Duane Larson 💙
@duanelarson.bsky.social
Seasoned (but not too old to laugh) blue theologian on Iowa's red east coast. I write on political theology, religion&science, #MoralInjury, more, sing Bach to Rock, & dote on my Westie. #EndALS. It killed my wife. DMing me not knowing me = blocked.
I'm a born and bred Californian. I've lived through many, including very severe, earthquakes. I would sing and dance through this one.
December 18, 2025 at 1:44 PM
I'm a born and bred Californian. I've lived through many, including very severe, earthquakes. I would sing and dance through this one.
Just Watched the latest Knives Out, "Wake Up Dead Man." Well done. It's as if Agatha Christie goes to church, exposes the heretical impulse of Christian Nationalism, and actually proclaims the true gospel of God's steadfast grace. Pete Hegseth would not like it.
December 17, 2025 at 4:15 AM
Just Watched the latest Knives Out, "Wake Up Dead Man." Well done. It's as if Agatha Christie goes to church, exposes the heretical impulse of Christian Nationalism, and actually proclaims the true gospel of God's steadfast grace. Pete Hegseth would not like it.
Much of my writing's purpose now is to so write that thugs in jackboots show up at my front door. But Tim Miller puts it better. He writes, "Live your life in such a way that America's worst president sends a deranged and disgusting post about you when you die." Either way, I'm game.
December 15, 2025 at 7:34 PM
Much of my writing's purpose now is to so write that thugs in jackboots show up at my front door. But Tim Miller puts it better. He writes, "Live your life in such a way that America's worst president sends a deranged and disgusting post about you when you die." Either way, I'm game.
So Trump will distribute $12 billion of our tax dollars to farmers whose economy he alone wrecked. I am not an ad hoc socialist and I object to his widening economic victimization. He should be accountable to the capitalism he professes to support and pay the bill out of his own seamy pockets.
December 9, 2025 at 4:20 PM
So Trump will distribute $12 billion of our tax dollars to farmers whose economy he alone wrecked. I am not an ad hoc socialist and I object to his widening economic victimization. He should be accountable to the capitalism he professes to support and pay the bill out of his own seamy pockets.
Do note that the biggest baby in American politics gets a fake "peace" prize from a guy whose last name is Infantino. Can't make this stuff up!
This guy is awarding himself a fake "peace" prize coerced through quid pro quo with a global sports body, and most of legacy media just shrugs in response and doesn't call into question his mental health. What are we doing here?
December 6, 2025 at 11:47 PM
Do note that the biggest baby in American politics gets a fake "peace" prize from a guy whose last name is Infantino. Can't make this stuff up!
Reposted by Duane Larson 💙
I was solo for Thanksgiving and I wasn't. I reflected on that here. open.substack.com/pub/duanelar...
Truth and Thanksgiving Mean Never Having to Be Alone
Today is Thanksgiving Day in the United States and a liminal day in the liturgical Christian calendar.
open.substack.com
November 28, 2025 at 3:10 PM
I was solo for Thanksgiving and I wasn't. I reflected on that here. open.substack.com/pub/duanelar...
Here's the deal between SCOTUS and MAGA. MAGA steals a car from a garage before setting the whole house on fire. MAGA is caught in the act, quickly charged, tried, and convicted. On immediate appeal SCOTUS lets MAGA keep the car and stops all firefighting until SCOTUS thinks further about it.
November 22, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Here's the deal between SCOTUS and MAGA. MAGA steals a car from a garage before setting the whole house on fire. MAGA is caught in the act, quickly charged, tried, and convicted. On immediate appeal SCOTUS lets MAGA keep the car and stops all firefighting until SCOTUS thinks further about it.
I'm watching the superlative Ken Burns' series on out nation's origin while Fiddich watches me. An excellent exchange.
November 19, 2025 at 1:21 AM
I'm watching the superlative Ken Burns' series on out nation's origin while Fiddich watches me. An excellent exchange.
Reposted by Duane Larson 💙
"The Grift Bubble: A Political Theory of American Collapse"
"Those who work against the grifters... may be acting from love, or from law, because they know that these things are real. And so they should also know, in acting thus, that they are the patriots."
snyder.substack.com/p/the-grift-...
"Those who work against the grifters... may be acting from love, or from law, because they know that these things are real. And so they should also know, in acting thus, that they are the patriots."
snyder.substack.com/p/the-grift-...
The Grift Bubble
A Political Theory of American Collapse
snyder.substack.com
November 16, 2025 at 4:25 PM
"The Grift Bubble: A Political Theory of American Collapse"
"Those who work against the grifters... may be acting from love, or from law, because they know that these things are real. And so they should also know, in acting thus, that they are the patriots."
snyder.substack.com/p/the-grift-...
"Those who work against the grifters... may be acting from love, or from law, because they know that these things are real. And so they should also know, in acting thus, that they are the patriots."
snyder.substack.com/p/the-grift-...
Reposted by Duane Larson 💙
What a photograph.
“Nearly two dozen arrested as faith leaders protested outside a federal immigration facility near Chicago…”
Arrested large amounts of peaceful clergy face first on pavement is a pretty good sign you’re not the good guys in the story. www.reuters.com/legal/govern...
“Nearly two dozen arrested as faith leaders protested outside a federal immigration facility near Chicago…”
Arrested large amounts of peaceful clergy face first on pavement is a pretty good sign you’re not the good guys in the story. www.reuters.com/legal/govern...
November 15, 2025 at 1:51 PM
What a photograph.
“Nearly two dozen arrested as faith leaders protested outside a federal immigration facility near Chicago…”
Arrested large amounts of peaceful clergy face first on pavement is a pretty good sign you’re not the good guys in the story. www.reuters.com/legal/govern...
“Nearly two dozen arrested as faith leaders protested outside a federal immigration facility near Chicago…”
Arrested large amounts of peaceful clergy face first on pavement is a pretty good sign you’re not the good guys in the story. www.reuters.com/legal/govern...
I wrote a thing about the first leader of the Hitler Youth and Charlie Kirk. wordandway.org/2025/11/12/i...
In the White Shadows of Schirach and Kirk - Word&Way
Systematic theologian and ELCA pastor Duane Larson reflects on some troubling religious parallels between the late Charlie Kirk and Nazi Youth leader Baldur von Schirach.
wordandway.org
November 13, 2025 at 2:50 AM
I wrote a thing about the first leader of the Hitler Youth and Charlie Kirk. wordandway.org/2025/11/12/i...
Feds Tell Faith Leaders 'No More Prayer' Outside Broadview Facility blockclubchicago.org/2025/11/07/f...
In my tradition this evident suppression of the gospel requires that the church declare a State of Confession (In Statu Confessionis) against the federal government, now deemed anti-Christian.
In my tradition this evident suppression of the gospel requires that the church declare a State of Confession (In Statu Confessionis) against the federal government, now deemed anti-Christian.
Feds Tell Faith Leaders 'No More Prayer' Outside Broadview Facility
In a possible violation of the First Amendment, federal officials instructed demonstrators to stop holding religious gatherings outside the immigration processing facility in suburban Broadview after ...
blockclubchicago.org
November 9, 2025 at 12:18 AM
Feds Tell Faith Leaders 'No More Prayer' Outside Broadview Facility blockclubchicago.org/2025/11/07/f...
In my tradition this evident suppression of the gospel requires that the church declare a State of Confession (In Statu Confessionis) against the federal government, now deemed anti-Christian.
In my tradition this evident suppression of the gospel requires that the church declare a State of Confession (In Statu Confessionis) against the federal government, now deemed anti-Christian.
Our justice system has gone so wrong when SCOTUS routinely without explanation overturns lower court decisions re POTUS. Now SCOTUS allows SNAP funds that were constitutionally appropriated and reserved by Congress to be kept from reaching hungry children. God have mercy on this benighted nation.
November 8, 2025 at 3:21 AM
Our justice system has gone so wrong when SCOTUS routinely without explanation overturns lower court decisions re POTUS. Now SCOTUS allows SNAP funds that were constitutionally appropriated and reserved by Congress to be kept from reaching hungry children. God have mercy on this benighted nation.
If I could draw a political cartoon, it would be of a line of air traffic controllers being turned back from an empty food pantry while a newspaper stand nearby headlines Trump's disobedience of a federal judge's order to reinstate SNAP immediately.
November 7, 2025 at 11:29 PM
If I could draw a political cartoon, it would be of a line of air traffic controllers being turned back from an empty food pantry while a newspaper stand nearby headlines Trump's disobedience of a federal judge's order to reinstate SNAP immediately.
I'm rereading Schlingensiepen's bio of Bonhoeffer. The similarities between the young Baldur Benedikt von Schirach with the Nazi Student Federation in the 1930s and Charlie Kirk's work with Turning Point USA today are striking and deserve much study.
October 29, 2025 at 5:09 PM
I'm rereading Schlingensiepen's bio of Bonhoeffer. The similarities between the young Baldur Benedikt von Schirach with the Nazi Student Federation in the 1930s and Charlie Kirk's work with Turning Point USA today are striking and deserve much study.
Reposted by Duane Larson 💙
If I were running the DNC, there would be Democratic Party sponsored food relief banks across the country right now that specifically welcomed anyone regardless of party affiliation.
Along with the food, there could be voter registration and links to runforsomething.net
Along with the food, there could be voter registration and links to runforsomething.net
October 26, 2025 at 9:03 PM
If I were running the DNC, there would be Democratic Party sponsored food relief banks across the country right now that specifically welcomed anyone regardless of party affiliation.
Along with the food, there could be voter registration and links to runforsomething.net
Along with the food, there could be voter registration and links to runforsomething.net
~3k friends of our constitutional democracy "marched" today in Davenport, IA. 90% of the busy traffic seeing us was supportive. BTW, if anyone says "we're a republic, not a democracy," inform them that the Latin & Greek roots (Res Publica & demos kratia) mean basically the same: "people power."
October 18, 2025 at 8:08 PM
~3k friends of our constitutional democracy "marched" today in Davenport, IA. 90% of the busy traffic seeing us was supportive. BTW, if anyone says "we're a republic, not a democracy," inform them that the Latin & Greek roots (Res Publica & demos kratia) mean basically the same: "people power."
A SCOTUS spouse bankrolled the Jan 6 hate riot. Millions of my friends and I are holding a We Love the Real America rally this Saturday for free. Patriots, come join us!
October 14, 2025 at 3:48 PM
A SCOTUS spouse bankrolled the Jan 6 hate riot. Millions of my friends and I are holding a We Love the Real America rally this Saturday for free. Patriots, come join us!
@magachurchpastor.bsky.social Where've you been? Need you back on the front line (so we with foot mildew don't have to go there).
October 10, 2025 at 11:38 PM
@magachurchpastor.bsky.social Where've you been? Need you back on the front line (so we with foot mildew don't have to go there).
I guess she doesn't have any photo-taking drones in her fake beauty arsenal.
Noem claims Portland hid their war zone from her.
October 9, 2025 at 7:30 PM
I guess she doesn't have any photo-taking drones in her fake beauty arsenal.
Reposted by Duane Larson 💙
Much of the public, and apparently White House, doesn't know that many of the US military's general and flag officers are intellectuals. Study history and theory, get that war, politics, economics, and culture intertwine, etc.
Or maybe the White House does, and that's what they're trying to change.
Or maybe the White House does, and that's what they're trying to change.
October 1, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Much of the public, and apparently White House, doesn't know that many of the US military's general and flag officers are intellectuals. Study history and theory, get that war, politics, economics, and culture intertwine, etc.
Or maybe the White House does, and that's what they're trying to change.
Or maybe the White House does, and that's what they're trying to change.