Guest Post

New today from the Century: Reading our R-rated Bible with children, Brian Walsh's Bruce Cockburn book, more.

New today from the Century: Craig Barnes on joining Facebook, Gail Irwin on being kind, more.

New today from the Century: Beth Felker Jones on Beasts of the Southern Wild, Daniel Deffenbaugh on Randy Woodley, more.

New today from the Century: Jamie Smith on social media as disordered liturgy, Shawnthea Monroe on wearing a collar for Lent, more.

"What's with the collar?” asked a UCC colleague. “Did you lose a bet?” I smiled and explained that this was my Lenten discipline: wearing a collar for 40 days.

Last week, Christian social justice activist Ron Sider declared that he is quitting AARP because it's opposing changes to Social Security and Medicare that he finds reasonable: proposals that would ask more from wealthier seniors. There are a lot of ideas out there for shoring up Medicare and Social Security, ideas that should be given serious consideration. And I agree with Sider on several points.

New today from the Century: The editors on immigration reform, Bob Francis on Ron Sider's comments on AARP, more.

Recently I did something for the first time: I attended the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington DC. Held annually since 1953, the breakfast is sponsored by the Fellowship (sometimes called “the Family”), a shadowy organization with connections especially to conservative members of Congress. I went with my crap detectors on high alert.

New today from the Century: John Buchanan on growing to appreciate Lent, Bromleigh McCleneghan on guinea pig memoirs, more.

New today from the Century: Stephanie Paulsell on turning 50, David Henson on progressive Christians and repentance, more.

New today from the Century: Philip Jenkins on religion in China, Anna Madsen reviews Robin Meyers, more.

Recently I wrote about the tar sands pipeline blockaders who have been coming to our church in Nacogdoches, Texas. Life with these young people is never dull. We’re learning to improvise and be light on our feet with them around.

New today from the Century: Ted Smith on making Lent difficult, the editors on antiscience sentiment, more.

Historians have argued for decades that the Second Amendment has nothing to do with the right to own a handgun nor  even with the right to use a gun in self-defense. Nevertheless, a counternarrative—bolstered by the National Rifle Association—has triumphed in the popular mind and been codified to some extent in the Supreme Court’s ruling in District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), which said that the Second Amendment “protects an individual right to possess a firearm.”

New today from the Century: Faith and evolutionary biology, the Second Amendment's history, more.

New today from the Century: Grant Wacker reviews T. M. Luhrmann, Carol Howard Merritt remembers Richard Twiss, more.

New today from the Century: John Buchanan on revisioning seminary, Diane Roth on pastoral care, more.

Politicians in Washington invariably use the term “entitlements” to refer to programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. On the face of it, it’s a neutral term: citizens are entitled to certain benefits if they fit a certain category of need, hence the benefits might reasonably be called “entitlements.” Yet the word carries ideological freight—an implication that people are lazy or self-indulgent to expect these things.

New today from the Century: Debra Bendis on her parents' aging, Jason Byassee on Modern Family, more.

New today from the Century: Seminarians and people with disabilities, the real "hidden prosperity of the poor," more.