Ken Burnside

A picture of a dikdik, a small deer about the size of a rabbit, it's emerging from a shrub, warily!

Welcome to late adolescence! Naps are good, remember your body is no longer as limber as it was in your 40s, and absolutely isn't as quick to recover as when you were a teenager!

Have a solicited dikdik pic!

Oh wow, this web site mapping deals between media companies and the AI companies is very cool.

When a group of political insiders shows you who they are, believe them the first time...

‘Nazi heaven’: Inside Miami campus Republicans’ racist group chat The chat is the subject of a Florida International University police investigation.

The secretary of Miami-Dade County’s GOP started a group chat for conservative students — and within 3 weeks, it was filled with over 400 instances of the N-word, Nazi rhetoric and writings of "dozens of ways of violently killing Black people"

SCRIPTWRITER: So, for the bad guys, I've got a cabal of secretive scientists!

SCIENCE CONSULTANT: Have you ever MET scientists?!

*scriptwriter goes to AAAS meeting*

SCRIPTWRITER: So, for the bad guys, I've got a cabal of secretive Golden Retrievers who are hiding tennis balls...

Yes. I've done this, and dumber things because I was an energetically furious Exvangelical.

I shifted to legislative comment sessions, but that requires living in the state Capital and taking time off from work.

My contention is that if we'd fought this way 30 years ago, we might not be in a "Holy" war with Iran.

If we don't fight this way, at scale, for a long effort, we'll be in the same place we are now in another 15-20 years, because the Evangelicals will elect crazies to trigger the Rapture again.

Not everybody can do this. There are countless reasons and one not to.

You will get rejected. You'll annoy people, not the least of whom is their current pastor.

You'll expose yourself to theology that offends you.

You may not have time. Or the mental health.

You may say it isn't your fight.

Sometimes, I talked about the Good Samaritan, how Samaritans were viewed by Jews (and vice versa), and what this parable says about human nature.

* Listen to their concerns.
* Invoke questions.
* Treat them as human beings who believe in the power to do good.

My goal should be clear.

What I've done is gone to Evangelical churches. Listened to the sermon, invited folks to join me for brunch. Asked how they liked the sermon. Asked what message it gave to them.

Asked how it reconciled with certain Biblical principles, about welcoming the stranger.

I'm familiar with many of those names, and laud their work.

As clergy, they have professional norms against condemning other pastors.

This needs to be done on a congregant-to-congregant level. It's cult deprogramming.

We do this at scale, or worse things happen.

Because "that's not my job" and "but that might make me face rejection" are reasonable concerns.

Are we in reasonable times?

I'll say it again:

This only stops when progressive Christians, not their faith leaders, go to Evangelical churches and peel off congregants.

Will you do that? Or does your personal relationship with God preclude confronting Christian churches spewing Christian Nationalism?

I'm betting "no."

I sincerely hope so.

I wish that it had germinated earlier.

I hope so.

I've tried the "sit in the pews and take people to brunch" method, and it's slow and has no guarantee of working.

Yes! And they were doing so earlier in 2025 in Portland and Chicago!

I've never said they weren't.

But they won't confront the worst of Evangelical Christianity directly.

Which means the seed this sprouted from will remain.

Have the progressive Christians who decide their faith is a personal matter and a social club ceded public Christianity to militant Christianity?

Should anything be done to curtail Evangelical Christianity in the future?

Given the First Amendment, what can be done?

I get it. I'm your neighbor, spiritually.

People who follow the Ministry of Christ can be very good neighbors.

They can also trigger WWIII as an act of pious faith.

I try very hard to be kind to people, even if my faith in an intervening God is non-existent.

Imagine that you've spent 30+ years trying to get people to believe that yes, these people really are trying to trigger the Rapture.

And being told "No, they might be a little weird, but they can't do that..."

Then last Saturday happens.

Evangelical pastors mostly don't care what their pastoral colleagues think.

Their congregations might be more reachable.

Which is why I'm aiming for the congregation.

My own personal hurt is mine. My horror at theocratic Fascism is...shared.

So, how else do you propose to unmake Evangelical Christianity?

Be specific. Get you faith leader's blessing.

Or do you think it's unnecessary?

I'm Exvangelical. I know the mind games they play.

Much of it is contingent on the belief they won't be confronted for what they do. Not by other Christians, and especially not by Jews or Muslims.

Also, anyone who confronts them is possessed by demons.

I so wish I were making that last part up...

By not confronting this, decades ago, we're paying a much higher price than we could have been.

Reverend, leader of a faith community:

Is trying to trigger the Rapture and the return of Jesus apostasy?

Because people who believe that have nominal control of the US military.

I'm deeply tired of "But they're fellow Christians!"

I'm tired and heartsick that the Christian Nationalists have Pete Hegseth prosecuting a "Holy" war that they've been agitating for...and I'm terrified that they'll use that war to wage war on America, to "free it from demonic influence."

The minister who publicly says that it's a goal to make being gay or trans illegal, or the pastor who preaches Christian Nationalism?

Are they both serving God's mission to their congregations?

What about the pastor who says women should seek out a life subservient to men?

I have a great dismay with organized religion. If you're interested, I can explain how I got there.

It means I value work by the congregation, which can reflect the values of their faith leadership.

People called to lead their faith communities self-select for a number of traits. Many positive.

This, too, is needful.

If you can't afford to cover the bill at Denny's, that's OK... but you're likelier to get listeners if you do.

The goal is to have a dialog here. You're going to get a lot of rejection.

You're likely to get asked to not go back into that church.

Here's my opportunity for you:

Go to an Evangelical church known for its anti-immigrant rhetoric. Attend a couple of Sundays.

Invite people on the pews to join you at Denny's. Buy them brunch; ask questions about welcoming the stranger and treating foreigners. Give m contex to the Good Samaritan.

They won't do the work that's necessary to confront Evangelical Christianity.

I've got 30 years showing me they won't.

It literally took armed men in the street arresting their neighbors and murdering a mom to mobilize them.

For thirty years, I've been pointing at the people debasing their faith.

A Starbucks manager blows up after being called out by customers for barista harassment and union-busting 😳

THIS is what solidarity looks like!