Clearly, Lord Vader has been busy. See Vader Chokes Officer — I find your lack of faith disturbing for details.

Census reveals more people identify as Jedi Knights than atheists

The number of Jedi Knights appears to have nearly halved in the last decade, but still beats the amount of people who positively identify as atheists in England and Wales, according to results of the … 

Sane thinking on a issue that often seems to be a wellspring of crazy.

Ed Stetzer — Thursday Is for Thinkers with Katie Persinger: Above Reproach, Not Unapproachable

Ed Stetzer writes and speaks on theology, missiology, church planting, church revitalization, and church innovation. 

Rich Mullins has long been one of my favorite practical theologians. Here he is in classic form.

God’s Will for Your Life -

Sometimes we become hyperfocused and obsessed over the little things and lose track of the big picture. In those moments, the sharp contrast of a new perspective can be a great way to refocus. For tho… 

The good news: hate crimes were down by 6%. The interesting news: “The majority of those incidents—46.9 percent—were racially motivated, followed by 20.8 percent motivated by sexual orientation and 19.8 percent motivated by religion. Incidents of religious bias had previously outnumbered incidents of sexual-orientation bias since at least 1995…”  Things that surprised me: how few hate crimes there are overall, how much greater anti-Jewish animus is than anti-any other religion, and how much more prevalent racial hostility is than any other category.

For the First Time, Hate Crimes Against Gays Outnumber Those Against Religion: Religious bias had outnumbered sexual-orientation bias since at least 1995.

At Christianity Today, we’re constantly tracking important developments in the church and the world. Often we use our network of reporters around the world (and for that, visit our main site). But we … 

I must confess that the truth behind the first myth was a surprise to me, and I consider myself very well informed on these issues. 

5 Myths about Jubilee

Found in Leviticus 25, the biblical practice of Jubilee is becoming ever more prominent in discussions about justice, poverty, and debt relief. Many evangelical authors mention Jubilee as a biblical example of debt forgiveness and redistribution of land. It has also gained popular attention in the news media.

Jubilee has been offered by several sources as a solution to our current economic crisis. At Forbes, Erik Kain asked, “Could a debt jubile… 

He makes a very good point in the final panel.

Basic Instructions — Basic Instructions — How to Talk Someone out of Making a Wretched Mistake

Thanks as always for using my Amazon Affiliate links ( US , UK , Canada ). 

Aaaaaand the Flipside brings it again…

Group of Normal High School Girls Call Themselves the Craziest

The Stanford Flipside is a weekly satirical publication at Stanford University. 

This is an interesting way to think about it, although I must confess that I have qualms about those who profess to love all of mankind and yet do not love the people around them.

You don’t have to be local | Derek Sivers

Derek Sivers Home, Blog, About, Projects 

Some of these numbers are amazing. I’m not surprised at the way the study was reported, though. This is like those studies that tell people coffee is good for them: they so want it to be true that they don’t look at the details.

The Naked Truth about Self-Esteem?

About a week ago a curious story began to make the media rounds. Apparently porn stars’ lives aren’t nearly the mess they are often presumed to be. Instead, the news cycle declared, they display great… 

There are some helpful thoughts here about the challenge of making historical films. Leaving aside the specifics about the movie Lincoln (which I have not seen), I agree with Douthat’s broader points.

Spielberg’s “Lincoln” and Its Critics

Is this fall’s big historical film unfair to radicalism?