The estuary where politics and religion intermingle has rarely been a place of great clarity. Brackishness is a form of unpleasantness; you can’t drink brackish water. Yet, religion and politics are two of the great engines of history and so…
TPUSA event draws small crowd in Georgia as Erika Kirk no-shows
The second stop on Turning Point USA’s “This Is the Turning Point” college tour didn’t go so well April 14. Erika Kirk cancelled her appearance at her own organization’s event, citing security concerns, but U.S. Vice President JD Vance attended…
Yes, the pope is a politician
I recall Helms and I, while co-pastors of a congregation for about five years, working through the following church life issues: The color of the new carpet Whether (and how) to remove the American flag from the sanctuary Guiding the…
Immoral vice president tells pope to stick to ‘matters of morality’
Some stories are so stupidly simple they virtually write themselves. This is one such article. But bear with me a moment, please, for just a splash of embellishment. Here’s the stupidly simple part: U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who speaks…
In post full of lies, Trump lambastes Pope Leo
One week after he threated to end Iran as a civilization, U.S. President Donald Trump went after Pope Leo via social media. Relations between the White House and the Vatican already were strained, as the pope has soundly criticized Trump’s…
Pentagon-Vatican meeting latest flash point in Trump’s clash with religious leaders
On Wednesday (April 8), Vice President JD Vance stood in front of Air Force Two in Budapest and was confronted with the latest chapter in an emerging, global drama: rising tensions between the U.S. military and religious leaders.
White House and Vatican relations reportedly strained
Even though Vice President JD Vance is a convert to Catholicism, relations between the White House and the Vatican may be at the lowest point in modern history, according to a report in The New Republic. At issue now is…
At Republican antisemitism confab, Tucker Carlson is the villain — and JD Vance the unspoken question
Nearly everybody called out Tucker Carlson at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s symposium on antisemitism.
Cardinal Dolan says Vance apologized for claiming bishops were pro-immigrant for the money
Vice President JD Vance apologized to Cardinal Timothy Dolan for his accusations that Catholic bishops expressed concerns about immigration issues because they were motivated by money, the cardinal said in an interview on EWTN, a large Catholic television network, released Thursday (Feb….
Olympics and the danger of performative patriotism
With the Winter Olympics just ended, we have been reminded of the dangers of performative patriotism that cannot tolerate contradiction. When we demand those who wear the flag speak only in praise, we are not preserving the apolitical nature of…
Murder and lies in Minneapolis: What’s it all about?
According to the Washington Post, Donald Trump made 30,573 misleading statements between 2016 and 2020, more than half of them during the final year of his first term in office. In Trump’s second term, the Post has lost its enthusiasm…
If JD Vance truly were ‘pro-life,’ this wouldn’t be happening
Vice President JD Vance calls himself “pro-life.” At the recent March for Life, he spoke with moral certainty about the sacredness of unborn life, warning that neutrality in the face of vulnerability is a moral failure and insisting a nation…