The election is over and the season of recrimination begins. Donald Trump will be president, some say, because rural white America is a sinkhole of fundamentalist racism. Others blame the outcome on the aloof arrogance of a latte-swilling “coastal elite”…
Jesus and John Wayne: Must we choose?
Evangelical support for Donald Trump should come as no surprise. The Republican candidate is the personification of idealized white manhood, an iconic American in the mold of John Wayne. For evangelical leaders of a certain age, that makes him the…
Joshua vs Jesus: Why white evangelicals love Donald Trump
Almost 80 percent of white American evangelicals plan to vote for Donald Trump, a twice-divorced womanizer who made his name building and gilding casinos. A man who insults Hispanics, Muslims, African Americans, women, and anyone else who disagrees with him….
Why white America silences Jesus
“So what’s your religion?” the young man wanted to know. “My ancestors were Anabaptists,” I said, “and I find myself identifying with that tradition.” “So, what’s an Anabaptist?” “Well, they are sometimes called the radical wing of the Protestant Reformation,”…
In praise of compromise: Reflections on a very strange election
Way back in April, Barack Obama told a CBS reporter, “The single most important question I’m asked these days from other world leaders is ‘What’s going on with your elections?’” I don’t rub shoulders with world leaders, but my Canadian…
Will LGBTQ inclusion be the death of the CBF?
In a recent reflection piece stimulated by America’s birthday, David Gushee shared this snapshot of a divided America: “We are at least two different countries — a conservative, largely white, somewhat older, largely Christian country with a center of gravity…
In spite of dungeon, fire and sword: A Mennonite legacy
I know very little about my family history, partly because it is so complicated. My ancestors came to Canada and the United States from Scotland, England, Sweden and Germany (and who knows where else). It’s easy to get tangled up…
An American Taliban?
Has the Christian Right morphed into an American version of the Taliban? Are these folks trying to transform America into a fundamentalist theocracy? Don’t they talk about making the Bible the law of the land? Don’t they speak of “taking…
‘The Sin of Certainty:’ Peter Enns’ journey from belief to trust
Like most seminary professors in the 1970s, Bill Treadwell wrote a lot of stuff on the blackboard, but I only remember two simple messages. The first day of class, he strode to the board, picked up a piece of chalk…