Getting Religion?

Erik January 4th, 2008

"The press just doesn't get religion." - William Schneider

The substance of that quote forms the premise of the website, GetReligion.org. Since 2004, Terry Mattingly and the other contributors to that site have been religiously helping the mainstream press "get it."

So, on the first Steve Brown Etc. of 2008, we thought it would be fun to talk to Terry about Time magazine's top 10 religion stories of 2007 and see how they're doing. What's more, we also … (Read More)

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Fantasy, Reality & Christianity

Erik September 7th, 2007

Have you grown tired of Christians using popular books and movies as a bridge to presenting the gospel? I have. It feels cheap and heavy handed, and Jesus is neither of those things. I wanted to spend some time talking to this week's guest Connie Neal about that, but the stuff she was saying about Harry Potter was so fascinating (and Connie is so fun to talk to), I almost forgot.

If you've boycotted the Harry Potter series because of your Christian faith, you can't afford to mi … (Read More)

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Maybe I Went Too Far

Steve Brown September 4th, 2007

Okay, okay!

I was irritated and maybe I went too far in my comments about leaving God out of the political, social and relational stuff…I do that sometimes.

The nature of a blog like this is that I can be irritated about something and write on it before I've thought about it very deeply. The good thing about books and a lot of other stuff I write is that it goes through the editorial filter of people who don't get as irritated as quickly as I do and who are far saner than I am … (Read More)

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Leave God Out of It!

Steve Brown August 17th, 2007

Pascal once said that people "do evil completely and cheerfully when they do it from religious conviction."

The most obvious case is the radical Muslims who kill anybody who disagrees with them and do it in the name of God.

Someone told me the other day that the difference between a worship leader and a terrorist is that you can negotiate with a terrorist. He, of course, is wrong because both a worship leader and a terrorist do what they do in the name of God. And when you put Go … (Read More)

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The Simpsons Movie & Religion

Erik August 10th, 2007

A recent ChristiaNet.com survey asked Christians, "Is The Simpsons Movie appropriate for Christians?" The majority of Christians polled had not seen the movie, but that didn't stop them from offering their opinion on it (and it didn't stop ChristiaNet.com from sending out a press release on their silly poll). It didn't stop us from talking about it either.

On this week's SBE we talk with Mark Pinsky, author of The Gospel According to the Simpsons, about The Simpso … (Read More)

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Active Culture (Re-Air)

Erik July 27th, 2007

This weekend, radio stations across the country will be re-airing the previously broadcast episode of SBE titled, Active Culture with Dick Staub author of, The Culturally Savvy Christian: A Manifesto for Deepening Faith and Enriching Popular Culture in an Age of Christianity-Lite. This is one of my favorites. If you missed it, hit play below or download the mp3 and listen later.

Don't forget, you can get each week's SBE delivered free by hitting the "Subscribe" button in th … (Read More)

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