Robert Arnold

The world of the Plutocrats runs on our exhaustion - it blows up when we refuse to be tired.

Proudly Deconstructing

(TLDR is very understandable and willingly forgiven on this one) Go in peace and sin no more.

Spirituality Matters

Rev Karla

They'll Take Your Tithe, But Not Your Truth

A Deconstructing Former Christian Explains Why She's Done Recommending Churches to the LGBTQIA+ Community

“How do I find a LGBTQ friendly church?”

Over the years, I’ve received some form of that question hundreds, maybe thousands of times. I’ve written resource guides where I lay out a thoughtful approach to finding a church that not only welcomes the LGBTQIA+ community but also affirms them (I’ll expand on those terms later). I’ve recorded numerous videos on this topic, cautioning church-goers about the toxic theology that the carefully packaged branding of modern American Christianity hides. I’ve repeatedly discussed this in livestreams and podcasts.

Still, the question comes.

The question above came on a video I posted just last week. People are justifiably confused and cautious; no doubt they have either heard the stories of how LGBTQIA+ people have been treated in churches or they may have experienced it themselves. It is heartbreaking, especially when all a person wants is a spiritual community that will love, fully embrace, and accept them for who they are.

Instead, they discover that the place where they thought they had found family and belonging has been a ruse, a dehumanizing trick with insufferable consequences. I knew it was a problem based on my personal experience of awakening to the weaponization of scripture in order to preach about the “chosen lifestyle” of gay people, as so many mega pastors put it.

But today’s writing won’t be about assuring you that being gay isn’t a sin. For the record, it isn’t.

So hear me again:
It is not a sin.
Point blank. End of discussion. Ten toes down. Full stop.

The ones preaching that garbage are doing so because they have an agenda. That agenda is to hold onto the narrative that Christian patriarchy created generations ago. To deviate from it would be an admission that scripture is cherry-picked, fluid, and conveniently contorted to highlight the verses that control and dehumanize. It protects the power of the white Christian man, who doesn’t make “mistakes,” he falls into sin because he is “tempted by the Devil”—a convenient excuse for every action, whether immoral, perverted, or illegal, that he is caught doing.

I’ll put this nonsense to rest by including here something I said in a video a few years ago:

Because the toxic theology that is being spoon-fed to you every Sunday is so full of hate and fear and you’ve been convinced that this somehow makes you pleasing to your God.

But tell me Zac, what do you say to Christians who lay rubber getting out of that church parking lot on Sunday to head to Cracker Barrel and pile enough bacon on their plate to feed 6 people.

What do you say to them, Zac? (Leviticus 11:7-8)

Do you tell them that they are an abomination?

Or how about that Red Lobster Feast? (Lev 11:9-12)

I see your kind mowing down that surf and turf like tomorrow’s the rapture.

Although I think if you’re caught with that shrimp in your mouth, Zac you’re gonna miss it.

And did you mix fabrics today, Zac? (Lev 19:19)

Because if you did, you’re gonna have a problem getting into heaven

Now here’s a real disturbing part of Leviticus. In Lev 21 it talks about the physical standards of priests, disqualifying them for service if they have physical disabilities. Can you imagine that type of discrimination today, Zac? Do you or someone you love have a blemish in their eye, or a challenge with their physical body? And you’re okay with that level of discrimination because thousands of years ago people didn’t understand human rights and thought that discrimination was okay?

There are verses that allow us to sell our children (exodus 21:7), to unalive people for working on the sabbath (exodus 35:2)

When people use specific passages from the Bible, such as those in Leviticus, to justify homophobia or other exclusionary practices, this is an example of wanton ignorance. This term refers to a deliberate disregard for broader context, selective interpretation, and an inflexible adherence to texts that promote discriminatory views.

Here’s what you’re doing to justify your homophobia:

You’re cherry picking scripture

Zac didn’t stick around to answer any of this. And for those who want to bring Pauline theology into the mix, just don’t. Watch 1946 the movie, read Reverend Brandan Robertson’s book Queer & Christian, and stop worshipping Paul as your Lord and Savior.

Okay, I’m done with that.

What you will find interesting about what I am saying is that I can see that there are Christians who are advocating for and affirming the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community. That is exactly what I did above when I recommend 1946 the movie and Reverend Brandan’s book—all Christians and either queer or allies of the queer community. As good as the work those people are doing, they do not represent the entirety of modern American Christianity. In fact, they only represent a tiny sliver of it. And for too long, I have been asked to “trust me bro” that churches that say they are “loving, welcoming and affirming” are actually that.

When they absolutely are not.

What is a Welcoming Versus an Affirming Church?

Several years ago, I wrote a resource guide called “Welcoming versus an Affirming Church: Finding a church that truly welcomes the LGBTQIA+ community.” In that resource guide, I explained what the difference is between a welcoming church and an affirming church:

It’s important to understand that there is a significant difference between a welcoming and affirming church. They are not one and the same. True affirming churches know this and will be vocal in their support for and respect of the LGBTQIA+ community.

Phrases such as “we welcome everyone,” “we love everyone,” “God loves all,” “love covers all,” etc. have little relevance to their actual beliefs.

Nebulous signs like “God loves all” could mean that they’re comfortable with LGBTQIA+ people sitting in their pews but still consider being gay a sin. As such, anyone LGBTQIA+ would be limited in how they participate in leadership, worship, baptism, sacraments and other church activities. They will not officiate same-sex weddings or weddings for transgender people.

An affirming church will publicly declare that you’re not only welcomed but invited to experience fully the life and ministry of the church, including membership, leadership, employment and all sacraments. They’ll often go out of their way to offer hospitality, connect to the LGBTQIA+ community, take active roles in social justice issues, have officiated weddings and reiterate their willingness to do so.

Affirming churches will also have LGBTQIA+ leaders.

Let me take this a step further so that I am clear—modern American Christianity, with rock bands on stage and pastors in jeans, does not equate to an affirming church. In fact, this is where the most homophobic, transphobic church-goers and leaders are typically found. I say typically because homophobia inside Christianity is not a monolith specific to just one denomination. I have seen it in progressive churches, and many have shared their stories about being forced out of leadership roles, even out of the church, when they came out to their church community.

There is a significant difference between a welcoming church and an affirming church, and conflating the two is costing people their spiritual well-being. A rainbow flag on the door, a pastor in jeans, and a rock band on Sunday morning do not mean a church is affirming. It means they’ve done the branding. And branding is not theology.

This is exactly what Hillsong Church exposed when the church’s NYC campus appeared to be moving toward affirming, and the global leadership, at the time under its founder Brian Houston, issued a swift, unambiguous statement: they do not support same-sex marriage. The rainbow-adjacent aesthetic was never a doctrinal position. It was optics they used to appear to be something they are not.

To someone walking through those doors hungry for belonging and acceptance, those optics can appear to be a safe harbor. Instead, they are weaponizing spirituality in hopes of converting the LGBTQIA+ community to their brand of Christianity that forces them to “turn away from their chosen lifestyle.”

It’s what I call passive conversion therapy—it’s more subtle but just as deadly and toxic. When a person must deny who they are in order to be accepted into any community, there aren’t enough “welcome” signs that can be planted on the outside to hide the truth that they are nothing more than homophobic Christians pretending to be something they are not.

What about Churchclarity.org?

Many people will suggest that the LGBTQIA+ community and allies to use churchclarity.org to find churches that welcome the LGBTQIA+ community. According to its own website, Church Clarity is:

Church Clarity is a crowd-sourced, volunteer-verified website database that scores Christian churches’ websites based on how easy it is to find a church’s actively enforced policies for LGBTQ+ people and women in stewardship.

I’m going to be honest here. I have no doubt that Church Clarity’s intentions are pure and honorable. But when I discovered that a church that I formerly attended and was a leader in is listed on this website, it was an immediate “no” for me. It was evident by the sermon that was cherry-picked as a testament to this church being a safe church did not clearly represent what this church stands for and what it believes. I know personally because I sat across from those church leaders and explained my concern that we appeared to be deceiving the queer community by not admitting that we believed being gay was a sin and pretending to be something we clearly were not. By the end of that meeting, I had become painfully aware of the “bait and switch” style of marketing that is prevalent inside this Christianity: get them in the pews, take their tithes and their free labor, then entice them with ways to get over the fence to salvation that requires they denounce their “sinful lifestyle” to be the Christian God wants them to be.

That experience led me to write in my resource guide on welcoming vs. affirming church:

The saddest part that came crashing in on me was that I had been duped because I wanted to be duped. Suddenly, I realized that the pastors said all the right things to appease me, but offered no substantive actions or ways that the LGBTQIA+ was welcomed as those who were heterosexual and cisgender.

I did not want to leave my spiritual community, and so I hadn’t asked hard enough questions, lest I be faced with the hard truths that I somehow knew…

My church was homophobic and by proximity to that church, so was I.

At least that was the perception that this student had, and they had every right. From their perspective, I was selling the church on nothing but good vibes and nice people—something that the historically oppressed understand all too well. It’s so easy to say we are allies, but proving it is another story.

That incident, along with the countless other things that were occurring in my life, was a huge catalyst for me to finally face the harm Christianity was doing to the LGBTQIA+ community.

Where does that leave the LGBTQIA+ community seeking to connect with a church?

Beautiful Soul, I get it.

I truly do. For years after leaving church, I searched for another where my awakening would be welcomed, nurtured even. It never came. Time after time, I found myself sitting in a pew, listening to scriptures that were manipulated to protect Christian patriarchy. It wasn’t until I finally started looking within and healing did I realize that I no longer needed a spiritual community that reminded me of my Christian heritage.

That’s my story—not yours. I understand and respect those who seek a place that feels like home.

But here’s the truth: for far too long, I have been doing the heavy lifting of helping people find their way back to church, and that isn’t mine to carry. As much as I want to be that for you, I simply cannot. While I can fully acknowledge the good work that many Christians are doing on the inside, I am seeing far too often the homophobia many churches tolerate for the sake of the budget and tradition of families who have been affiliated with a church, and those relationships suffocate the healing work the church leaders should be doing to eradicate bigotry from their pews.

I cannot be the one doing that work from the outside when they refuse to do it within.

What I can say is you have every right to expect transparency and full disclosure for what a church believes without a song and dance that ends with a pastor in too-tight jeans, plaid shirt, bald head, shadow beard who has shortened his name to some acronym to sound hip and cool (sorry but not sorry because I know the type), that leans forward to tell you in his best whisper-like voice, “I love everyone because Jesus loves everyone!”

• That doesn’t answer whether they believe that being gay is a sin.
• It doesn’t answer if that church has ever marched in a Pride parade or hosted an event at their church.
• It doesn’t answer whether they will officiate your trans daughter’s wedding to her fiancé who happens to be a woman.
• It doesn’t answer if they will baptize your gay nephew.
• It doesn’t answer if they will ordain your lesbian sister.
• It doesn’t answer if you, as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community who is openly queer, will be invited on the worship team.
• It doesn’t answer if they support conversion therapy, or if they believe in “praying the gay away.” (which by the way: my former church, which made the list on churchclarity.org? Their senior pastor literally preached a sermon on “praying the gay away” with a former colleague. So yes, I have a right to be suspicious of the churches making that list.)
• It doesn’t answer what that pastor believes a gay person must do to be fully accepted into church membership as other hetero, cisgender church-goers are.

Those are the questions you deserve answers to, and sadly, only you can ask them. Any answer from a church leader that doesn’t indisputably acknowledge and affirm a queer person’s right to exist and be celebrated for who they are is a church leader utilizing passive conversion therapy tactics to fill the church pews and offering plates to appear to be something they are not.

I want to close…

With one final word of caution. A disturbing trend that we are seeing inside primarily evangelical/fundamentalist churches is the creation of “support groups” for the LGBTQIA+ community. These support groups are often led by someone from the LGBTQIA+ community who has denounced their “sinful desires” to live according to Christ. These are not support groups—this is yet another tactic of the church to practice underhanded conversion therapy on unsuspecting queer people who desire to be accepted. If the support group is not run by either a fully out and proud queer person or an affirming ally who is experienced and credentialed in working with the LGBTQIA+ community and some form of counseling, then it is not a safe place for anyone in the queer community.

A real support group inside an affirming church would focus on helping people heal from religious trauma and recognize their sexual or gender authenticity as fully whole, neither a sin or a mistake, and a reason to celebrate them for who they are.

Lastly….

And I say this with all the love in my heart.

This is a week for boundaries, and this is another loving one that I offer as I move forward to help those who have deconstructed and find themselves unchurched and happy to be so.

As I said above, I’ve done the work on behalf of Christians to help people find a gentle landing back in church long enough. I’m tired, but more importantly, and I say this is love, it’s not my responsibility.

Churches should be figuring out how to market this, scream loud and proud. It isn’t enough that queer clergy are front and center. It’s an incredible start, but demonstrate how people are celebrated, protected, nurtured, and honored within your spiritual community.

Til then, my response to those asking me to help them find an LGBTQIA+ affirming church will be this writing.

It isn’t that I don’t want you to find a church—believe me, I do.

I simply cannot handle yet another story when it goes wrong. Far too often, it does.

You have every right to expect to be safe and celebrated.

I have every right to expect that churches deliver on their promises to be safe and celebratory of the queer community so that I am confident in my recommendations.

It is now up to the churches to find tangible, concrete ways to be that safe space that celebrates the queer community and then get creative and loud in communicating it.

Until then, I’ll stay in my lane, helping those heal when church hurts them.

It’s what I do best.

Happy Pride, everybody

WTF Is Wrong With Us?

I can hear Stephen Miller:

"Hey, boss - here's an idea. Let's send ICE to Puerto Rico and tell them to profile everybody with brown skin who speaks Spanish! We'll hit those quotas in no time."

Nobody Didn't See It Coming

How Trump’s ‘Operation Epic Disaster’ turned the world against America

Donald Trump wanted to bring the Islamic Republic to its knees. He failed on all counts

One month into Operation Epic Fury, Donald Trump insisted that one of the most intense military campaigns in recent history would soon be over.

“We are on the cusp of ending Iran’s sinister threat to America and the world,” the US president said in a primetime address.

Almost two months later he signed a deal to end the conflict that many argue favours Iran and fails to meet his primary objectives.

The Iran war has revealed the limits of US military power to achieve political objectives. But it has also left allies and partners questioning their relations with Washington.

“We deployed American power recklessly and incomprehensibly,” said Aaron David Miller, a former US state department negotiator and adviser during multiple Republican and Democratic administrations.

“The moral and strategic argument is that Operation Epic Fury has been an epic disaster,” he said, adding: “What significance did this war have to advancing the national interests of the US?”

Mr Trump spent his last day at the G7 summit in Geneva this week trying to quell concerns about the peace treaty.

The page-and-a-half-long deal, signed on Wednesday night, consists of a broad and apparently flimsy set of principles to keep peace and kick contentious issues into the long grass.

Among US allies, concerns are being raised privately that the rushed framework is light on nuclear concessions and heavy on financial incentives.

A senior European diplomat said: “The deal will turn out to be a win for Iran. I don’t think Iran will give much in the coming 60 days of negotiations.

“Obviously, Iran has been degraded somewhat by the military campaign, but psychologically and politically I think Iran is the winner, at least for now.”

The conflict put unprecedented strain on the transatlantic alliance. Some European countries denied American warplanes use of their airspace, while the refusal of Nato countries to send warships to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz infuriated Mr Trump.

It culminated in Mr Trump threatening to abandon the alliance altogether.

The diplomat added: “The frustration with the current erratic foreign policy swings is growing and increasingly visible. We have always answered the phone, when the US has called. For the time being, those phone calls will be picked up less frequently.”

Militarily, the US has depleted its critical missile and munitions stockpiles and overstretched its artillery, forcing the relocation of assets from the Pacific.

The Gulf states have suffered severe damage to energy facilities and incurred heavy economic losses. Their long-held image as safe and luxurious tax havens has been shattered.

Israel, still at war with Iran-backed Hezbollah, has been sidelined in negotiations and forcibly brought to heel by Mr Trump, while its support in America is being drained.

The Iranian regime is emboldened, hardliners are empowered, and the civilian population is suffering from intensified repression.

Tehran will commit to fully reopening the Strait of Hormuz within 30 days and reiterate its pledge to never produce a nuclear weapon – positions it held before the war began.

The White House has insisted “no dust, no dollars”, meaning Iran has to surrender its 430kg of highly enriched uranium before it gets sanctions relief. But such nuclear concessions were already on the table in February, days before the war began.

The terms have led allies to privately ask: What exactly did Mr Trump go to war with Iran for?

Even Mr Trump’s inner circle is expressing doubts. Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, Pete Hegseth, the defence secretary and John Ratcliffe, the CIA director, have reportedly questioned Iran’s good faith.

“It is emblematic of everything that is wrong with the Trump administration,” Mr Miller said, citing the lack of reliance on expertise and intelligence, the politicisation of American foreign policy and “Trump’s own predilections that US power is unlimited”.

More broadly speaking, Mr Miller added: “America’s capacity to deter has been undermined.

“The Islamic regime has now survived the largest deployment of US air, naval and missile assets since the Iraq War and survived a military campaign against Israel, the region’s most important military power.”

However, American credibility will recover, he said. “After Vietnam, the Iraq war, the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, people believed the US would never lead again. I didn’t believe them then, and I don’t believe it now,” he said.

Mr Trump’s credibility, on the other hand, may not. His shifting war objectives, constantly misleading public messaging and inability to secure what he promised have eroded public trust, polls repeatedly show.

“Trump overestimated the ability of the military to accomplish political objectives and learned the limitations of force,” said David Schenker, the assistant US secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs under the first Trump administration.

Shattering the illusion of security

Among the most urgent questions about US power and trustworthiness come from those in the Gulf who must confront the new reality that the US cannot ensure their security.

During the war, the presence of American forces in the region attracted, rather than deterred, attacks by Iran – helping to shatter the illusion of the US security umbrella.

Mehran Kamrava, a professor of Middle Eastern politics at Georgetown University in Qatar, said: “The US will continue to remain the dominant power globally, but what it has shown in the Gulf is they cannot rely on the US solely for their security.

“It will accelerate their push to diversify their security partners and strategic reliances.”

The rifts are already evident. The United Arab Emirates is deepening its ties with Israel and India, while Saudi Arabia is forging a new security axis with Pakistan, Turkey and Egypt.

Israel’s uncertain path forward

The news of the agreement to end the fighting “on all fronts” was greeted with anger and dismay in Israel. With Israeli forces still deployed in Lebanon, Gaza, the West Bank and Syria, it has left America’s key ally uncertain of the path forward.

In the eyes of many Americans who disapprove of the conflict, Benjamin Netanyahu pushed their president into a misguided war, accelerating the fraying support for Israel inside the US, a process that began with Gaza.

For some in the administration, the Israeli prime minister is the scapegoat for unfulfilled war objectives.

JD Vance, the US vice-president and a staunch sceptic on foreign intervention, publicly acknowledged the strain on relations, accusing Mr Netanyahu of “getting some things wrong”.

In April, Joe Kent resigned as director of the US national counter-terrorism centre in protest against the war, accusing Israel of dragging the US into a “war of choice” and manipulating Mr Trump into joining in the first place.

Prof Kamrava said the damage to US-Israeli relations is not irreparable, but in the short term hinges on the personal relationship between Mr Trump and Mr Netanyahu.

“Trump feels in many ways misled by faulty or false intelligence of Israel. For Netanyahu, who has legal and political problems, this war with Iran was a lifeline, but he has emerged in a much weaker position as he enters his own electoral campaign.”

Mr Netanyahu, the longest-serving prime minister in Israel’s history, is seeking another term in the elections scheduled for later this year, with his political rivals using the MoU as a stick to beat him with before October’s vote.

An unpopular war

At home, a war with Iran was never popular.

Polls conducted in the first week of February showed that nearly half of Americans opposed an attack on Iran. By May, after two months of war, disapproval had risen sharply to 58 per cent.

During the most active stages of the conflict, it was estimated to be costing taxpayers an average of $2bn (£1.5bn) a day.

Announcing the “historic peace agreement” on Sunday, a White House spokesman said it would end “decades of hostility” and bring “stability to one of the world’s most volatile regions”.

But Americans won’t feel the relief of this “historic” moment for months to come. Oil prices have begun to fall, but fuel and food prices are expected to remain high for some time – long enough for a disgruntled electorate to damage the Republican Party in the midterms and perhaps see Mr Trump lose control of Congress.

He will have a hard time persuading voters the war was worth ongoing pain and is not another American military misadventure.

Mr Trump continues to insist that his deal is better than the one Barack Obama signed with Iran to limit its nuclear programme and missile capacity. Experts disagree.

“The US lost on virtually every point,” he tweeted in 2015. “We just don’t win anymore!”

The words are now coming back to haunt him, and are likely to be played again and again by Democrat campaigners ahead of the midterms.

Iranian citizens, too, have lost trust in Mr Trump. He told some 93 million of them that “help is on its way” as they took to the streets last winter to protest against the regime and were killed in their thousands.

The Iranian diaspora were purportedly dancing in the streets following the killing of Ali Khamenei. But now the mood has shifted.

Mr Trump’s attempt to foment a rebellion failed. So did his military action. His credibility has been eroded not only on the geopolitical stage, but among ordinary people worldwide, some of whom had been desperately hoping for a way out of living in an oppressive regime.

“If you look at the many examples of history, the US has only tried to answer its national security interests through military force,” Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House, said.

“Time and time again, the US has not thought about the people on the ground of its conflicts,” said Dr Vakil, “and this has come at a catastrophic cost for the Iranian people.”

Belle

IMHO, Republicans go on making a play for Plutocratic rule.

They push radical wackos in their primary elections - people who aren't very likely to win in the general election. And they have to know their wacko candidates don't appeal to most voters.

So it would seem they really are counting on a Jim Crow style scheme to keep people away from the polls.

With all the shit they're trying to pull - the campaign against Mail-In, threatening to order the USPS not to deliver ballots, vote roll purges, closing polling places, threatening to post armed "officers" at polling places, and and and. They're working hard to carve off a few percentage points - votes that would normally go to the Democrats - in order to eke out a few wins here and there.

It's the ugliest kind of politics, and I don't blame anybody for being repulsed by the process, and more than a little reluctant to participate.

But we have to show up for it.

No matter what else, don't stay home. Go vote.

On Being Coloradan

I grew up hearing "Coloradoan". But according to most sources, where they know a lot more about that kinda stuff than I do, "Coloradan" is correct for people living in a place that has a Spanish-origin name. (drop the 'o' and add 'an')

I think adding the 'o' makes it sound a bit more lyrical, although that's probably just because I was raised by a buncha dumbass dirt farmers or something.

And it's very likely that adding the 'o' is just another example of how Gringos adopt - and then bastardize - Spanish language words.

• la riata (a rope used to catch cattle) becomes "lariat"
• Buena Vista is pronounced Byoona Vista (We who call ourselves Coloradoans insist on the incorrect version, and will make fun of you for saying it right)
• The Huerfano River comes out of my grandpa's mouth as "The Wore-fuh-nah"

• The Colorado state religion is dogs.
• No, it’s not an oyster.
• For wheeled transport, the party going up hill has the right of way. Same for foot traffic -  for reasons unknown.
• If it rains you must say ‘we needed this.’
• Never buy a house with a north facing driveway.
• Green chile belongs on everything - no exceptions.
• Check List: Nightstand chapstick. Desk chapstick. Car chapstick. By-the-TV-remote chapstick. Bathroom chapstick. Kitchen chapstick.
• Never ski wearing jeans.
• You must own a minimum of 5 water bottles - steel, not plastic.
• We dress in layers here - and not because we think it's fashionable.
• Purchase of a Subaru or Toyota is mandatory within one year of residency.
• Never date someone with a Ski Pass different from yours.
• Allow 3 hours to get to a mountain 1 hour away.
• Don’t pet anything in Estes Park.
• Never plant anything outdoors before Mothers Day.
• Always carry layers, flip flops, and an extra blanket.

Anna Connelly

Deliberate ignorance don't cut it.

Cops

There's something very wrong with the cops.

The Flop

At least half of all the traffic we see online - half of all the "users" we encounter - are bots. They're not real.

Aaron Parnas

What will the history books tell us about what's going on now?

Always the big question.