Donald Trump has spent the past several months attacking vote-by-mail, going so far as to encourage North Carolina voters to vote twice (by mail and at the polls — which is illegal). Nonetheless, white evangelical support for Trump remains high,…
Mormons and the 2020 presidential election: It’s complicated
Because of the way the Electoral College works in U.S. presidential contests, Mormons could play a decisive role in this year’s election. At play, the swing states of Nevada and Arizona and a surprising decreasing loyalty to the Republican Party…
Don’t be left behind in this apocalyptic autumn
This will be an apocalyptic autumn. While the biblical concept of “apocalypse” has been historically appropriated in some fantastic ways, its meaning in the Greek — “to reveal” — is what leads me to make this claim. Many Americans will…
How democracy dies: ‘Give us a king’
The fall of ancient Israel began almost before it rose — when the people demanded of Samuel, “Give us a king to lead us.” You can read the whole, sorry story in 1 Samuel 8. The aging prophet who had…
Donald Trump and the 10 Commandments
Recently, watching an old movie about a trial in a small American town, I noted the wooden panel displaying the Ten Commandments placed on the back wall of the courtroom. Visible, just for the moment when the protagonist walked across…
‘Do you mean vote for the murder babies crowd?’
Last week I shared to Facebook a Washington Post story titled “White House directs federal agencies to cancel race-related training sessions it calls ‘un-American propaganda.’” I prefaced it with this: “At all levels of American society, we are confronted with…
History shows the view is best from the margins
Sometimes an obscure social science dissertation about historical events tells you exactly what you need to know about what is going on right now. I have just read a little-noticed 2019 book called Protectors of Pluralism: Religious Minorities and the…
400 faith leaders ask Trump to end immigrant family separations
More than 400 faith leaders from diverse backgrounds have signed a letter asking the Trump administration and Republican National Convention to change their policy of separating families and putting immigrant children in detention camps. The letter was organized by New…
The Christian citizen: Gospel, conscience and dissent
E Pluribus Unum, the founders declared of their new American Republic, “Out of Many, One.” From 13 furiously independent and diverse colonies would come “one nation,” (“under God,” we would add much later), “with liberty and justice for all.” It…
Americans want ‘moral, ethical’ president more than a religious one
Recent surveys show Americans care more about having a “moral, ethical president” than about having a religious president. And although only 32% of Americans describe Donald Trump as “morally upstanding,” 61% of white evangelicals say that term describes Trump. Meanwhile,…
Buttigieg ‘humbled’ by Sunday school, lunch, with former President Jimmy Carter
Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg spent his Sunday in rural southwest Georgia, visiting former President Jimmy Carter’s Sunday school class at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains.