feel compelled... Read More September 12, 2025 | Rev. Heather
Superman’s Dead. And Hope Died with Him. Once upon a time, we believed in things. We believed in truth. We believed in justice. We believed in heroes—ones who didn’t need branding deals or s... Read More August 28, 2025 | Stuart Delony
November, December, January Drought-ridden days, days that are wet, days of frettingabout passports and money, sick days, days of feeling a little better, days I knowI won’t rem... Read More September 11, 2025 | Joy Ladin
DeSantis Ends Rabies Vaccine Mandate, Says Florida Dogs Can “Do Their Own Research” Tallahassee, FL— In a move critics are calling “peak Florida,” Governor Ron DeSantis announced today that the Florida Department of Healt... Read More September 10, 2025 | Matthew Distefano
Free Today I’m a little less free,yesterday also, tomorrow too,and each time I look in the mirror, less freethan before I wrote “less free,” m... Read More September 10, 2025 | Joy Ladin
Dealing with Barriers I’ve often heard people say that they thought they could convince the other person if the person didn’t believe a certain thing. They think the answe... Read More February 28, 2026 | Karen Tibbals
Ken Ham: The Creationist Who Never Existed? For decades, Ken Ham has been the face of American creationism—an Australian émigré with a nasal accent, a permanent scowl, and an Ark big enough to ... Read More September 3, 2025 | Stuart Delony
Libertarians, What the Hell Happened? When I was in my early twenties, I proudly registered with the Libertarian Party. The philosophy was simple, almost elegant: government should be sma... Read More September 3, 2025 | Matthew Distefano
Guns, and The Idolatry Of Inaction Another school shooting has happened. Another community is shattered. More children are gone, and more families will never be the same. And once aga... Read More September 3, 2025 | Rev. Heather
It Is Unethical Not to Try to Understand the Other Person Today, people seem to think they must speak up if they feel that something violates their values. I associate that with a book and a college course c... Read More February 28, 2026 | Karen Tibbals
A Declaration of Independence from the Abuses of Donald J. Trump Donald Trump has made his intentions clear. He wants to establish a dictatorship in the United States. Using the military to patrol cities, ignoring ... Read More September 1, 2025 | Daniel Henderson
Back-to-School Wishes from the NRA A Satire for Back-to-School Seasonby Paul Swearengin (and my spirit person Avery Rea – they/them) | Quollective Blog Every August, Ameri... Read More August 31, 2025 | Paul Swearengin
And a Child Shall Judge Them My fight or flight response leans heavily toward fight. It’s not usually a “come at you immediately” kind of fight, but one that takes a step back in... Read More January 31, 2026 | D.T. Bryant
Jesus Was Talking About Divorce, Not Your Gay Neighbors Evangelicals love Matthew 19 like it’s their theological Swiss Army knife. Divorce? Same-sex marriage? Gender roles? Complementarian manifestos? Just... Read More August 19, 2025 | Stuart Delony
Ultimatums Don’t Work In a conservative Facebook group, a woman posted a picture of text she got from her daughter, a lesbian. In it, her daughter says she won’t talk to h... Read More February 28, 2026 | Karen Tibbals
The Ring I Never Asked For It wasn’t an ordinary day—no, today was different. Heather was about to go out on a Daddy-daughter date. She was so excited she could hardly sit stil... Read More September 22, 2025 | Rev. Heather
Supporting the Police State Is Like Rooting for the Galactic Empire There was a time—not long, long ago and in fact in this very galaxy—when we could all agree on something fundamental: America was not supposed to be ... Read More September 3, 2025 | Matthew Distefano
Stephen Miller – The Most Dangerous Person in Washington (besides Trump) So, who is this Stephen Miller guy? Miller is one of the advisors from Trump 1.0 who made it to Trump 2.0 without going to jail or having Trump tu... Read More August 24, 2025 | Daniel Henderson
Jezebel was a Bad Ass: That’s Why She Makes Rightwing Christians so Afraid The name “Jezebel” has always been more than a story. It’s a weapon. For centuries it’s been the church’s favorite curse word for women who refuse to... Read More August 22, 2025 | Paul Swearengin
The Poisonous Legacy of James Dobson I woke up this morning to multiple texts from friends celebrating the death of an 89 year old man. Dr. James Dobson passed away last night, marking t... Read More August 21, 2025 | Anna Clark Miller
PragerU, Glenn Beck, and the History That Never Was History is dangerous. Not because it tells us where we’ve been, but because it has the audacity to remind us who we really are. That’s why Glenn Beck... Read More August 19, 2025 | Stuart Delony
Why Self Love Is Sacred Not Sinful Learning to Love Ourselves in a World That Told Us Not To A lot of people are struggling to love themselves right now. And it’s no wonder. We live i... Read More October 10, 2025 | Rev. Heather
Jesus Admits First Visit Was a Mistake, Now Enforces Immigration Law El Paso, TX — In a development theologians are calling “the biggest mea culpa in salvation history,” Jesus Christ has returned to Earth—specifically ... Read More August 20, 2025 | Matthew Distefano
Overcoming Authoritarian Strongmen I just finished reading Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present by Ruth Ben-Ghiat. Here is how the book starts in the Introduction: OURS IS ... Read More August 19, 2025 | Daniel Henderson
I Want to Convince Them That I Am Right and Mend the Political Divide I know you probably think you are right. We may have evidence that we are right. Most of us do. We talk to our friends, and they reinforce our feelin... Read More August 19, 2025 | Karen Tibbals
Join the Subway Sandwich Protest You’ve probably heard about the man in Washington, D.C., who threw a foot-long sandwich at police in protest of the recent declaration of marti... Read More August 15, 2025 | Keith Giles
Where Is Ted Turner? I skipped my college graduation. No robe. No ceremony. No regrets. I finished my degree at the University of Georgia in the fall of 1998. When ... Read More August 25, 2025 | Stuart Delony
Setting Realistic Expectations As I have been working ideas for how to bridge the political divide, I realize that we need to be realistic in our expectations. We can’t expect to s... Read More February 28, 2026 | Karen Tibbals
Trump Sends National Guard To D.C. Four Years Too Late BREAKING NEWS While President Donald Trump failed to send the National Guard to defend the Capitol during the January 6 riots in 2021, today he re... Read More August 19, 2025 | Keith Giles
That Could NEVER Happen Here… “Oh, that could never happen here.”Friend… it’s already happening. The Myth of American Immunity One of America’s most dangerous illusion... Read More August 19, 2025 | Paul Swearengin
When the National Guard Comes for Our Neighbors Trump is mobilizing the National Guard in Washington DC and Federalizing the police force. It began before the press conference. I saw it firsthand.... Read More August 11, 2025 | Jeremy Steele
Call It What It Is—Trump Is a Racist (The Ideology of Whiteness Is Alive and Well) I don’t like calling people racist…but let’s call this what it is…the Trump Administration is the most racist in modern American history. To be sure,... Read More August 19, 2025 | Daniel Henderson
From Silence To Strength: Tamara’s Return Reclaiming the Sacred: Tamara’s Story and the Power Within Us All I want to talk to you about self-love today—and what it really looks like when you... Read More August 8, 2025 | Rev. Heather
The Ultimate Woke Monster (Now With 300% More Marxism!) You’ve probably heard of him. He’s ruining America. He’s crashing the markets. He’s taking your job, raising your taxes, indoctrinating your kids, ca... Read More August 25, 2025 | Stuart Delony
Jesus Wept — But Only After Leg Day “Less Prozac, more protein.” That’s the sermon now. Not from a pulpit, but from the stage of the Young Women’s Leadership Summit — a Turning Point US... Read More August 19, 2025 | Stuart Delony
Everything Is Scrambled; The World Is Topsy Turvy I had a long career in market research, I was used to deciphering and describing human behavior. But politics baffled me. Then I read The Righteous M... Read More February 28, 2026 | Karen Tibbals
“Woke”: How White Folks Colonized a Compliment Language, like land, is never safe from colonization. If there’s something white folks—especially white conservatives—can’t help but do, it’s take so... Read More August 4, 2025 | Matthew Distefano
A New Tennessee Law Allows Doctors to Refuse Care to Unmarried Pregnant Women Noam Chomsky & David Brooks Agree – This is a recipe for societal collapse! A MAGA-Christian Beattitudes Now when MAGA-Jesus saw... Read More August 3, 2025 | Daniel Henderson
When a Christian Elected official is Caught “Coveting Ass!” Once upon a time in a red state… KID: Hey Dad, what’s adultery?DAD: Um… what? Adultery? Where’d you hear about that?KID: In my class, at... Read More August 3, 2025 | Paul Swearengin
The Greater Good: A Justification of Abuse The concept of pursuing a ‘greater good’ is a powerful tool for rallying people to a common cause and inspiring them to make sacrifices f... Read More August 1, 2025 | Anna Clark Miller
The Wisdom of the Woodpecker: When Speaking Is Just Self-Harm Woodpeckers and the Art of Restraint Let’s talk about the woodpecker. It’s a bird that makes a living by slamming its face into trees. Repeated... Read More July 18, 2025 | Stuart Delony
The Dangers of Dobson In light of the release of the Shiny Happy People documentary, I am once again reminded of a religious terror that has quietly shaped—if not destro... Read More July 30, 2025 | Rev. Heather
Trump’s Tariff Shell Game Donald Trump loves to brag about cutting taxes. He says it so often it’s practically a reflex—like blaming Obama for anything. To hear him tell it, h... Read More August 25, 2025 | Stuart Delony
Dealing with Complexity, Manipulation and Trust The world is complex, and issues are complex. Although they have always been complex, we haven’t always engaged with that complexity on any level of ... Read More October 10, 2025 | Karen Tibbals
It Always Starts With Erasure: History’s Teachings on Queer Demonization (& Queer Survival) German Nazism didn’t begin with invading Poland, gun bans, or even Kristallnacht — the infamous “Night of Broken Glass,” when Jewish homes, synagogue... Read More July 27, 2025 | Paul Swearengin
Stumbling Onto A Scene of Raw Humanity – A Serendipitous Experience in Idaho A few weeks ago I stumbled onto a scene of community-wide grief, mourning, sorrow, and solidarity like I have seldom ever experienced. The scene was ... Read More October 10, 2025 | Daniel Henderson
Deconstructing Religious Certainty: Embracing Cognitive Flexibility For those of us who have spent a lot of time in rigid religious environments, the journey of deconstruction can be both incredibly challenging and pr... Read More July 26, 2025 | Anna Clark Miller
The Shortest Distance Between a Truth and a Lie For years, the Epstein scandal has been the conspiracy theorist’s holy grail—a grotesque mix of wealth, sex crimes, and elite connections that promis... Read More August 25, 2025 | Stuart Delony
Sean Feucht and Feigned Persection Sean Feucht is at it again—this time taking his “Let Us Worship” tour across Canada. And when Canadian cities, public parks, and federal agencies beg... Read More July 24, 2025 | Rev. Heather
It Is Unethical Not to Try to Understand the Other Person Today, people seem to think they must speak up if they feel that something violates their values. I associate that with a book and a college course c... Read More October 10, 2025 | Karen Tibbals
Flat Top Nation: How We Sold Our Souls to the Screen “Flat top intervention / Bringing home the new invention / See it there in pieces on the ground…” The Goo Goo Dolls may not be topping the charts any... Read More July 18, 2025 | Stuart Delony
What If Mass Deportation Isn’t the Goal – 21st Century Convict Leasing The United States Loves to Incarcerate People This is more than an immigration and deportation story today. It is a story about how the United Sta... Read More July 22, 2025 | Daniel Henderson
No, I will not shut up Donald Trigger warning: Sexual assault, sex trafficking When Simon the Pharisee invited Jesus to dine with him in Luke’s gospel the writer tells th... Read More July 22, 2025 | Dillon Naber Cruz
What Kind of “Christian Nation” Are We? Why I Didn’t Follow the Empire into the Red Hat Cult I grew up in a deeply conservative, white evangelical home. My family proudly wears the red h... Read More July 20, 2025 | Paul Swearengin
If We Just Belived Women Everyone’s talking about it—so we’re going to talk about it too. Because even with all the headlines, the outrage, and the unsealed Epstein files,... Read More July 20, 2025 | Rev. Heather
See the Other as a Whole Person When we are focusing on how we disagree with someone, we often limit our thinking about that person to just the part we disagree with. The topic we a... Read More October 10, 2025 | Karen Tibbals
The Shortest Distance Between a Truth and a Lie For years, the Epstein scandal has been the conspiracy theorist’s holy grail—a grotesque mix of wealth, sex crimes, and elite connections that promis... Read More July 24, 2025 | Stuart Delony
America: Love It or Leave It? This past Wednesday, after the farmer’s market, I walked home with the one leftover loaf of apricot almond sourdough from Camina Bakery—easily the be... Read More August 19, 2025 | Matthew Distefano
Sex, Money, and Cruelty—They NEVER Cared About Children! The Lies of the Right!!! I am living in the hope that there is an actual hell for people who are lying about their care and concern for children. ... Read More July 18, 2025 | Angela Parker
Understanding Religious and Spiritual Trauma For many people, faith communities offer comfort, meaning, and sense of belonging. Yet, for others, these spaces can become sources of profound hurt,... Read More July 18, 2025 | Anna Clark Miller
When Abusers Die Without Repentance John MacArthur has died. And as with any public figure whose platform wielded immense influence, his death is stirring up a wide spectrum of reaction... Read More July 18, 2025 | Rev. Heather
Softness Is Power: Detoxing Masculinity; Detoxing Our Politics It’s easy to think politics are about policies, parties, or who promises what. But in recent elections, voting has been much more about group identit... Read More July 18, 2025 | Paul Swearengin
Let the Bluebird Sing: Reclaiming the Softness in Men I was sent a poem the other day. It was Bluebird by Charles Bukowski—and it stopped me in my tracks. In just a few short lines, Bukowski captured som... Read More October 10, 2025 | Rev. Heather
The Quollective Launches Exclusive New Subscription Tier for Billionaires Only At The Quollective, we believe in accessibility, equity, and building a world rooted in justice. We also understand that some of our readers find the... Read More July 18, 2025 | Matthew Distefano
The Cross and the Crown: How the Transnational Network of Christian Nationalists Threatens the Global Order Sarah Riccardi-Swartz, an assistant professor of religion and anthropology at Northeastern University, has led a team of researchers to und... Read More October 10, 2025 | Daniel Henderson
The Saddest Thing About Trump’s Superman Post This week the White House posted a meme with Donald Trump’s head replacing the actor playing Superman in the new film of the same name. The pos... Read More July 18, 2025 | Keith Giles
Trump’s Plan To Deport His Own Children and First Lady Fails BREAKING NEWS: A Federal Court blocked President Trump’s order restricting birthright citizenship and certified a nationwide class, protecting ... Read More July 18, 2025 | Keith Giles
The Prophet Your Pastor Warned You About You won’t find Tupac Shakur in your church’s stained-glass window collection. No halo. No white robes. No sanitized, King James-approved soundbites. ... Read More July 18, 2025 | Stuart Delony
When A Home Becomes A Haven A Story of Family, Struggle, and an Unforgiving Economy Life has a way of shifting without warning. One moment, things feel stable—and the next, eve... Read More July 18, 2025 | Rev. Heather
The Ring Always Destroys Itself (But Frodo Still Had to Carry It) There’s something remarkably subversive about Tolkien’s vision of evil. The central engine of domination in The Lord of the Rings—Sauron’s One ... Read More July 18, 2025 | Matthew Distefano
Interfaith Prayer for Justice The World is on Fire. Regardless of which religion or non-religion you practice, centering ourselves on our desires and intentions for justice ma... Read More July 18, 2025 | Jeremy Steele
I’m Done Trying to Save the Empire I’m done. I’m done trying to save the fruitless empire from being torn up by its roots and thrown into the fire. I’m done trying to convince MAGA ... Read More July 18, 2025 | Paul Swearengin
The Opposite of a Truth May Also Be True As someone trained in analytical thinking, I would sometimes find information that didn’t fit into what I thought was true, that didn’t fit into the ... Read More July 18, 2025 | Karen Tibbals
Recognizing Mind Control Tactics: Lifton’s Eight Criteria for Thought Reform The human mind is powerful and complex, capable of incredible creativity, critical thinking, and independent thought. Despite our capacity for intell... Read More July 18, 2025 | Anna Clark Miller
When Christian Nationalists Breed Monsters They say monsters are made, not born. But few stop to ask: Who’s doing the making? In a country saturated with guns, wrapped in flags, and baptized ... Read More July 18, 2025 | Rev. Heather
The Garden Tomb Is Fake—and That’s Why American Christianity Is Dying I hate to break it to you, but that peaceful little garden where you sang “Because He Lives” on your Israel trip? Jesus wasn’t buried the... Read More July 18, 2025 | Jeremy Steele
The GOP’s Legislative Civil War Against Humanity -Trump’s Budget Means We Are No Longer Our Brother’s Keeper A clever lawyer (are there any other kind?) once asked Jesus, “What is the greatest commandment?” Jesus responded that one should love God with all t... Read More July 18, 2025 | Daniel Henderson
White House to Celebrate America’s 250th Birthday with Live “American Squid Game” in East Wing Washington, DC — In honor of America’s 250th birthday, the White House has announced plans to convert the East Wing into a fully operational “America... Read More July 18, 2025 | Matthew Distefano
A Death Sentence with Folded Hands They passed the bill. The big, beautiful bill—as they so proudly called it. A bill that ripped food from hungry mouths. That slashed assistance fo... Read More July 18, 2025 | Rev. Heather
Alligator Auschwitz and the American Descent: A Call to Conscience for White Evangelicals Let me begin with a simple clarification, lest this entire article be discarded by those looking for an excuse to deflect: I am not saying that the U... Read More July 18, 2025 | Matthew Distefano
From Sunday School to the Strip Club The Guilt-Tipped Handcuffs of Religious Upbringing Growing up in a religious home means you’re given a roadmap for life—and it usually dead-ends a... Read More July 18, 2025 | Stuart Delony
MAGA Christians Launch Prayer Campaign to Resurrect Jeffrey Epstein for 2028 VP Slot Washington, DC—In a shocking but somehow completely predictable twist, a coalition of MAGA-aligned Christians have launched a nationwide prayer initi... Read More July 18, 2025 | Matthew Distefano
What Team Are You On? Because our society is so polarized, many of us have chosen a side. (That’s a tautology.) It’s hard not to choose. The media you watch, the people yo... Read More June 29, 2025 | Karen Tibbals
The Republican Party is a Pro-Death Party Joni Ernst Simply Told The Truth I promise I won’t spend my whole column talking about Joni Ernst’s gaffe…by now, if you can read, you know what s... Read More July 2, 2025 | Daniel Henderson
If It Feels Like We Are In A War, Its Because We Are A Second Civil War Has Already Begun Consider….just this year On June 19, Trenton Abston allegedly stalked and attempted to confront and alledg... Read More July 1, 2025 | Daniel Henderson
“I Could Stand in the Middle of Fifth Avenue…”: A MAGA Loyalty Quiz Back in 2016, Donald Trump told us the truth: “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters.” ... Read More June 27, 2025 | Matthew Distefano
John Wayne’s Real Name was Marion: Time to Detox Uber Masculinity Masculinity Detox: You Were Always Enough By Unconventional Pastor Paul The image of “manliness” many of us inherited was a John Wa... Read More July 10, 2025 | Paul Swearengin
Candace Owens Is “Embarrassed” by Trump—But Why Now? So, Candace Owens is suddenly “embarrassed” for supporting Donald Trump. Well, la-dee-fucking-da. Super inspiring. But I’ve got one burning questi... Read More June 27, 2025 | Matthew Distefano
Why the Second Coming of Jesus Is Happening Right Now If you’ve ever sat through a youth group lock-in watching apocalyptic movies about the Antichrist, 100-pound hailstones, or beast armies crawling out... Read More July 18, 2025 | Keith Giles
God, Guns, and Grievance In a four-minute address that managed to mix divine flattery with military flexing, Donald Trump proved once again that he’s not just playing preside... Read More June 26, 2025 | Stuart Delony
Resisting Political Gaslighting If you spend much time on social media, you’ve likely encountered the pop-psychology term, “gaslighting”. Despite the self-help community’... Read More June 25, 2025 | Anna Clark Miller
Is It Possible to Heal Our Political Divides? As I have been working with these concepts, I realize that we need to be realistic in our expectations. We can’t expect to succeed the first time we ... Read More June 14, 2025 | Karen Tibbals
Growing Up In The Shadow Of The Rapture The first time I ever felt true anxiety, I was just a child. It was a weekend, and I had curled up for one of those deep, disorienting naps — the kin... Read More October 10, 2025 | Rev. Heather
Trump Administration to Change National Anthem Lyrics to “Oh Keith” After Discovery That”José” Is “Too Mexican” WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a bold move to “reclaim America’s heritage,” the Trump administration announced Monday that it will officially chan... Read More June 23, 2025 | Matthew Distefano
Empathy Isn’t Toxic, It’s Sacred There’s a book making the rounds in evangelical circles right now warning against “toxic empathy.” Its central claim? That empathy leads people away ... Read More July 18, 2025 | Paul Swearengin
The Church Has A Lying Problem “I know you lie, your lips are moving. Baby, do you think I’m dumb?” That Meghan Trainor lyric has been on repeat in my brain for days. And honest... Read More June 22, 2025 | Rev. Heather
Regrowth After Tragedy: From Ashes to Eden at Happy Woods Farm “I’m back.” Samwise Gamgee says this at the very end of The Lord of the Rings—a short, unassuming line that lands with the weight of an entire e... Read More June 19, 2025 | Matthew Distefano
When School Prayer Becomes a Stage Act Say it with me now: You can pray anywhere. Always could. Even in school. Even in Texas. That’s the thing about prayer—it doesn’t need permission. No ... Read More June 3, 2025 | Stuart Delony
Is There Such Thing as Healthy Conflict in a Relationship? I think part of the problem in our relationships is that our expectations about relationships may be faulty. We expect there to be no conflict; we wa... Read More June 18, 2025 | Karen Tibbals
Rep. Hortman’s Body Was “On The Line”—Lessons in Anti-Racist Work When people ask me about allyship these days, my response is that the only ally I want is someone who will put their body on the line and nothing els... Read More July 27, 2025 | Angela Parker
When The Assassin Is A Christian Pastor Waking up on Saturday morning to the news that two Minnesota lawmakers had been shot – and one killed – was shocking enough. But soon the... Read More July 18, 2025 | Keith Giles
Jesus Wasn’t a Colonizer: Christianity Didn’t Begin in Europe or Arrive in Africa on a Slave Ship Let me be as clear as I can, right from the jump: Christianity did not arrive in Africa via white Protestant or Catholic missionaries. It didn’t arri... Read More June 14, 2025 | Matthew Distefano
Jesus Topples Christian Nationalism Jesus Undermines Christian Nationalism Repeat after me: Christian nationalism is not Christian. Look, I hate to burst your bubble if you&... Read More June 14, 2025 | Jeremy Steele
The Ultra-Facism of the Ultramarines and How it Affects Fans of “Warhammer 40K” A remaster of the 2011 game, “Warhammer 40K: Space Marine” has come out as the “Master Crafted Edition” and while I was playi... Read More June 23, 2025 | Ulises Duenas
When Distraction Becomes Doctrine: The Southern Baptist Convention and the Dangerous Theater of Morality Some people call it conviction. I call it distraction. A deadly one. At the 2025 Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) annual meeting in Dallas, over ... Read More June 14, 2025 | Rev. Heather
How the Christian Right Found Jesus in a Moon Shrine Once upon a time, folks like Casey Means were the devil’s poster children—New Age kooks destined for hellfire and parental warning pamphlets. She bui... Read More June 25, 2025 | Stuart Delony
Your Rights, Your Power: A Simple Guide for Immigrant Communities When I first explored the ACLU’s “Know Your Rights” guide, I was struck by how essential and straightforward it is. As a media outl... Read More July 18, 2025 | Matthew Distefano
When the State Becomes the Thief in the Night Would Jesus, alive in 2025 America, support the works of Donald Trump’s ICE officers grabbing honest, quiet, hard-working people off the street... Read More June 11, 2025 | Paul Swearengin
How We See Our Options for Relationships We think we have limited options. We can censor ourselves, have a superficial relationship without talking about the issues we care about, we can kee... Read More June 14, 2025 | Karen Tibbals
Spiritual Bypassing in Times of Crisis “Everything happens for a reason.” “God’s in control.” “We’ll never be given more than we can handle.... Read More June 10, 2025 | Anna Clark Miller
Glow Up for God: TikTok’s New Gospel of Good Looks Once upon a time, salvation was about the soul. Now it’s about the skin. Welcome to the era of the “Jesus Glow,” the hottest new holiness trend sw... Read More June 6, 2025 | Stuart Delony
A Call to Duty: Answering the President’s Moral Example Matthew J. DiStefano[Email: matthew@quoir.com][Website: https://thequollective.com/author/matt-distefano/] June 9, 2025 To Whom It May Concern,... Read More June 5, 2025 | Matthew Distefano
Summer Games Fest Happened, I Guess Early June has been the season for new game reveals for over two decades. After the collapse of E3, Geoff Keighley has taken up the torch with his ow... Read More June 23, 2025 | Ulises Duenas
You Sold Your Soul to a Pedophile: On Trump, Epstein, and the Cult That Calls Itself Christian There are moments in life when the curtain is finally yanked back, revealing the grotesque megachurch machinery behind all the fog machines and strob... Read More July 18, 2025 | Matthew Distefano
Jesus Supports Trans Athletes; A Hard Teaching On a sweltering June day in Central California, high schoolers gathered for the California State High School Track and Field Championships. There was... Read More June 13, 2025 | Paul Swearengin
Tomatoes, Peach Trees, and the Wisdom of Our Ancestors There’s a peach tree on our farm that shouldn’t still be here. It’s not the prettiest. It’s twisted, gnarled, and frankly, it looks like it’s been... Read More June 5, 2025 | Matthew Distefano
When Church and State Swipe Right Once upon a time, the phrase “separation of church and state” meant something. It was the constitutional speed bump that kept our country from careen... Read More June 3, 2025 | Stuart Delony
Pride Is a Protest, Not a Punchline It’s Pride Month—and We’re Still Fighting for Our Lives It’s Pride Month. Again. And once again, I find myself standing at the edge of this same ... Read More October 10, 2025 | Rev. Heather
Our Lives Are Defined by Our Relationships, Even Our Political Lives Relationships are all about choices. If you want to mend a relationship—because it’s a relationship that means something to you and you choose to use... Read More June 14, 2025 | Karen Tibbals
Relationship Strain and Setting “Healthy” Boundaries In the midst of high social and political tensions, many of us are navigating complex dynamics in our personal relationships too. It’s hard to ... Read More July 18, 2025 | Anna Clark Miller
When Compassion Breaks You Open I Wear My Heart on My Sleeve And maybe you do too. No truer statement could be said about me. I woke up just last week, poured my coffee, and stepp... Read More June 2, 2025 | Rev. Heather
The Real Jesus Was Nonviolent (And His Followers Are Too) Like it or not, Jesus was nonviolent. I don’t mean symbolically, or selectively, or sometimes. I mean totally, radically, unflinchingly committed to ... Read More June 2, 2025 | Keith Giles
I Am Disappointed… Or, Don’t Mess with a Surgically-Menopaused Woman A few months back, I texted an out-of-state friend from over 25 years ago who had given me... Read More June 1, 2025 | Lisa Martinez
I Can’t Wait to Spend 100 bucks on GTA 6 I live in a studio apartment nestled in the heart of Chinatown. I do remote work as a telemarketer selling discount performance enhancement supplemen... Read More June 23, 2025 | Ulises Duenas
Texas Bans Weed But Not Your AR-15: The Hypocrisy is as Thick as the Smoke They’re Trying to Criminalize Ah, Texas. The land of cowboy hats, big oil, bigger egos, and, let’s be honest, some of the most embarrassingly backward legislation this side of the... Read More May 29, 2025 | Matthew Distefano
Three Ways to Turn Chaos into Something (Slightly) Less Terrible Or: How to Stop Doomscrolling and Start Doing Something Useful Welcome to another installment of “Earth is Still on Fire and No One’s in Charge.... Read More June 3, 2025 | Stuart Delony
Evangelicals — Jesus Will Be at Pride. And So Will You. I get it, you’ve believed that being gay is a sin for a long time. You’ve believed that all gay people are going to hell and all the other things fun... Read More October 10, 2025 | Jeremy Steele
When Repentance Is Demanded “You need to repent” I hear this phrase often in my line of work. But every time, it prompts the same question: Repent for what, ex... Read More May 29, 2025 | Rev. Heather
Before We Can Solve Our Political Divide, We Need to Heal Our Own Trauma First This is the first step in working on healing our country, toward mending fractured relationships, to heal ourselves first. I bet you have been tra... Read More June 14, 2025 | Karen Tibbals
Overcoming Polarization Political polarization is at an all-time high in the United States. This deepening divide is being fueled by online echo-chambers, biased news networ... Read More June 2, 2025 | Anna Clark Miller
How Can You Call Fraud “Big and Beautiful?” “Let’s say Social Security didn’t send out their checks. . . this month. . .My mother-in-law, who is 94 years old. . .she wouldn’t call and complain.... Read More May 23, 2025 | Angela Parker
America, Revelation, and the Stench of Blood Let’s get something out of the way: The Book of Revelation was written about the Roman Empire in the first century. It’s not about America, the... Read More May 22, 2025 | Matthew Distefano
God and Guns at the Pentagon: A Prayer Service for the Prince of Peace and the Machinery of War This week, something strange and surreal unfolded in the Pentagon auditorium—something that might have made Jesus flip tables if He were in the room.... Read More July 18, 2025 | Keith Giles
What Comes After the Generals Are Gone? When loyalty trumps leadership, the Constitution isn’t far behind. You may have missed it. Between the never-ending election circus and whatever v... Read More May 21, 2025 | Stuart Delony
“Clair Obsur: Expedition 33” Breaks the Mold and Shows a Potential Path Forward for the Games Industry The conversation around “Clair Obscur” has blown up for bigger reasons than it just being a great game. It’s a great game that hark... Read More June 23, 2025 | Ulises Duenas
When Moral Failure Pays The Falwell Scandal and the High Cost of Evangelical Corruption In the summer of 2020, as the nation reeled from a global pandemic, Jerry Falwell ... Read More May 22, 2025 | Rev. Heather
The Stories of Fractured Relationships I’ve been collecting stories about relationships that have had the fabric of their lives torn by political polarization. The relationships affected r... Read More May 6, 2025 | Karen Tibbals
Religious Nationalism Breeds Narcissism Americans are witnessing a troubling, though not unexpected, rise in hateful rhetoric and political policies. Like it or not, this trend directly cor... Read More May 29, 2025 | Anna Clark Miller
Aragorn Has Gone Full Woke—and Middle-earth Might Not Recover UMBAR, Middle-earth Folks, I’m gonna say what Gondor’s court poets won’t. What the Elves are too smug to admit. What even the Dwarves are grumblin... Read More May 12, 2025 | Matthew Distefano
Let It Burn Why the Fall of Nottoway Plantation Feels Like Justice Tears and cheers rang out last week as the historic Nottoway Plantation was engulfed in fla... Read More May 22, 2025 | Rev. Heather
America: Arsonist and Firefighter In the documentary, “Dirty Wars”, author and investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill makes a comment about America’s schizophrenic foreign policy aft... Read More May 17, 2025 | Keith Giles
When Fiction Becomes Policy: The Real-Life Handmaid’s Tale of Adrianna Smith A young woman is declared brain dead—but Georgia law refuses to let her rest. Her body remains on life support, not for her, but for the fetus she ca... Read More May 17, 2025 | Rev. Heather
The Misogynoir Behind the Economic Exclusion of Black Women The older that I get the more of a conspiracy theorist I think I am becoming. Whatever could I mean? I am beginning to believe that there is an activ... Read More May 15, 2025 | Angela Parker
The Religion of Politics How Evangelicalism Trained Me to Vote Against My Neighbor—and What I’m Doing Differently Now It was 1991 and I was just a 12-year-old kid in schoo... Read More May 17, 2025 | Rev. Heather
Three Holy Wars THREE HOLY WARS “Christians could never slay their enemies. For the more that kings, rulers, and peoples have persecuted them everywhere... Read More May 13, 2025 | Keith Giles
Yes, I Know Trump Is Trolling Us. That’s Not the Point. Let me say this right out of the gate: Yes, I’m fully aware that Donald Trump posted an AI-generated image of himself as the Pope.Yes, I know tha... Read More May 11, 2025 | Matthew Distefano
Tips for Success in Your New Fascist State Congratulations, citizen!You’ve just woken up in the soft launch of America’s fascist rebrand—same flag, different flavor. The slogans are still free... Read More June 3, 2025 | Stuart Delony
Cutting People Out of Your Life Doesn’t Help Solve Our Political Divide Cutting people out of your life doesn’t help solve our political divide. Our country is polarized both in terms of politics and religion. Our medi... Read More May 6, 2025 | Karen Tibbals
Your Beliefs Aren’t Who You Are A critical part of growing and learning as humans is distinguishing between our beliefs (what we think), our behaviors (what we do), and our identiti... Read More May 29, 2025 | Anna Clark Miller
The Ethics of Deporting Immigrants: Making Decisions Ahead of Fear and Propaganda Is a deported person a terrorist? Or ‘father of the year?’ It actually doesn’t matter in the eyes of the law and it shouldn’t... Read More June 13, 2025 | Paul Swearengin
The Church And The Side Chick When we hear the term “Side Chick” we normally default to “the other woman”. Some folks use this word loosely, but technically there can’t be a side ... Read More May 13, 2025 | Desimber Rose
This Is The Truth Grenade Ten years ago, I was a rebel. I was radicalized by the Sermon on the Mount, Liberation Theology, Social Justice activists, and the words of Shane Cla... Read More May 13, 2025 | Keith Giles
The Ring of Power and the Gospel of Christ: A Word to MAGA Christians (and JD Vance) J.R.R. Tolkien once said that The Lord of the Rings was fundamentally a “Catholic work,” and while he insisted his magnum opus was not alle... Read More July 18, 2025 | Matthew Distefano
A Pope for the People, Not the Power-Hungry A New Pope Has Been Chosen—And Evangelicals Are Already Big Mad The bells rang out from St. Peter’s Basilica, signaling a moment of transition, of... Read More May 12, 2025 | Rev. Heather
Unlearning Church, Remembering Christ I grew up hearing that there wasn’t a soul on earth God didn’t love. That the gospel was about helping people, not judging them. That Jesus wasn’t... Read More May 12, 2025 | Rev. Heather
There Is Poison In The Holy Water There is poison in the holy water.And this poison is lapped up like a thirsty dog, dying for a drink. It’s poured into shiny baptismal fonts, lift... Read More May 2, 2025 | Rev. Heather
Dear American Evangelicals: Your Favorite Politicians Wouldn’t Have Even Liked Jesus You are sucking at this. (and I did too). There’s something you need to hear, and it’s going to sting a little. Your favorite politicians? The ... Read More May 1, 2025 | Jeremy Steele
The Cross Is Not A Couch Are You Committed to Christ, or Just Hooked on the Comfort He Brings? I used to sit in churches where the pastor would warn us about complacency. ... Read More April 30, 2025 | Rev. Heather
BIPOC & Queer Owned Businesses BIPOC Fashion Tags BoutiqueTags Boutique, run by Kandi Burruss of Real Housewives of Atlanta, sells the latest seasonal fashions for women. ... Read More July 18, 2025 | Matthew Distefano
The Necessity of Supporting Black and Queer-Owned Businesses in 2025 America in 2025 is a battleground—not in the traditional, bombs-and-bullets sense, but in a war against equity, dignity, and progress. With the Trump... Read More July 18, 2025 | Matthew Distefano
Sam Cooke: The Soundtrack of a Revolution Sam Cooke’s voice, soulful and smooth, is the kind that lingers in the air long after the record stops spinning. As one of the kings of sou... Read More July 18, 2025 | Matthew Distefano
Donald Trump Proposes Renaming New Mexico to “New America” to Liberate It from the Mexican Cartels In a move that left political commentators, historians, and geography teachers reaching for their stress balls, former President Donald J. Trump anno... Read More May 6, 2025 | Matthew Distefano
Preserving Democracy in the Face of Fascism: A Call to Action As we face an uncertain future in the United States, a recent episode of the Heretic Happy Hour podcast delved into the troubling implicati... Read More May 6, 2025 | Matthew Distefano
A New Year, Old Battles: Reflecting on America’s Challenges in 2025 As the calendar flips to a new year, we often carry with us the hope for fresh starts. Yet, if the recent news is any indicator, the weight of our un... Read More May 6, 2025 | Matthew Distefano
