Critics say Andy Stanley doesn’t take political involvement seriously. He begs to differ. The author of a new book titled Not In It To Win It, Stanley is a man on a mission to challenge the American evangelical church to…
Ryan Burge has some important things to say about white evangelicals, partisan politics and the future
If you’re interested in fascinating yet random facts and trends about American religion and culture, follow Ryan Burge (@ryanburge) on Twitter. Burge, who is an American Baptist pastor and a professor at Eastern Illinois University, loves to make graphs. And…
Government by quips, tweets and slogans
Once upon a time, a politician with a quick wit conveyed confidence, intelligence and a sense of humor. Americans loved politicians who could think quickly on their feet under pressure. Now, we get packaged, pre-written statements read from a teleprompter….
‘Nostalgia ain’t what it used to be’
The clever saying “Nostalgia ain’t what it used to be,” while having been repeated in many similar iterations, is credited to a character named Uncle Joshua in The Tents of Wickedness, a novel by Peter De Vries written in 1959. The observation…
Yet another study confirms: Many pastors are hanging on by a thread
New research confirms that the past year has been an especially tough one for pastors in the United States as they’ve faced partisan rancor and feelings of isolation and stress that led a growing number to consider leaving full-time ministry….
It’s scary to watch fearmongers at work (but not in the way they think)
Raise your hand if you’re already sick of political ads. Much of the country still hasn’t voted in the primaries, and all of us have the general election to go. At this point, we can safely predict (a) 2022 is…
Connect the dots from Methodists to Baptists to Episcopalians to Presbyterians and national politics
Maybe this is simply stating the obvious, but here goes: There is a pattern to what is happening in the United Methodist Church, the Southern Baptist Convention, the Episcopal Church, the Presbyterian Church and other American churches. And that pattern…
It’s time to do something about the beast of corporate money in politics
In the spring of 1994, I enrolled in a course on deviance in the sociology department at the University of Texas at Austin. The course was taught by renowned sociologist Gideon Sjoberg, author of The Preindustrial City. The course wasn’t…
The futility of framing one another as progressives and evangelicals, devils and dummies
In politics, “framing” is the attempt to alter reality by selecting words, slogans and tropes that convince the public to see the other side in a certain negative way. As Robert Entman explains, “To frame is to select some aspects of a perceived…