When Robert Fenton was 26 and a youth pastor at Abide In the Vine Fellowship in Owego, New York, he told a couple that attended the church that he was drawn to their daughter and “meant to be with her.” She was 14 at the time. The church didn’t allow them to get married because […]
Marriage
Posted inParenting & Family
My big fat Christian wedding
If major religious differences doom a marriage, mine should have been toe-tagged at the altar. Our religious differences were arguably as major as they could get. By the time I approached that altar in a century-old church in San Francisco, I’d identified as an atheist for 15 years. I read the Bible critically at 13 […]
Posted inCulture
Can it work? 12 considerations for interfaith marriages
Let’s run through 12 problems facing people who desire to mate with others who don’t share their religious worldview. If you can’t address and deal with the following 12 items, cancel your next date and proceed no further with the wedding plans. 1. Will you acknowledge or confront the feelings of both families—grandparents, parents, […]
Posted inParenting & Family
Marriage advice to a half-believing couple: Hang on to each other
Not too long ago, a friend of mine unsubscribed from the Christian faith. His wife did nothing of the sort, however, and now she is worried about how their three small children will turn out. Their extended families are both devoutly evangelical, so you can guess how they feel about my friend’s apostasy. Sometimes the […]
Posted inGeneral
Evangelical Men’s Impossible Dream of Marriage
What these men want in marriage isn’t completely unreasonable. So (I wondered) why can’t they find it?
Posted inReligion
Kent Hovind: Arrested on Domestic Violence Charges
Hi and welcome back! The other day, we took an introductory look at a relic of Creationism’s heyday: Kent Hovind, who styles himself ‘Dr. Dino.’ Hovind got arrested right at the end of July on domestic violence charges against his newly-estranged third wife. He also didn’t respond well to her decision to end their relationship. […]
Posted inReligion
The Marriage Dilemma for Single Evangelicals
Not long ago, we reviewed a Christian book called Where Have All the Good Men Gone? In this book, author A.J. Kiesling sought to find out just why it was so incredibly hard for single evangelicals to find spouses to their liking. Then, we laid a lot of groundwork about the dysfunction going on in evangelicals’ marriage hunts and relationships. Today, I’ll show you the massive dilemma facing today’s single evangelicals — and what it tells us about evangelicals as a group.
Posted inReligion
Rod Dreher: Fretting About Evangelical Men’s Boners — er, Civilization’s Future
Today, the ever-hilarious Rod Dreher clutches his pearls over young women’s lack of interest in sex with him right-wing Christian men — and then offers the tribe a non-solution to this non-problem that just so happens to enrich him personally.
Posted inReligion
No, ‘The Church’ Can’t Save Marriage, Mark Regnerus
Hi and welcome back! Recently, I ran across an article in Christianity Today that dovetails nicely with a recent topic we discussed about single women leaving Christianity. This new article concerned the dwindling number of married people in evangelicalism. Written by woo pseudo-social-scientist Mark Regnerus, the article sounds a warning bell to the tribe and calls upon […]
Posted inReligion
Frank Keating: An(other) Evangelical Mascot Turned Out to Be A Total Failure
Today, I’ll show you what Frank Keating did, how his effort failed, and how nobody in his tribe of theocrats cared.