My grandpa, Edwin Penner, mortgaged his house to build our hometown Baptist church in Chico, Calif. Once built, he drove his Dodge pickup over every Sunday at 6 a.m. to turn on the heat or air conditioning for the comfort…
ELCA bishops warn about ‘hate-fueled’ political lies
Bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America issued a letter Oct. 1 to “condemn the hateful, deceptive, violent speech that has too readily found a place in our national discourse.” The letter from the Council of Bishops said: “We…
If you plan to vote for Donald Trump …
If you plan to vote for Donald Trump, it is your right to vote for the candidate of your choice. Just be aware the candidate of your choice doesn’t want the rest of us to have a choice in the…
Traversing the American psychosis with Francis Collins
The National Institute of Mental Health defines psychosis as “a collection of symptoms that affect the mind, where there has been some loss of contact with reality.” The psychotic symptoms can be episodic, or one can suffer a psychotic break…
What a debater thought about the vice presidential debate
Debates always get my attention. I was a high school and college debate student. I have studied argumentation for decades. While the format of the political debates is artificial and not really an actual debate, I will take what I…
The Big White Lie: Racist propaganda dishonors the image of God
Sir Winston Churchill famously said, “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.” This could be applied to propaganda, as it is often based on blatant lies or embellishments. The…
Putting Christian political participation in proper place
“Christian nationalist” (or its synonym “MAGA Christians”) has, at times, been applied to any Christian who expresses a political opinion or votes Republican. Yet not every Christian who votes or is otherwise involved in politics is a Christian nationalist. Such…
10 examples of conservative evangelicals turning truth into dangerous lies
Conservative evangelicals claim to be the arbiters of truth in a post-truth world. But if we take a moment to consider how the last few months have gone, we’ll notice a pattern emerge. Story after story, conservatives are the ones…
Trump and Vance’s Springfield lie is ‘another test for Christian America,’ Russell Moore says
The Republican Party lie about Haitian immigrants eating family pets in Springfield, Ohio, is another test for Christian America, according to Russell Moore. Moore, editor of Christianity Today, wrote an op-ed for The Atlantic about the false claims of Donald…