Has the Christian Right morphed into an American version of the Taliban? Are these folks trying to transform America into a fundamentalist theocracy? Don’t they talk about making the Bible the law of the land? Don’t they speak of “taking…
The American Way(s) of Life
In his 1955 best-seller, Protestant, Catholic, Jew, sociologist Will Herberg wrote that “it is the American Way of Life that supplies American society with an ‘overarching sense of unity’ amid conflict.” Sixty-one years later, amid divisive ideologies of presidential politics,…
The theology of Ted Cruz
Cruz’s defense of life is hard to reconcile with his calls to carpet-bomb and “annihilate” ISIS. How does one reconcile the defense of human dignity with these policy proposals?
Americans see immigrants more favorably than do Trump, Cruz
The 2016 Republican presidential campaign boils with anti-immigrant rhetoric but candidates’ harsh proposals don’t resonate with most Americans, particularly religious believers and young adults.
Christians, Muslims fear backlash from Brussels attacks
The deadly explosions in Brussels Tuesday morning had some American Muslims and Christians awaking with dismay. “I’d like to say I was surprised, but I wasn’t,” said Joe Bradford, founder of the Houston-based nonprofit American Muslims Care. The previous arrests…
Why Ted Cruz should see ‘Spotlight’
I can’t imagine why a presidential candidate would want to seek guidance from someone who has demonstrated such a wrong-headed attitude toward a support group for child rape victims.
Paige Patterson named to Cruz advisory council
A Southern Baptist Convention seminary president has been named to a Religious Liberty Advisory Council created by Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz. Paige Patterson, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, is part of a 19-member group…
What does “Jesus Is Lord” mean?
Earlier this month I wrote about Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his highly influential book The Cost of Discipleship, published in a new translation in 2001 as justDiscipleship. Bonhoeffer’s emphasis was upon following Jesus as Lord. But what does that mean?
A bizarre (and clarifying) election
By Alan Bean I was in the middle of a radio interview when I learned that Antonin Scalia was dead. A congressman was part of the discussion and his staffer was checking out her Twitter feed as her boss repeated…