Donald Trump was publicly accused of bigotry in a lawsuit almost a half century ago. In response, the former president’s first open denial of racism ever to appear in The New York Times came on Oct. 16, 1973. He was responding to…
‘To bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance’: Responding to the rising tide of antisemitism
On Aug. 18, 1790, President George Washington wrote a letter to the Hebrew congregation of Newport, R.I. Washington was responding to a letter from Moses Seixas, warden of the Congregation Yeshuat Israel of Newport. In his letter, Seixas had expressed…
How Trump’s latest comments on Israel align with evangelical Zionism
Donald Trump is in the news again making negative statements about American Jews while flattering his evangelical fanbase. In my piece last week, I wrote about how the dispensationalist obsession with the end times led evangelicals to embrace the Christian Zionist…
SBC president appears on ’60 Minutes,’ tells Anderson Cooper he couldn’t be a good Christian and Southern Baptist as a gay man
The president of the Southern Baptist Convention sat for an interview with an openly gay journalist and told him on national TV Oct. 9 that he could not be a good Christian and Southern Baptist. On the CBS program “60…
As Trump rallies voters to hate immigrants, new research shows more evangelicals are listening to the Bible’s welcome
While Donald Trump continues to rally conservative evangelicals to his anti-immigrant campaign, new research from a conservative evangelical organization finds fewer Christians are buying what Trump is selling. As recently as a Sept. 17 rally in Youngstown, Ohio, Trump vocalized…
Church-state separation ‘very thin’ with Trump Republicans, Butler says on ‘Meet the Press’
The idea of separation of church and state remains strong in America but it is hanging by a thread, Anthea Butler said this week on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “The idea of it is very strong. The reality of it…
‘No one has done more for Christianity than Donald Trump,’ his son declares
“There’s no one who’s done more for Christianity than Donald Trump. No one.” So says the former president’s son Eric Trump, who made the bold comment at Freedom Fest in Morningview, Ky., Saturday, Sept. 10. Donald Trump’s eldest son, Donald…
The Social Gospel ghosts of Rauschenbusch and Roosevelt haunt evangelicals still
Lurking in the carnage of the cultural un-civil war, there lies the determined opposition of many Christians to the Social Gospel. Two powerful movements in the 20th century, one theological and one political, produced a furious opposition to the Social…
‘Radical new arrangements’: On conservative Christian radicalization in the U.S.
After a year of researching the matter rather deeply — including listening to conservative scholars, activists and politicians — it has become completely clear to me that a significant chunk of conservative Christians in the United States has moved from…
What’s wrong with the ‘you’re being divisive’ argument
Pastors, of all people, should recognize this deflection for what it is. It’s a dirty trick they suffer from all the time. The pastor gets up the courage to speak actual truth about some situation — most likely a sermon…
The moral and ethical difference between the life and ministry of Jesus and the life and career of Donald Trump
In view of Donald Trump’s mounting legal issues — and especially the prospect that he may be charged with criminal conduct — we should ponder his continued popularity with people who call themselves “evangelical” followers of Jesus, or to be…
Mohler to speak on the ‘idolatry’ of secularism at conference advocating ‘national conservatism’
A Southern Baptist seminary president will join four well-known Republican politicians as a keynote speaker at an upcoming conference on “national conservatism.” According to online publicity, Al Mohler’s topic will be: “‘Your God Will Have Been Supplanted by an Idol’:…