“Evangellyfish” and “She’s an Easy Lover”

I recently read Douglas Wilson’s Evangellyfish, which is the fictional account of a scandal in a mega church.

Pastor Wilson is a big fan of P.G. Wodehouse, and I tend to appreciate Wilson’s social commentary, so I was hoping for a combination of Wodehousian humor and biting social satire. It’s more of the latter than the former, in my opinion, although I will admit I was not in a very comic-friendly mood when I read the book. Others might find it funnier.

That’s not the real issue, though. My reaction to the book was similar to my reaction to the song “She’s an Easy Lover.”

Back in my Evangelical days, I knew some people who were in a rock band “ministry.” They would do some popular covers, mix in some Christian songs and say a few words about Jesus. That sort of thing. They sang the Philip Bailey / Phil Collins hit “she’s an easy lover,” and I said “what gives?”

(Philip Bailey was, at that time, a gospel singer, among other things.)

“It’s just Proverbs 9,” they told me. “It’s a warning about loose women.” (I suspect Bailey thought the same.)

I wasn’t buying it. Not everyone listens to song lyrics, and among those who do, few try to get the moral lesson. (Which is usually a good thing!) What they hear is, “she’s an easy lover,” and what they think is, “where is she?”

Evangellyfish is about a mega church that has a huge problem with fornication. The head pastor and half the “ministry team” are rampant offenders, and half the rest of them are complicit in the cover-up. It’s a sordid mess.

Pastor Wilson wants to point out the rampant sin and hypocrisy and expose mega-church-ism for what he apparently thinks it is — an excuse for almost-converted people to pretend they’re devout Christians.

I think people — or at least some people — will read it and think, “Gee, how come everyone else is getting so much? Am I missing out? I mean, obviously this sort of conduct is far more normal than I thought. It must not be such a big deal.”

Pastor Wilson would be horrified at such a result. And maybe I’m completely off base. Maybe I’m the only one wicked enough to have such thoughts.

But they say that when you sup with the devil, you need a long spoon.

Mead ain’t all that!

I’ve been enjoying the first few episodes of a show on Netflix called “Ragnarok.” I’ve always been mildly interested in Norse Mythology, and this modern rendition of those themes is fun.

In the show, a kind but somewhat depressed and not terribly bright teenager finds himself in the middle of ancient conflict in the small (fictional) town of Edda in western Norway. (You might recall the Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson — if you took those kinds of classes in college.)

The bad guys know there’s something different about this boy, and they want to find out what it is, so they have him over for a dinner party and stuff him with food and drink. Including mead.

The show seems to want you to believe that mead is some really powerful stuff.

From an ABV (alcohol by volume) perspective, mead can be comparable to a light beer (around 4%) up to a strong wine (15% or so). It’s just fermented honey water. While it has a reputation for delivering serious hangovers, there’s nothing all that powerful from an alcohol perspective. (Mead is supposed to give legendary hangovers, possibly because some meads are very sweet, but also possibly because mead doesn’t have the same vitamins that beer has. To avoid a hangover, (1) don’t drink too much (obviously), (2) drink lots of water, and (3) take B vitamins and aspirin before you go to bed.)

Mythologies often attribute strange powers to alcoholic beverages. There is, for example, the Mead of Poetry, which causes the drinker to become a skald (poet) or a scholar, and to be able to recite any information and solve any question. (That would be handy!)

Mead is often called the drink of the gods. I’ve always thought that was simply because mead is one of the oldest, if not the oldest fermented beverage. But there might be more to it, so I’ve been looking around.

If you come across any interesting information about special properties of mead, please let me know. (No, of course I don’t believe it has such properties, I’m simply interested from a literary / historical point of view.)

Oh. I should also mention that I have made a braggot (fermented honey + barley) that would make the gods jealous.

“Redskins” is not offensive, according to Gary Clark

Redskins Legend Gary Clark Says Name Not Offensive.

“The reason I initially visited the Native American reservation was because people were saying that saying the word ‘Redskins’ was like saying the [N-Word) to a black person,” Clark told Donaldson. …

Clark continued to NBC Sports Washington: “What I found was Native Americans wearing Redskins gear and saying that they were proud to be a Redskin fan and the 5% that weren’t Redskins fans were Cowboys fans and that’s why they didn’t like the name.”

My impression has been that most of the people who are offended by “Redskins” are not Native Americans. Most of them are woke white people bring offended on behalf of Native Americans.

But … the woke mentality is immune to such things, and it’s inevitable that the team will have to change their name. I hope they keep some tie to Native Americans. If they become “the generals” or something like that, I will have no feeling of continuity at all with the old team.

Happy Fourth of July!

P&C drink and review Southern Comet, a New England IPA, then discuss the American Declaration of Independence.

People have a right to decide what kind of government they want. That is the amazing, radical idea that has led to hundreds of years of liberty.

Pigweed and Crowhill review some of the history — the Stamp Act, the Tea Act, and other things — and then run into the fundamental problem with the declaration. “All men are created equal.” Really? What about the slaves?