One of the most popular blog posts I’ve written was a theological exploration of evil through the lens of the film, The Dark Knight. To continue the theme of superhero movies and theology, let’s talk about Superman.

After traveling a few weeks ago, I retuned home late one evening after the kids were in bed. After debriefing with my wife, I decided to vegetate by watching Superman Returns…the effort by director Bryan Singer to “reboot” the Superman movie franchise for Warner Brothers. Most critics, including myself, were very disappointed by the film. Superman Returns gives homage to Richard Donner’s Superman films (starring Christopher Reeve) by lifting characters, plot devices, dialogue, and even laugh lines from the original movies. But it had none of the Donner films’ magic.

The failure, I…

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, the start of the Lenten season prior to Holy Week and Easter Sunday. Vice President Joe Biden sparked curiosity when he appeared in public and on television with a smudge of ash on his forehead. One news anchor in the UK had no idea what it was. “What’s happened to his head?” asked Kay Burley on Sky News. “It looks like he’s walked into a door!” The co-host speculated that he had fallen on the ice while attending the Winter Olympics. (As if we needed more evidence that Britain is an utterly post-Christian secular culture.)

Biden is a practicing Catholic, and the ash was part of the Ash Wednesday mass he had attended earlier in the day. While usually associated with Roman Catholic expressions of…

News out of Egypt today reports that 7 Christians were killed in a drive by shooting after a Christmas Eve mass. (Coptic Christians celebrate Christmas on January 7.) The article from the BBC says: “Coptic Christians - who make up 10% of Egypt’s 80 million population - have complained of harassment and discrimination. Some Copts argue that previous attacks on them have gone unpunished or have resulted in light sentences.”

This comes on the heels of Fox News anchor Brit Hume complaining on Bill O’Reilly’s show that in our culture if “you speak the name Jesus Christ…all hell breaks loose.” (More on Brit Hume below.) But that raises a question: Are Christians in the US persecuted?

Many would like to think we are. Sure, some folks get uncomfortable when Jesus…

Confession time. I’ve never watched An Inconvenient Truth. I’ve never read Earth in the Balance. In fact I’ve never studied the global warming issue in any depth beyond the occasional news article in Time magazine. I’m not sure this is anything to be ashamed about…I’m probably like many Americans in this regard.

But since Barack Obama has taken office and everything is now green (”green economy,” “green jobs,” “green energy,” “green cars,” and “green business”) I’ve started to actually pay attention to the issue of anthropogenic global warming (AGW).

I know what the “deniers” on the right think. Rush Limbaugh is fond of saying that humans didn’t create life on earth and therefore we cannot destroy it. He says global warming is a myth concocted by lefty scientists to scare…

Today the world’s tallest building is opening in Dubai. There have been a number of “world’s tallest” titles handed out in recent years. Some of the titles have been contested on technicalities…apparently antennas don’t count but spires do. But there is no question that the Burj Dubai deserves to be called the world’s tallest. It has 160 floors and reaches an amazing 2,717 feet up.

But what does this new record holder mean? What does it symbolize?

A brief history of the record holding structures reveals the economic, political, and cultural shifts of the last 200 years. Consider that for most of recorded history the Great Pyramid in Giza, Egypt, was the tallest structure. It was not surpassed until the Lincoln Cathedral was built in the UK in 1311.  The record…

Most agree that President Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize prematurely. He hasn’t yet made progress in ending the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. He has not convinced North Korea to repent of its human rights violations. He has not convinced Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions. And, in a decision that has angered many on the Left, he has escalated the war in Afghanistan by ordering 30,000 additional troops.But there is one war Obama can take credit for ending-the war on Christmas.A recent article on Slate.com shows that the number of media reports about the so-called “War on Christmas” has declined significantly from recent years. The battle, if you are unfamiliar, is over retailers that use “Happy Holidays” in their marketing rather than “Merry Christmas.” Groups…

This timely post comes from Shaun Groves‘ blog:I’ve always ignored those people: The ones who get very upset at Target this time of year and decide to e-mail me and the rest of their address book about it. This year, to those people, I would now like to preemptively say: Simmer down. And also…There was a time in American history when Christians could be counted on to get angry about the right stuff - the stuff that seems to have made Jesus angry. In the 1920s, for instance, when Saint Nick became the patron saint of American consumerism, most Christians in this country opposed the holiday because of its inextricable connection to materialism and self-indulgence.In 1931, the New York Times surveyed Christmas sermons and found that they held…

Rick McKinley is pastor of Imago Dei in Portland, Oregon, and the guy behind the Advent Conspiracy movement. I first interviewed Rick for Leadership a few years ago. We also serve together on the Origins Project. A few weeks ago Rick interviewed me about The Divine Commodity for one of the Advent Conspiracy podcasts this month.

I’m pleased to see that even Time Magazine has caught wind of AC. The recent article juxtaposes Advent Conspiracy with the Religious Right’s crusade to keep Christ at the center of the shopping and marketing frenzy of this season. Folks on the Christian and political right are blasting retailers who use “Happy Holidays” rather than “Merry Christmas” in their advertising.

McKinley and Advent Conspiracy seem to have a better grasp not only on the purpose of Advent,…

The second installment of my Vocolo (Chicago Public Radio) conversation with host Brian Babylon is now available. Last Friday we talked about the birth of Jesus–a story familiar to many people. But the conversation focused on Mary, the strange events surrounding her pregnancy, and what a virgin birth would mean for our world today. We also looked at the cultural and political dynamics of the day.

Listen to the conversation here:

Listen to last week’s conversation about Jesus cleansing the temple: