On Jan. 20, Donald Trump will take the presidential oath of office on the day set aside to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. This convergence crystallizes the United States’ ongoing struggle between competing visions of faith and politics in…
Trump Bible gets special editions, and you’re invited to pay to pray
The God Bless the USA Bible now comes in three special editions, including one commemorating Donald Trump’s second inauguration as president of the United States. Another special edition of the leather-bound KJV Bible is sold as “The Day God Intervened”…
Should I attend Trump’s second inauguration?
“Tell us one interesting thing about yourself.” I’ve always disliked that “icebreaker” question, whether it occurs in a business gathering, conference breakout, Sunday school class, retreat setting or anywhere else. I always have considered my life to have been a…
Hopkins inaugurated as 12th president of Campbellsville University
Joseph Hopkins was in what he called his “dream job” as dean of the School of Arts at Samford University in Birmingham, Ala., when he was told about an opening for the presidency at Campbellsville University. At first, the opening…
A reflection on Amanda Gorman’s inaugural poem
The inauguration of Joe Biden as 46th president of the United States was a splendid event, despite the confinement of the pandemic. And for many of us it was a finely orchestrated ceremony that lifted our spirits only days after…
‘This Land Is Your Land’ sounds different as an adult today
The music of elementary school never left me. I remember the tinkering incoherence of band instruments, high whistles of the recorder, the school piano at assemblies. But most vividly, I remember the hum of children stirring when my grade six…
America needs a ‘third Reconstruction,’ Barber tells new administration
America needs a “third Reconstruction,” William Barber II said in a homily at the virtual inaugural prayer service for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris hosted by Washington National Cathedral on Thursday, Jan. 21. “Reconstruction” refers first to…
D.C.-area churches seek to offer calm amid a tumultuous January
Inauguration Januarys typically raise the stress levels of clergy serving churches in Washington, D.C., local ministers say. But the addition of a pandemic, a brutal election cycle and the Jan. 6 storming of Capitol Hill by Donald Trump supporters sent…
Religion little more than ‘politics in drag,’ rabbi says ahead of inauguration
The lineup of ministers selected to pray at Donald Trump’s inauguration reaffirms the divisions within American Christianity. Conservatives view the selections of, say, Franklin Graham and Paula White, as affirming biblical and patriotic values and as support of unfettered capitalism….