In 2015, 37% of Republican voters told pollsters that “colleges have a negative effect on the United States.” By 2019, 59% of Republicans said they believed that. Among non-white voters, educational level had no effect on political preference in the…
Deconstructing the crisis of Christian colleges and the culture wars
In one of her first public appearances as Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos delivered a speech at the 2017 Conservative Political Action Conference and established herself as a fixture in the culture wars. Her brief remarks began with swipes at…
There are two Americas, and they are not on speaking terms
Sioux City, like most towns in the rural Midwest, went heavily for Trump in 2016. It was there that the Republican candidate claimed he could shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue without losing votes. Many of the Sioux Center residents interviewed…
America: Powered by haters, redeemed by lovers
In my little town in Oregon, I saw a car with two Confederate flags and a bumper sticker that said, “Powered by Haters.” My shock at the blatant declaration did not translate into any direct action, and I wondered what,…
Is a political realignment coming?
This awful year has offered few glimpses of hope. But one of them has been dawning since May. That is the possibility that Donald Trump and his decadent version of the Republican Party may go down to a substantial national…
American pastor in Canada doesn’t miss culture wars, church growth pressures
When U.S. pastor Justin Joplin accepted a call to a Baptist church in Canada, he found a Baptist identity free from anxiety over a decline from majority cultural status. That is liberating, he says.
Women are leaving church, and the reason seems clear
The years that women’s church attendance began to decline are the very years when religious leaders in the Catholic Church and the evangelical movement fused religion with the culture wars.
Trump lashes out at SBC spokesman
Presidential candidate Donald Trump shot back at Southern Baptist Convention leader Russell Moore after the denomination’s top public policy spokesman criticized the GOP front-runner Sunday morning on network television. Trump lashed out Monday morning on Twitter calling Moore “truly a…
The culture wars come to Georgia
My home state of Georgia is the setting for the latest battle in America’s never-ending culture wars. The event that ignited this fresh fight was Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s decision to fire Atlanta Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran for, according to…