If you’re one of those “it’s all going to burn up anyway” Christians, in love with your dispensationalism, there’s a good chance you’ll be eating a big slab of meat tonight, cooked over a fire (maybe burn a few California Redwoods?), complemented by a pesticide laced...

Jordan Green and I had an idea to put together an album of short conversations between us.  We may receive some angry comments. We call it The Christian Speakeasy. You can listen to the entire piece (40 minutes) in the player below, pp_flashembed( 'powerpress_player_9613', {src: 'http://burnsidewriters.com/wp-content/plugins/powerpress/FlowPlayerClassic.swf',...

#10: 2001 Our country took a hit this year. The hit was so bad, it was enough to define the rest of the decade as the ‘Post-9/11 Era.’ P.O.D. also released their album Satellite on September 11th. Their song ‘Alive’ became America’s anthem for the rest of the year. It should...

“Show me a hero and I will write you a tragedy” – F. Scott Fitzgerald Maybe I’m too old to have heroes… Maybe, but in my defense I first read about Tiger Woods in a March, 1991 issue of Sports Illustrated.  He was 15.  I was 13.  For the next 19 years I watched in awe as he...

We have a Christmas tradition around these parts.  Every year, shortly after Thanksgiving, we re-post Burnside’s most popular article of all time: “The Abominable ‘O Holy Night’”.  Along with the Advent Conspiracy, this insanely awful little diddy gets us in the Christmas...

Last Saturday, Ohio State and Michigan finished their football season the way they always do—playing head-to-head in a game that redefines the term “rivalry.” Even though Michigan’s record was dreadful this season, the game was still huge. It always is. Many consider Ohio State/Michigan to be...

I just turned off a 60 Minutes interview with Andre Agassi.  Agassi recently released his autobiography, which sent waves through the tennis world as he admitted to hating tennis for most of his life. He was forced into the game by his fanatical father, who taped ping pong paddles to his hands as a...

Here’s last week’s New York Times bestsellers list.  It’s a standard list, for the most part.  There’s the Freakonomics guy.  There’s two from Malcolm Gladwell.  Ted Kennedy is battling it out with Glenn Beck.  There’s John Krakauer and Augusten Burroughs and...

Wandering downstairs to the corner coffee shop, I looked for a freshly poured mug to take from someone while they weren’t looking so that I might start my day. Fortunately I found a blind man getting ready to drink just such a cup. Stepping quickly outside, the air seemed as brisk and clean as a...

I am tired of hating the Yankees. The Phillies have lost. Chase Utley has lost. Cliff Lee has lost. Ryan Howard has lost. It is the Yankees who say yes or no. Those who tried to defeat the Yankees have lost. It is baseball and we have no salary cap. The little teams are unable to keep up. The smaller...