I recently moved to a new house, and as is often the case when big life changes arrive, my mental health collapsed. It doesn’t matter that it’s a good change – my deep reptile brain doesn’t understand the difference between positive and negative change, it just feels the disruption and responds with panic.
Continue reading “Terrible Things Evangelicals Say About Mental Illness”
The good news: my partner and I are buying a house this week, and soon I will have a brand new studio space.
The bad news: I’m way behind on the show because of the move.
Instead of a Sacred Tension episode, here is an interview I did with Matt Langston of Eleventylife. We talk about creativity, love, coming of age as a queer person, and much more.
Continue reading “Creative Wells and Getting Bored”
Ever since coming out as an atheist, I’ve noticed a few recurring questions about my unbelief. I thought I would offer a few clarifications so I can refer people to this article when the questions come up again.
Continue reading “A Few Clarifications About my Atheism”
In this episode of Sacred Tension, I talk to Reverend Lori Walke: a badass lady preacher, public theologian, and social activist who is prominently featured in the new documentary American Heretics: The Politics of the Gospel.
Continue reading “American Heretics”
I’ve discussed in great detail the ways in which Satanism works for me. I’ve explained that I see self-aware, non theistic religion as healthier and more enlightened than theistic and un-self-aware religion. I’ve explained that Satan is not a real figure, but a metaphor for the unbowed will and icon of the outsider, and that my Satanism is not necessarily anti-Christian, but rather a positive and separate post-Christian concoction.
And yet, I realized recently that one of the most crucial aspects of my Satanism, and religious life in general, has been neglected in these explanations.
Continue reading “Living as Satan”
This week in curiosities: Liturgical Queer changes his mind about homosexuality, Nathan Robinson on propaganda about the left, ContraPoints on transtrenders, and more.
Continue reading “Changing Minds, Being Wrong About the Left, and Transtrenders”
I woke up this morning, and realized that I’m grieving. I can feel the heaviness in my body, and the emotional anguish as I watch religious communities of which I was once a part.
Continue reading “On Grieving for the Loss of Religious Community”
This week, instead of my regular Sacred Tension podcast, I’m releasing my Patrons-only podcast House of Heretics. It’s blasphemous, unedited, and a lot of fun. Justin and I drink coffee and discuss pop culture, religion, science, and whatever else strikes our fancy.
Continue reading “House of Heretics”
I hit a breaking point today. I woke up and discovered that I just couldn’t do social media anymore. My gears had ground to a halt. Burnout sneaks up on me, and when it’s time for me to burn a bridge, I douse it in gasoline and incinerate it.
Continue reading “An Update Regarding Leaving Social Media”
In this episode of Sacred Tension, Kodiak joins us once again to explain his sudden and unexpected conversion from Odinism to Christianity.
Continue reading “Sacred Tension: Odin Meets Jesus”
Stephen Bradford Long 