As one who writes and creates with words, fact-checking and truth are second nature. Double-checking credible sources brings us closer to understanding the issue. Unlike writing a diary, I aim to reach the reader and make a connection. Well-chosen words…
Are we still of any use?
“And so it begins.” As nominations for leadership of government agencies are announced by the newly elected American president, the words of Lutheran theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, written around Christmas 1942, seem startlingly relevant: We have been silent witnesses of evil…
The slippery slope of unchallenged lies
The day after the election, a good friend who is a conservative Republican called to check on me, realizing I would be in a puddle of disbelief. My friend, who is a seminary-educated Southern Baptist and very smart, told me…
Who do you blame for this election and what can be done about it?
Two days after the election, a discouraged friend asked me, “Who do you blame for this election disaster, and what can be done about it?” As I mulled over his first question, a long list of possible responses came to…
This is what it feels like to be ‘collateral damage to your rage’
Donald J. Trump has been president or running for president my entire voting life. 2016 was the first presidential election I could vote in. I remember waking up that November and feeling, like many Americans, wholly shocked by the election…
Here’s the toxic racism and misogyny you let loose with a vote for Trump
If Kamala Harris had won, no Black people would be receiving text messages threatening to make them slaves again, and no women would be being told, “Your body, my choice.” When Trump wins, those things happen. And when Trump loses,…
Living as aliens
Last Tuesday, we elected a convicted felon, a mediocre businessman and a weak leader to be the 47th president of the United States. First, the part about being a convicted felon and being charged with other crimes. I started to…
The Servant-God, not Trump, is Lord of All
In September 2021, a massive billboard promoting Donald Trump loomed high above Highway 27 in Fort Oglethorpe, Ga., with the words of Isaiah 9:6, a biblical text long cherished by Christians, emblazoned over an American flag: “Unto us a son…
Trying to make sense of nonsense
As I reflect on Donald Trump being elected to a second term as president, I sit here at a Cracker Barrel in the Louisville, Ky., area with a mixture of country and contemporary Christian music playing in the background. Patriotic…
American Jews favored Harris over Trump, don’t support Netanyahu either
While American evangelicals formed the base of Donald Trump’s political comeback, he was soundly rejected by American Jews, according to a new national survey. Not only that, American Jews overwhelmingly oppose Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his handling of…
The 3 temptations of Christ are similar to Trump’s temptations to evangelicals
Many distractions in this life take a person off of their true path. Even as I put these words together, I think about everything unrelated to my writing. I am thinking about my career and need to find work that gets me…
America makes a hard right turn with Trump as ‘good old boy’
After decades of progressive influence, America made a hard right turn on Tuesday, Nov. 5. Donald Trump won a decisive Electoral College vote as well as the popular vote. I resist the notion that the nation was voting against having…