Tag: creation festival

Ditching the Church for Jesus, A Long Tradition

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The popularity of a new video by Jefferson Bethke called “Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus” has a number of religion writers, including our pal Nicole Greenfield and The Scoop‘s Laura J. Nelson, wondering from whence this animosity against religious affiliation came. It could be argued that the faithfuls’ “hatred” for organized religion is a long, old tradition, perhaps reaching back to the Radical Reformation.

For me, and many others of my generation who were doing the born-again thing, separation of church and Jesus goes back to 1977 when Scott Wesley Brown sang, “I’m not religious, I just love the Lord.”
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Satan: Literarily and Literally

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Two stories, a song and a link:  For years I’ve been dabbling with a series of short stories about Satan.  In my drafts I call him Coldcheek.  He’s a dapper guy who only comes out at night, grudgingly enjoys his job of ushering souls to the next world with a kiss, is immortal (of course) and smells of gardenias.  He can travel through space (quickly) but not time. He’s got a clap-trap memory and he can delay your death but not forever.  And, as with most immortals, he’s incredibly patient (and very good in bed).

It’s nothing new, really.  Everybody from Flaubert to Pushkin, from Hawthorne to Ibsen has featured Satan as a character in their works.  Recently Saramago did it (and deliciously called him Pastor).  My friend Steve Moramarco and his band Hill of Beans did it for the rousing song, “Satan, Lend Me a Dollar.” Continue Reading →