Christian Piatt

A new translation of the Bible called "The Voice" has created quite a buzz. The discussion is not so much around what is in the newest version, but rather what's left out.

We can all do better than this. Really. Fundamentalism is ugly and dangerous, regardless of it's religious stripe, or even opposition to it.

Sometimes the hurtful act is specific, like when my youth leader threw a Bible at me for asking the wrong questions. Sometimes it's rhetorical, either from the pulpit, in a small group study or over a meal.

But of course, underneath the veneer of something new lies the same old evangelical doctrine. And this is what bothers me more than my personal objections to most evangelicals' theology.

It's hard to imagine the feelings evoked by knowing your own family doesn't claim you, and that your very existence is at the root of a schism that would never heal.

Though the struggle of others hardly makes me feel any better, it certainly serves to put my own hardships into perspective.

The fact is that, unless you're a white, Christian, straight male, there's little to look back to and say "yeah, I was better off back then."

Christians can't have it both ways. We can't use quasi-sexual sensationalism to promote our products, while also condemning the culture around us that does exactly the same thing.

I thought for my final post of the year that I might share my "favorite" Christian stereotypes of the year.

To say that something like sexual orientation, race, economic status, gender are not issues to us is to speak from a position of privilege.

Consider Abraham, one of the cornerstones of the Judeo-Christian faith. He's the man from whom we all descend. But according to his example, I should be willing to kill my own children to prove I am a faithful servant of God.