Rachelmariestone

LATEST ARTICLES ( 193 )

• I’m Retiring from Blogging, but I’m Still Around on the Internet

  

  This post is long overdue, though I don’t kid myself that it’s long awaited by anyone, or anything like that.Blogging, at one time, was a wonderful thing for me... Read more

  Posted on 14 July 2015 FOOD & DRINK, SELF EXPRESSION

• Is Religion Harmful to Children? A Prominent MD Rethinks Jesus.

  Dr. Paul Offit was pretty sure that religion was harmful to children. But while writing his newest book on medicine, the co-inventor of a rotavirus vaccine was... Read more

  Posted on 14 April 2015 FOOD & DRINK, SELF EXPRESSION

• Long Before Bittman, the Classic, Quietly Bestselling Cookbook About Health,...

  There were no shortage of nutty Christian diet books in and around the churches and homes I frequented as a child and teenager. Most notable among these, for me... Read more

  Posted on 23 March 2015 FOOD & DRINK, SELF EXPRESSION

• No, Vaccinating Your Children (or Not) is Not a “personal Decision”

  Actually, it's the exact opposite of that. Religion is sometimes said to make people abandon reason in order to maintain allegiance to their faith. But I'd say... Read more

  Posted on 06 February 2015 FOOD & DRINK, SELF EXPRESSION

• Roald Dahl, Whose Daughter Died of Measles: “It is Really Almost a Crime to Let...

  I'll just make it clear from the outset where I stand: I believe that every Christian, especially the social justice minded, has a duty to vaccinate themselves... Read more

  Posted on 03 February 2015 FOOD & DRINK, SELF EXPRESSION

• Why You Should Still Bring Canned Goods to Food Drives

  We live in a time in which most of us are so savvy that we're in danger of being cynical; so wise to the way the world "actually" works and exploring the... Read more

  Posted on 20 January 2015 FOOD & DRINK, SELF EXPRESSION

• On Taking Communion: Why It’s Okay to Make Crunching Noises

  It may not seem like it, but this is a question of serious theological import: it is definitely okay - no, more than merely 'okay,' it is meet and right and... Read more

  Posted on 14 January 2015 FOOD & DRINK, SELF EXPRESSION

• Talking with Children About Death and God and Christmas (and Much More)

  

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  Posted on 11 December 2014 FOOD & DRINK, SELF EXPRESSION

• Tis the Season for Really Sad Songs in Church

  

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  Posted on 04 December 2014 FOOD & DRINK, SELF EXPRESSION

• Craving an Adrenaline Rush? Do Something Selfless.

  Hate me if you must, but I am not a fan of Cheryl Strayed's book Wild, and I don't ever plan to see the movie. Why? Because Strayed's choices were foolish, an... Read more

  Posted on 10 November 2014 FOOD & DRINK, SELF EXPRESSION

• The Ordinary Suffering of Animals and the (extra-)ordinary Radicals Who Do...

  Anyone who has spent more than just a little time in a very poor country has seen the sad sight of starving domestic animals. Mother cats with kittens, nearly... Read more

  Posted on 22 October 2014 FOOD & DRINK, SELF EXPRESSION

• What Happened When a Self-declared Dog-despiser Accidentally Adopted a Pit Bull

  

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  Posted on 20 October 2014 FOOD & DRINK, SELF EXPRESSION

• The Best Pumpkin Spice Brownies You Will Ever Bake

  

  When did pumpkin spice everything become such a THING? I don't remember it happening, but that doesn't mean I don't still love the warm and heady spices that... Read more

  Posted on 15 October 2014 FOOD & DRINK, SELF EXPRESSION

• 8 Good Things About My Dad

  

  Like any daughter, I've had my share of conflicts with my dad. Many of those ended when I was a teenager, but live on in our differing memories about that... Read more

  Posted on 08 October 2014 FOOD & DRINK, SELF EXPRESSION

• The Terrifying Possibility of Being Raptured Before Our Wedding Nights

  

  The Rapture of the Church. Image courtesy Pat Marvenko Smith via Flickr Creative Commons.Like other children raised in dispensationalist circles, if I couldn’t... Read more

  Posted on 11 August 2014 FOOD & DRINK, SELF EXPRESSION

• The Beauty of the Ordinary and What Makes an Artist: Spark + Tumble Photography

  

  The connections we make in this life, across continents and across oceans, are nothing less than astounding, I think.A year ago I read a book review by the... Read more

  Posted on 08 August 2014 FOOD & DRINK, SELF EXPRESSION

• For the First Time in (almost) Forever…

  

  Regular readers may have noticed that I appear to have, well, disappeared.(Apart, of course, from my new blog at Religion News Service.)It’s been a very, very... Read more

  Posted on 08 May 2014 FOOD & DRINK, SELF EXPRESSION

• How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Just Eat the Darn Cupcake

  

  Food wasn’t a good gift from God to be received and eaten with pleasure and gratitude. It was something to fear, and fear it I did. The original sin, I believed... Read more

  Posted on 20 March 2014 FOOD & DRINK, SELF EXPRESSION

• Why I Hope There Will Be More Cartoon Characters Like Hiccup

  

  My sons are small and skinny. They are nothing like the heavily muscled superheroes they admire.That’s just one reason we love How to Train Your Dragon:... Read more

  Posted on 12 March 2014 FOOD & DRINK, SELF EXPRESSION

• Can Reading Help Us to Become Better People?

  

  I have a confession: sometimes when I’ve finished a really good novel, I miss the characters badly. I worry about what’s going to happen to those whose fates ar... Read more

  Posted on 04 March 2014 FOOD & DRINK, SELF EXPRESSION