Author: Adam Lee

Atlas Shrugged, part III, chapter II As Dagny’s life in the Gulch settles into a routine, she notices that John Galt leaves the house every other night, returning at midnight or later. Notwithstanding the fact that Randian protagonists are supposed to bow out graciously when the person they love finds a better capitalist than them,…

Last month, I wrote about whether we should pity the victims of the prosperity gospel and argued that, unlike in cases of outright fraud or coercion, their poor decisions are their own. There were several responses, such as this post by Russell Glasser, that took a more sympathetic view, arguing that most people who fall…

This is part 14 of my “Think! Of God and Government” debate series with Christian author Andrew Murtagh. Read my latest post and Andrew’s reply. Hi Andrew – I always like it when people come to our debates and tell us afterward that neither of us was who and what they were expecting. I take…

• Oliver Sacks has died. In his final column, “Sabbath“, he talks about his humanism and his rejection of his Jewish upbringing when his mother discovered he was gay and was violently hateful towards him: “her harsh words made me hate religion’s capacity for bigotry and cruelty”. In his closing words, he contemplates the end…

Atlas Shrugged, part III, chapter II Now that his brief moment of genuine, appropriate emotion is over, Francisco goes back to doing what he does best – delivering Randian Monologues. In this one, he explains to Dagny how he joined John Galt’s conspiracy: “Dagny, when I took over my father’s business, when I began to…

This article was originally published on AlterNet. Human history is a story of gradual moral enlightenment. Over the ages, we’ve become less violent, less xenophobic, more tolerant, more committed to the ideals of democracy and equality under the law. Of course, moral progress is painfully slow, with many holdouts and local reversals, and we have…

There aren’t many Christians who’ve been at the center of not just one but two major scandals, but that twice-disgraced distinction now belongs to Josh Duggar, the Quiverfuller and reality-TV star turned pro-patriarchy political activist. First, there was the confession that he had molested his sisters as a teenager, which his parents helped to cover…

I don’t see why you’d embark on a solo career when you’re best known for a band that already has your name in its name, but why complain when the result is this good? Here’s Grace Potter, of Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, showing off on her new solo album, Midnight:

Atlas Shrugged, part III, chapter II Dagny has only been in Galt’s Gulch for a few days, but she’s having a grand old time. Between buying stuff with gold coins, getting constantly lectured at about capitalism, and being John Galt’s subservient housemaid, she’s got everything a female Randian hero could want. However, an unwelcome realization…

John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight (watch this show!) had a cutting episode this past weekend about the wealth and arrogance of Christian televangelists: Like other preachers of the prosperity gospel, these shiny-suited hypocrites proclaim that God wants to make you rich, and that by “planting a seed”, or in other words giving money to the…