This week, I’m sharing a conversation with my friend Andrew Whitehead, who helps us understand the MAGA movement, the insurrection on January 6, and their disturbing religious underpinnings. His important new book, American Idolatry: How Christian Nationalism Betrays the Gospel…
President Biden establishes the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument in Mississippi and Illinois
This week, I had the privilege of attending a reception held at the Department of the Interior in Washington, D.C., to celebrate President Joe Biden’s signing of a proclamation establishing the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument in Mississippi…
How many Americans actually support a ban on abortion?
Last Friday, the leading Republican candidates for president (sans Trump) showed up in Des Moines, Iowa, to campaign among approximately 2,000 overwhelmingly white evangelicals. The forum was sponsored by an evangelical organization called the Family Leader, an organization with a mission…
The call is coming from inside the house: White Christian churches as incubators of anti-democratic sentiment
In 1979, “When a Stranger Calls” became a surprise box-office success. The plot, which drew on a common folk legend, wasn’t original, but the harrowing first 23 minutes of the film created a cult following and the film is still…
Why demographic shifts haven’t yet swamped the Republican Party
Over the weekend, I had an email conversation with Tom Edsall of the New York Times. I’m thankful for Edsall as a reporter who asks big, thorny questions and gives ample space in his column for complicated answers from scholars and experts….
CNN’s disastrous platforming of Donald Trump
“CNN’s New Hampshire town hall with Donald Trump last night may have done more to boost his chances of winning the GOP presidential nomination than anything that’s happened since the 2020 election.” That was Politico Playbook’s substantive conclusion this morning. It’s…
School board battles are back with a vengeance
Over the past few years, MAGA politicians and local activists have made education, especially the teaching of history, a hot spot in the culture wars — with the megaphone of Fox News. In the waning days of his presidency, Donald…
Lent, confession and the ‘no true Scotsman’ fallacy
These 40 days of Lent are designed to be opportunities for sober reflection and acts of confession, both individual and corporate. This period of introspection leads to the high point of Holy Week, the commemoration of the crucifixion of Jesus…
Why a potential indictment of Donald Trump will matter so little to most of his Christian supporters
The country is collectively holding its breath this week to see whether former President Donald Trump will be indicted for falsifying business records to cover up the payment of $130,000 of “hush money” to adult film actress Stormy Daniels on…