In this episode of Persuasion, Erin Straza and Hannah Anderson discuss several recent free speech kerfuffles covered in the news and online, including recent comments by Rosanne Barr and Samantha Bee and the NFL’s anthem ruling.

The church has far too often failed to critique the way our culture shames the bodies of those outside the ideal and given theological weight to claims that some bodies are more godly than others.

I am hopeful that The X-Files will be remembered as an allegory of faith and faithfulness, rather than the twisted Greek tragedy it seemingly became at its close.

The guys take it down a notch after the blockbusters of last week. First they review American Animals, director Bart Layton’s follow-up to The Impostor.

Wilkin concludes that the hope of the gospel is not that we would just make better choices, but that we would grow into better people. To do that, we need to have a better grasp of who God calls us to be.

In this episode of Persuasion, Erin Straza and Hannah Anderson talk about being mocked on Twitter. They also consider the components we embrace for living our best life and what those components say about our values, our dreams, and our vision of the good life.

Not only did these men fail to do the right thing in the moment; they failed to recognize the part they played in perpetuating their female colleague’s pain.

So as we nod our heads, bounce our shoulders, and rap with Childish Gambino in “This is America,” we need not disregard the America he and many others perceive, nor dilute it down to sensationalized art.

The British monarchy is not devoid of dysfunction or heartache, but it gives us a real-life vision for the royalty that is to come.

Scoundrels everywhere can rejoice as Wade and Kevin tackle Solo: A Star Wars Story, the new Han Solo prequel from Disney, and amoral scoundrels everywhere can rejoice (possibly) over their review of the sequel to 2016’s R-rated breakout smash about the Merc with a Mouth, Deadpool 2.

Keeping with the political tenor of the times, A Perfect Circle fearlessly brings religion into the fray once again.

Scott Hutchison didn’t believe in anything beyond this life, but when I talk about light that emanates from his songs, I call it spiritual. He saw a daunting, cold world and set about doing what he could to breathe warmth into it, to strive against his pride to love unselfishly, to rage against the idea that we must accept the earth in its broken state.

Butterfield isn’t proposing hospitality without personal boundaries, but hospitality that is open to having those boundaries widened for the sake of the gospel.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are a testimony to the power of love to redeem all things, even the most difficult and painful of histories.

A recording of a word demanded us to choose sides. What we heard became the only real and rational response, making us frustrated by those who heard the other. Erin and Hannah summarize the Yanny/Laurel debate and the reactions it produced, and how it mirrors the debates we have about issues of much greater import.

Though the extremism of Whole30 isn’t necessarily a model for Christian self-discipline, but it does amplify the tension between the undisciplined culture and the narrow path of self-control.