Steve Thorngate
Fancy, tax-free parsonages
The U.S. Tax Court recently ruled in favor of Phil Driscoll: the evangelical musician's $400,000 second home qualifies as a tax-free parsonage.
...Welfare reform worked, just not for the people who need welfare
This week marks the 15th anniversary of welfare reform, in which a Republican Congress and a re-election-focused Democratic president got together to fulfill the latter's promise to "end welfare as...
Practical liberals and moral conservatives
Here's an interesting clip in which Texas governor and presidential candidate Rick Perry struggles to respond to a question about the effectiveness of abstinence-only education.
About that Bible-and-Playboy photo illustration
This post by GetReligion editor Terry Mattingly is a classic specimen of the genre: some great media criticism, with sprinkled asides of conservative boilerplate.
Charity vs. politics?
Yes, political advocacy is more effective than Band-Aid-style charity. But are those the only options?
Communion bread uninterrupted by prayer
My sister teased me when I posted a while back about using local wine for communion....
Thursday digest
New today from the Century.
"No one talks about what happens to the people nothing happens to"
Via Rose Berger,
the summer issue of Portland magazine
includes an essay by Portland editor
and Century contributor Brian Doyle,
in which he quotes at length a conversation with a young U.S. war veteran named
Jackie. She paints a striking picture.
How religious right is Rick Perry?
We've
heard a lot about Texas governor Rick Perry since he announced his presidential campaign Saturday. Is he the hardcore religious-right type
some would have us believe?
Social media is more than a tool
The biggest question about social media and the church is not how the church can harness the power of social media for good ends while safeguarding against bad ones (useful as such discussions may be). It's how social media is changing what it means to be church.