A couple years ago, when I first moved to Wisconsin, I joined a local megachurch Bible study that wasn’t attached to my church. Despite attending a Lutheran Church Missouri Synod congregation, I found Wisconsin was generally bereft of young folks…
Karoline Leavitt dishes out lies and insults at the White House
When a Huffington Post reporter recently asked White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt who chose Budapest as the site for a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladamir Putin, she shot back: “Your mom did.” A moment…
Most Americans don’t share the MAGA vision
Last week, PRRI released our flagship American Values Survey. In this unprecedented political moment, we find party polarization remains a pernicious and growing aspect of American politics. That Republicans and Democrats remain polarized in their views on a range of public…
Yes, I’m in favor of white evangelicals being honest
“Can I be honest?” This is the question being asked by one of the most popular songs on Christian radio today — Leanna Crawford’s “Honest.” “Did I lose my faith? God, do I still trust you?” the lyrics ask. “Is…
Most Americans now see Trump as a dangerous dictator
After months of data collection and analysis, we at PRRI have just released our 16th annual American Values Survey, conducted in partnership with our colleagues E.J. Dionne Jr. and Bill Galston at the Brookings Institution. Amid all the bad news, the new…
Pete Hegseth’s leadership falls flat
In the three weeks since Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth suddenly called the military’s top brass to Quantico for an anti-woke stump speech, his leadership has fallen flat. His Quantico address has been thoroughly scrutinized in the weeks since he…
Can Pope Leo actually stop Opus Dei?
The ecumenical rumor mill is churning, and right now, it’s saying the Vatican may be on the verge of a dramatic move against one of its most powerful and controversial groups. According to recent reporting, newly enthroned Pope Leo is…
Is Christian nationalists’ use of Romans 13 kinky or perverted?
A pastor praying outside an ICE facility in Chicago gets shot in the head by a pepper pellet and collapses to the ground in pain. Commentators dispute whether the protesters had been warned to leave, although currently circulating videos don’t…
Here’s what the Churches of Christ and MAGA have in common
The MAGA agenda marks Make America Great Again as a classic restorationist movement, sharing its most basic assumption with restorationist movements that have appeared over the course of Christian history — the 16th-century Anabaptists, for example, or in America, Baptists,…
When hate masquerades as love
Hate fills the air as “Christian” America fights over values, social issues, race and sex. An increased rage punctuates our communication. Hate crime and hate speech are mutually charged to MAGA and the Democrats. Both sides tear through news reels…
When leaders turn guns on their own people
History teaches us a hard truth: Democracies don’t collapse only when institutions fail — they collapse when leaders turn their weapons on the very people they are sworn to serve. Tanks in the streets, tear gas in the squares, troops…
A house divided: The Anglican communion’s great reset
In one of the largest schisms in Western Christianity since Martin Luther launched the Protestant Reformation, the global Christian faith has witnessed a fracture of monumental proportions. Today, Oct. 16, the bishops of the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, known…