The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz Podcast

Sunday is coming. Soon, millions of Americans will find themselves in the houses of worship that dot nearly every corner of this country: disparate buildings where they'll gather under the banner of religion, of faith, of goodness. Whether set in trappings that are ancient or modern, filled with polished pews, reclaimed restaurant booths, or plush concert seating, a vast multitude will leave their...

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One day this will all be over. History testifies that all brutal empires fall, all hateful movements dissolve, all malevolent momentary victors eventually find themselves defeated and driven out. Every time the pendulum has swung wildly toward inhumanity in a society it has invariably come back with even greater opposite force to bend the arc of the moral universe back toward justice again. This w...

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit johnpavlovitz.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit johnpavlovitz.substack.com/subscribe

The lesser of two evils. I hear people using this phrase again right now and I hate it. I heard it four years ago and it was a lie then, too. The choice was stark and clear in 2020. It is now. Joe Biden’s opponent is evil. His body of work, as they say, is what it is. Debating that at this point is ridiculous. The only people still defending him are brainwashed Evangelicals, unhinged conspiracy th...

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit johnpavlovitz.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit johnpavlovitz.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit johnpavlovitz.substack.com/subscribe

They’re no longer saying the quiet part quietly. It’s all out in the open now. The extreme Christian Right (which is now essentially the de facto Republican Party) has declared a full-on legislative war on women—and decent men here cannot allow it. We should have seen this coming. As they were preparing to commandeer and weaponize the Supreme Court, they assured us that Roe Vs Wade was settled and...

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The Right is pushing America to the brink of theocracy—and we on the Left are helping them. I feel like we’ve seen this movie before: the infighting, the posturing, the threats. As with the last two election cycles, we’re once again facing a movement from progressives who seem to have forgotten the lessons of last few years: when we go to war with each other, the bigots win. With the Republican Pa...

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America is facing a growing poverty in these days. We are going broke an alarming rate and we need to do something quickly to change our collective fortunes. This is a national paucity of the gravest kind: a base level lack of compassion for the welfare of other human beings. It is trickle-down cruelty flowing from the top; an unapologetic callousness that revels in its contempt for people who are...

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Nex Benedict will never see their seventeenth birthday. The beautiful, healthy, vibrant nonbinary teenager died at the hands of peers who bullied them incessantly and who violently beat them in their school bathroom, simply because they existed. Their murder is heartbreaking and infuriating—and unsurprising. This is the rotten, putrid fruit of MAGA America and all it stands for and aspires to. Dea...

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A friend of mine recently shared the grief she was experiencing over the loss of her husband of thirty-eight years. He’s been gone for over a decade and she was taken aback by a fresh wave of despair that had suddenly surfaced, startling her. Processing the frustration of that surprise sadness, I found myself feeling the muscle memory of my own journey with grief. If you’ve said goodbye to someone...

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit johnpavlovitz.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit johnpavlovitz.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit johnpavlovitz.substack.com/subscribe

Some honest thoughts about the damage done in the name of God This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit johnpavlovitz.substack.com/subscribe

Some objective reality about the coming election, and why there are only two choices. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit johnpavlovitz.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit johnpavlovitz.substack.com/subscribe

A friend of mine recently posted that “a vote for Jill Stein isn’t a vote for Trump, but a vote for decency and sanity.” I disagree with her on both counts. That’s exactly what it is (a vote for Trump) and she knows that, otherwise she wouldn’t need to generate a meme to defend a position she realizes is problematic. Practically speaking, a progressive or liberal vote for Jill Stein is a vote for...