Christianity and Politics

1963 March on Washington

The Black Resistance Tradition and Its Fight for U.S. Democracy

Black America flipped the script on a racialized democratic state to make it more perfect. It is Black people’s fight that makes the United States exceptional. —Randal Jelks (2022) Many of us are profoundly worried about the health of American democracy. If so, we need to attend deeply to the deadly contradiction between structural racism and …

The Black Resistance Tradition and Its Fight for U.S. Democracy

purple image

The Unsolvable Political Problem Facing Those Who Lead Purple Churches

The United States is bitterly divided along what we now call red/blue, conservative/liberal, Republican/Democrat lines. Of course, not everyone fits into those boxes, but enough do for the statement to be accurate. The mutual suspicion and social separation between the two camps is intensifying. As we prepare for the midterm elections and we see so many …

The Unsolvable Political Problem Facing Those Who Lead Purple Churches

man with bullhorn

‘Radical New Arrangements’: On Conservative Christian Radicalization in the U.S.

After a year of researching the matter rather deeply — including listening to conservative scholars, activists and politicians — it has become completely clear to me that a significant chunk of conservative Christians in the United States has moved from political disenchantment to a full-on radicalization that threatens our democracy. I am not just talking about …

‘Radical New Arrangements’: On Conservative Christian Radicalization in the U.S.

image of president Reagan

What Happened to American Conservatism? Engaging Matthew Continetti’s The Right

It is always valuable to engage the other side. Especially when one finds the other side utterly bewildering. The other side I am trying to engage is American political conservatism. My guide today is Matthew Continetti, a brilliant conservative policy wonk with all the “right” credentials — a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, columnist for Commentary magazine, …

What Happened to American Conservatism? Engaging Matthew Continetti’s The Right

Angry Conservative Congresspersons

When Christianity Becomes Toxic ‘Christianism’

Many people appear baffled about the hard-right turn in U.S. conservative religion. It’s not just a turn to politics, or to hard-right politics, that is problematic. It is the apparent amorality, the cruelty, bigotry and snarling spirit that is so impossible to reconcile with the Spirit of Christ. It’s the nasty cast of characters who are …

When Christianity Becomes Toxic ‘Christianism’

The French Dreyfus Affair and Trump’s Big Lie

We are witnessing an extraordinarily disturbing juxtaposition in U.S. politics right now. In Washington, the January 6 Committee, primarily using testimony from Republicans and former Trump administration officials, is once again shredding Donald Trump’s Big Lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him, meanwhile revealing the extent and damage of Trump’s desperate, likely criminal attempt …

The French Dreyfus Affair and Trump’s Big Lie

US Capitol

Is ‘Fascism’ the Right Name for the Trumpist Hard Right in America?

Long after it seemed dead and buried with Mussolini and Hitler, the term “fascism” has been making a comeback — not as the self-description of authoritarian politicians and parties, but as an epithet applied by their enemies, or as an analytical category applied by scholars. It is not uncommon, for example, for leaders ranging from Vladimir …

Is ‘Fascism’ the Right Name for the Trumpist Hard Right in America?

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