Rachel Held Evans (1981-2019) Profile picture
Author of Inspired, Searching for Sunday, A Year of Biblical Womanhood, Faith Unraveled, What Is God Like?, and Wholehearted Faith. Wife of @danieljonce.
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Apr 11, 2019 4 tweets 1 min read
I’ve written four books, hundreds of blog posts, and dozens of articles, and only once have I used a feminine pronoun for God. People still point to that as a reason I should be killed in order to quicken my eternal torment in hell. No joke. Not looking for sympathy. I just think this says a lot about how these guys think of women.
Mar 20, 2019 7 tweets 2 min read
Thread. Lifeway is closing all of its physical locations, and I’m truly sorry to everyone for whom this means the loss of a job or a publishing partner. But, at the end of the day, this is good news for writers of faith and Christian publishing... I made a few enemies (and a lot of secret friends!) waaaaay back in 2012 when I took on Lifeway with this post... rachelheldevans.com/blog/christian…
Feb 20, 2019 4 tweets 1 min read
Not a doubt in my mind that policies making family leave, childcare, and healthcare more possible/affordable will reduce the abortion rate. I wish more pro-lifers were willing to embrace these policies and more pro-choicers were willing to frame them in these terms. And I know this is America, so we like to frame everything in terms of "rights." But Elizabeth Warren talking about the "right to childcare" doesn't settle with me for some reason. It's so individualistic. Can we just talk about the kind of culture we want to create?...Like....
Feb 13, 2019 6 tweets 2 min read
Stuff your boss has yet to apologize for....
1 Insulting Native Americans by repeatedly mocking their cultures/joking about genocide.
2. Retweeting anti semitic media outlets like Breitbart/choosing anti semitic advisors like Steve Bannon.
3. Calling Nazis "very fine people."... 4. Saying immigrants who come from African & Central/South America come from "shithole countries."
5. Bragging about sexual assault & walking in on undressed teenage girls.
6. Sexually assaulting women.
7. Calling women "fat pigs" and "nice pieces of ass."...
Feb 6, 2019 5 tweets 1 min read
If you hear something about me today that doesn’t seem quite right (that I support infanticide, that I want to kill babies with disabilities), let me assure you, it’s not true. My thread about avoiding bad faith arguments re: abortion resulted in, well, some bad faith arguments. I’d love to say it doesn’t bother me, but it does. It’s frustrating to try and enter a complicated & heartbreaking ethical conversation with nuance, honesty, & compassion only to be painted as a monster for not possessing the certitude others think you should have.
Feb 1, 2019 9 tweets 2 min read
This. I’m sick of people intentionally mischaracterizing what the man said and, worst of all, relentlessly defaming the very real mothers and very real families and very real doctors who have had to navigate these rare and heartbreaking circumstances themselves. Just stop it. Like, the merits of the bill are certainly up for debate. You can make the case that the terms were too open-ended. But you can do that without accusing its supporters of advocating infanticide. They’re not.
Jan 20, 2019 8 tweets 2 min read
1/ The additional footage certainly seems to nuance the backstory behind what happened with the Covington students and Nathan Phillips. But it doesn't change the smirk or the jeering, or the MAGA hats, which many of us consider a symbol of intimidation and white supremacy... ...But my view of things is colored by my bias. And I freely admit, I am biased against this president. I am biased against a man who uses "Pocahontas" as a slur, who oppresses immigrants & refugees, who lies & bullies, & who treats women (in his words) "like shit"...
Jan 12, 2019 4 tweets 1 min read
Trump has given us the largest deficit in US history, adding trillions via tax cuts. And now he wants to add billions more for a wall when there are more efficient & less expensive security options. How are “fiscal conservatives” rationalizing this? I genuinely don’t understand. Like, what is it about this guy that makes people totally abandon their principles? Evangelicals went from being the most concerned about a president’s personal morality to the least. Libertarians are supporting massive executive overreach....
Dec 26, 2018 6 tweets 2 min read
Happy Christmas! A lot of folks are sending me this story, so a few quick thoughts. First, I’m honored and pleased that Bishop Budde quoted me in her (excellent) sermon. She’s one of the best preachers I know. chasingchurches.com/2018/12/25/pre… Second, I’m glad she didn’t change her message of God’s love for the marginalized, and specifically refugees (among whom are counted the holy family), just because the president was in the room. That takes courage.
Dec 14, 2018 5 tweets 2 min read
It strikes me that both the SBTS statement & #GC2Summit (while steps forward) are haunted by the myth of evangelical exceptionalism. Everything changed for me when I realized evangelical theology is itself a product of culture, not some pure & unimpeachable exception to it. The myth of evangelical exceptionalism often keeps evangelicals from seriously interrogating their own theology & culture, even when its fruit turns out rotten. We could acknowledge our individual sins, but we didn’t have cultural/systemic sins like “the world” or “the lost.”
Dec 10, 2018 11 tweets 4 min read
So I read this thoughtful & much-discussed piece by @sullydish and have a few quick thoughts for further discussion... Sullivan makes some powerful & salient points about the human tendency to absolutize political ideology with religious fervor and also about the way waning religious commitments in America have disconnected us in many ways. HOWEVER...
Nov 16, 2018 10 tweets 2 min read
No, I’m Not Satan (Or, Why Comparing People to the Serpent in the Garden of Eden When They Disagree with Your Theology is Lazy and Illogical): A THREAD - 1/ 🐍 Sometimes when fundamentalists engage people whose biblical interpretation differs from their own, they will employ a rhetorical trick by referencing the serpent in the Garden of Eden who tempted Adam & Eve by asking, “Did God really say?...” 2/🐍
Nov 13, 2018 4 tweets 2 min read
.@tgc took a quote of mine completely out of context for their hit piece on progressive Christians & that’s not even the biggest problem with the article. 🙄 (They blocked me years ago when I challenged their teaching that women must be subservient to men during sex.) Also, if I’m not mistaken, every author mentioned in the piece is white. But the progressive Christians doing the most important, groundbreaking, prophetic and creative work right now are not.
Nov 7, 2018 6 tweets 1 min read
Early reflections: I think a lot of us really wanted an impressive, undeniable repudiation of the divisive, xenophobic rhetoric and policies adopted by the Republican Party and are disappointed that didn't happen. BUT... ...This is long and hard work. And those of us who are somewhat new to it and wishing for a quick fix could stand to learn a few things from the faithful work of the people who have been at it longer. The arc of the moral universe and all that...
Nov 1, 2018 6 tweets 2 min read
Random thread: Conservative evangelicals declared the “emerging church” dead years ago, and yet I’ve been part of four events now that reflect a lot of EC themes (but with more of the diversity/intersectionality the first iterations lacked) & they’ve all sold out.... ...We’re talking 1500 people plus 600+ livestream locations. At Evolving Faith, we sold out of every speakers’ books. There is obviously a movement of some kind here, but it’s not being discussed quite like the EC was...
Oct 24, 2018 4 tweets 1 min read
I'm wary of pointing fingers at the Left or Right when the most extreme and violent among them terrorize opponents. Sadly, it happens. But it's different when the President of the United States actively and unapologetically encourages violence and hate... ...Trump has called the press "the Enemy of the People," congratulated a lawmaker for criminally assaulting a reporter, and routinely points to the press box at his "rallies" to encourage the audience to jeer and boo....
Oct 19, 2018 4 tweets 2 min read
This is an EXCELLENT analysis from @DanielJCamacho on a study that obviously aimed to let white evangelicals off the hook rather than get to the truth: "A New Study on Evangelical Voters Ignores Racism" buff.ly/2J4oT9T Take note @edstetzer & @nytdavidbrooks.
Oct 18, 2018 7 tweets 2 min read
We voted today in Tennessee, and my two-year-old son got to shake hands with @Mariah4Congress, the woman for whom we cast our ballots to represent the fourth district in congress...1/6 Mariah is a mother of five and a schoolteacher who filed her campaign paperwork while on break at her second job at Starbucks. She is smart, funny, hard working, and kind. She’s a moderate democrat running in a red state and a woman of strong faith...2/6
Oct 17, 2018 6 tweets 2 min read
An entire generation of white evangelical boys are learning that this is an acceptable way to treat and talk about women. Meanwhile, the “Biblical manhood & womanhood” advocates are almost entirely silent. (Because it’s never been about women “flourishing,” just men controlling.) I find it maddening that the John Pipers and Wayne Grudems of this world just carry on with their condemnation of gay people and women pastors but can’t bring themselves to say an ill word against a man who calls women pigs and dogs and brags about grabbing them by the pussy.
Oct 7, 2018 4 tweets 1 min read
Since it’s come up lately: In my experience, it can be helpful to highlight similarities in the argumentation/justification used to prop up systems of oppression, but not so helpful to compare the nature of that oppression. For example... ..I think it can be useful to highlight how some of the same passages of Scripture (NT household codes) that are used to support patriarchy were also use to support slavery. But I would very be wary of comparing the oppression of American chattel slavery with complementarianism.
Sep 2, 2018 4 tweets 1 min read
1/3 So this is something that has changed for me recently and I honestly don’t know what to do with it... 2/3 I feel like I have more in common, in terms of values and worldview, with people of other faiths who seek justice and oppose this administration’s racism, misogyny, and corruption, than with those conservative evangelicals who have embraced Trumpism...