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 perpetual masking…
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 echo comes back…
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 about that sentence. Because maybe…
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 American Dream. I’ve always been fairly…
On September 11, 2001, Michael W. Smith released an album called Worship. Reunion Records. It went double platinum. I’m not asking you to believe anything. I’m asking you to look…
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 defense of Donald Trump. Yes, that Donald Trump.…
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 sprawling piece, “What the Crackup of the…
The Michael Jackson biopic opened in April, cleared a billion dollars worldwide by July, and became the highest-grossing biopic ever made. It beat Bohemian Rhapsody. It beat Oppenheimer. Lionsgate…
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 Republican lawmaker of spraying her with…
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 he was at…
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 two…
There is a story Americans have been told about transgender women in sports. It goes something like this: A mediocre male athlete decides he cannot succeed against men. So he…
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 asks, “what’s wrong with a…
The endless pursuit of "more" isn't evidence of a healthy drive; it's evidence of the unhealthy shortcoming of a vacuous soul, always needing the next "fix" of wealth.
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 likeness and quotations of the Christ…
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 attend. It was meant to…
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 the serpent…
America was born through violence. Tea thrown into a harbor. Open fire when you see the “whites of their eyes.” The Confederacy fighting to leave the Union. The Union fighting…
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 translations, multiple authorship, interpolations,…
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 belonged to. Men…
I spent roughly 25 years in evangelicalism. I remember the prophecy charts, the altar calls after yet another hellish sermon, the constant hum of “end times” anxiety just beneath the…
Let’s take an honest look at ourselves for just a minute. Let’s drop the platitude of “America, Land of the Free!” Let’s just truly “keep it real” for this moment.…
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. But if every question leads to…
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 understand why this is the line. Because if…
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 something must be off…
The modern evangelical machine has learned to protect access to power rather than seeking justice for those most in need. To prize the influence of the influential over the influence…
Every time conflict erupts in the Middle East, a particular corner of American Christianity starts acting like sports fans watching the fourth quarter of a game they’ve been predicting for…
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: The men at…
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 rhetoric of people like Pete…
The current nationalist movement in America likes to imagine itself revolutionary. It is not. The script is familiar. This playbook goes far back. Long before the modern Republican Party. It…
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’ve never questioned. Churches post cheerful graphics.…
Universalism has a reputation problem. For a lot of Christians, the word sounds like moral surrender. Everyone gets saved, no matter what they’ve done. No consequences and certainly no justice.…
“My life finally makes sense.” That statement was my first thought after hearing I was carrying an emotional system with Dissociative Identity Disorder. I began to meet parts of me…
For more than two decades, American foreign policy has been guided by a persistent belief: that military intervention can remove tyranny and open the door to democracy. Even for me,…
Protestantism loves to tell itself a heroic origin story. The brave reformers stood up to corruption, reclaimed scripture, and restored faith to the people. And sure—there’s truth in that. But…
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 win elections, it’s…
In conservative Christianity, there’s a magic phrase that excuses almost anything: “at least he preached the gospel.” It’s the theological duct tape slapped over abuse, corruption, or just plain cruelty.…
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 what is right.” The guy wearing it…
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. Maybe you…
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 track. A Stage Big…
We keep treating church scandals and political corruption as a separate category. They are not. They’re branches from the same tree with the same rotten roots. The Problem is not…
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 didn’t sit down and consume…
The following is a letter I have sent to Governor Gavin Newsome, the governor of my state of California. Governor Newsom, In 2025, you publicly floated the idea of withholding…
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 it too closely. Elvis at the end…
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 becomes a cudgel against dissent. Lately,…
George Orwell’s Animal Farm is one of those classic books Americans tend to remember just enough to misremember. We recall the pigs, the slogans, and the the slow creep from…
“There should be no such thing as a ‘trans kid,’ said the commenter, “A minor cannot consent to drastic bodily changes.” That claim borrows the language of protection and ethics.…
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 trafficked weren’t really children-children, because, in…
Every time a Christian student earns a failing grade on an assignment involving gender or psychology, a familiar chorus begins: accusations of bias, claims of religious persecution, and the terribly…
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 and watch…
Most of us who deconstructed didn’t do it in one burning demolition. We questioned one thing at a time. We cracked open one story. We let one sliver of truth…
Holidays (and especially Thanksgiving) represent a special opportunity/challenge if you have family members who disagree. Our relationships have been torn apart by the political and cultural divide that we’ve been…
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, completely normal digestion—while simultaneously reacting to…
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’t buy into every 4Chan conspiracy…
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 hearts of a people group in real time.And…
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. They say secular culture is…
Within the next decade, we’ll likely see something truly grotesque: humanity’s first trillionaire. And sure, the word “trillion” gets tossed around in budget talks and national debt debates, but when…
f Cheney’s legacy teaches us anything, it’s that moral clarity must precede political power. The cost of ignoring that truth can be measured not only in lives lost, but in…
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 former TV producer…
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. Sam Gamgee…
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 God cared more about embryos than…
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 force, on one armored vehicle and “I…
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 Starring Jimmy Fallon—playing “True…
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 American Christianity had a spiritual produce section,…
“Godlessness” is NOT the problem. We actually have too much God in America Every time there’s a new crisis in America, someone inevitably says: “We need God back in this…
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 them, and then they…
There’s one thing that all Americans, regardless of our political leanings or religious affiliation, can agree on: fascism is bad. Unfortunately, we seem to have very different ideas about what…
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 pews? Turn the…
Two years ago, George Mitchell, former Senate majority leader and special envoy to Northern Ireland, visited Ireland to celebrate the 25th anniversary of what came to be known as the…
The news broke like a thunderclap: Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, assassinated. The reaction was swift and predictable. Before any facts could settle, before motive or perpetrator…
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 watching my mom stare…
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 a hint of…
With the current administration, there has been a severe backlash to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs. The White House has called them immoral, illegal, discriminatory, and wasteful. Government DEI…
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,” my signatureless legible on petitions,the lines in…
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 make Six Flags look…
When I was in my early twenties, I proudly registered with the Libertarian Party. The philosophy was simple, almost elegant: government should be small, restrained, and fundamentally protective of individual…
A Satire for Back-to-School Seasonby Paul Swearengin (and my spirit person Avery Rea – they/them) | Quollective Blog Every August, America prepares to sacrifice its children… oops, I meant to…
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 a police state.…
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 submit, for queer…
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 the end of…
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 May rolled around, I…
Don't believe "that could never happen here.” It not only can, but it is happening here. Take small steps to resist. Authoritarianism depends on apathy - which means that active,…
Trump is mobilizing the National Guard in Washington DC and Federalizing the police force. It began before the press conference. I saw it firsthand. Last night, the streets of Washington,…
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, cancelling your comedy, and eating all the meat…
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 something that isn’t theirs, plant a flag in it, and…
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 school. And just like that,…
The concept of pursuing a ‘greater good’ is a powerful tool for rallying people to a common cause and inspiring them to make sacrifices for a perceived collective benefit. Institutional…
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, he gave America the…
One of Hitler’s first acts of cultural violence was the destruction of the Institute for Sexual Science in Berlin — a world-renowned center for trans healthcare, queer advocacy, and gender…
For years, the Epstein scandal has been the conspiracy theorist’s holy grail—a grotesque mix of wealth, sex crimes, and elite connections that promised to expose the rot at the top.…
In the Christian New Testament, a group of religious leaders - who had connected themselves with King Herod, a philandering, narcissistic leader, who pandered to the Jews for political power…
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 best bakery in Northern California (go ahead…
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 identity and voting out of grievance.…
At The Quollective, we believe in accessibility, equity, and building a world rooted in justice. We also understand that some of our readers find themselves in… different financial circumstances. Maybe…
BREAKING NEWS: A Federal Court blocked President Trump’s order restricting birthright citizenship and certified a nationwide class, protecting the citizenship rights of all children born on U.S. soil to foreign…
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 Ring—isn’t vanquished in a climactic duel or by military…
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 to think. I’m done…
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 United States has…
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 of bottomless pits, then you probably know the…
As I watch Christian people continue to applaud the cruelty of ICE agents, it becomes clear that far too many "good" religious people hold to this belief that empathy is…
Waking up on Saturday morning to the news that two Minnesota lawmakers had been shot – and one killed – was shocking enough. But soon the realization came that the…
When I first explored the ACLU’s “Know Your Rights” guide, I was struck by how essential and straightforward it is. As a media outlet who believes in civic empowerment, we…
There are moments in life when the curtain is finally yanked back, revealing the grotesque megachurch machinery behind the all the fog machines and strobe lights. And if you didn’t…
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 spend time with family or friends…
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. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth—yes, the…
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 allegory, the spiritual resonance of his epic is…
BIPOC Fashion Tags BoutiqueTags Boutique, run by Kandi Burruss of Real Housewives of Atlanta, sells the latest seasonal fashions for women. Mo’s BowsMemphis’ Mo’s Bows offers a range of bespoke neckties, bowties,…
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 administration rolling back Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion…
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 soul, Cooke was more than a trailblazing artist;…
