It all started in the summer of 2003...

I was working at Biola University, a very conservative university in Southern California. Now if you know me at all, you will know that I am not very conservative. Actually I am not conservative at all. So it created an interesting relationship. My job was such that I had a lot of free time, so I began to participate in discussion boards (called BUBBS) that the University had created for their students and staff. Some of those boards included such topics as these:

• U.S. News and Politics
• World News
• Biblical Studies
• Philosophy

Eventual the "interesting relationship" that I mentioned above came into full view. I started to get into "discussions" with students, alumni, and a handful of staff members. These discussions involved a little bit of everything - the Iraq war, helping the poor, homosexuality, relationships with God, and many other things. It tended to be me one side, everyone else on the other side. There were a handful of others who would at times come along side me in these conversations, but much of the time I was on my own. But in some odd masochistic way I actually enjoyed it. I even became somewhat friends with Roland, even though I am pretty sure that you cannot find many people who have such opposing views as the two of us.

But eventually I started to engage with the wrong people - i.e. people who were completely offended that their worldview was being challenged. What happened was that I started to discuss the topic of homosexuality with two fellow staff members - Loree and Martin. This entire discussion was done in an obscure folder on BUBBS, and it all centered around the legalization of same-sex marriages. They were attempting to make ignorant assertions - things like "homosexuals are dirty and dangerous". And I called them on it. And I asserted that the government should allow two consenting adults to marry - regardless of their gender. Well, eventually they became so offended that they "told on me" to the director of Human Resources at the university.

I had the pleasure of meeting the director of my department and the director of HR to discuss my theological views (I know...I was not even discussing my theological views), and I was questioned about the university's statement of faith. You can read about it more here - my first post.

This experience made me incredibly frustrated, and Roland and I were ranting about it on his blog. Brendan then offered my a place to rant on my own - my own blog. Starting out I didn't even know to create an html link - I had a lot to learn. But I also had a lot to rant about.

It started out slowly - a few posts a week, long periods of down time, mediocre writing, etc. I would review movies, the occasional CD, and American Idol (yea...who would have thought?). But then I found what I really wanted to write about. I was passionate about faith and religion, politics, and culture. I was passionate about social justice. And I was passionate about writing about these things, and more specifically how they all interacted together. Once I figured this out, my entire blog changed. Instead of a place to just write about random things, it became focused. It became about something more than just me. It became about the world. It became about challenge.

So here I am...