Christianity and Politics | David P Gushee

Secular Revolutions and Religious Counterrevolutions

Christianity and Politics / By David Gushee

In 2015, highly esteemed Princeton political philosopher Michael Walzer published The Paradox of Liberation: Secular Revolutions and Religious Counterrevolutions. The title itself immediately arrested me, as it crystallized a current intuition of mine. I believe the United States and several other countries are currently experiencing religious counterrevolutions to the cultural and moral (often labeled “secular”) revolutions that […]

Secular Revolutions and Religious Counterrevolutions

Ethicists Without Borders Issues Statement on Russia’s Aggression Against Ukraine

Christianity and Politics, Peacemaking, Sacredness of Life / By David Gushee

Ethicists without Borders is a Facebook group spearheaded by the distinguished Christian ethicist Tobias Winright of St. Louis University. This group has just released the statement below. I am a signatory. Note the following elements: This statement calls what is going on by its right name — not vague worries about “the conflict in Ukraine,”

Ethicists Without Borders Issues Statement on Russia’s Aggression Against Ukraine

Health Care Crises Reveal Our Nation’s Character Flaws

Christianity and Politics, Justice, Sacredness of Life, Suffering / By David Gushee

This is a column about crises and injustices in the health care system in America. I interpret these crises and injustices as an indictment on the character and the governance of this country. What follows is inspired by hard personal experience but relevant to all who have ears to hear. I make the following five claims:

Health Care Crises Reveal Our Nation’s Character Flaws

History Shows the View Is Best from the Margins

Christianity and Politics, Holocaust / By David Gushee

Friends, today is International Holocaust Memorial Day. The Holocaust must never be forgotten. This was not just an eruption of hatred against the Jews by the Nazi regime. It was a systematic government-sponsored genocide, and one that found willing collaborators all across (Christian) Europe — along with a heroic minority of resisters and rescuers. We

History Shows the View Is Best from the Margins

New Year’s Resolutions When You Can’t Count on Anything Except COVID

Christianity and Politics, Personal Stories / By David Gushee

I am an old-school calendar guy. While I do use an Outlook calendar, my default calendar is a monthly planner. I use a color-coding system to write events on the calendar and tasks on the “Notes” column on the side. I am looking at my December 2021 calendar. It has been shot to hell by cancellations

New Year’s Resolutions When You Can’t Count on Anything Except COVID

A Conservative Resurgence in U.S. Catholicism?

Christianity and Politics / By David Gushee

Many readers of this column will know that in my religious practice I am by now something of a hybrid, attending both Catholic and Baptist churches every week when possible. This is time-consuming, for sure, but it does offer me access to developments in both these traditions. I want to tell you about something that I

A Conservative Resurgence in U.S. Catholicism?

Conservative Christianity as a Threat to Democracy

Christianity and Politics / By David Gushee

Christians should support democracy. This should not be a shocking statement. It should not even need to be said. U.S. Baptists, at least, used to be fairly clear about it. But today, it is becoming increasingly clear from looking around the world and at our own nation that Christians need to make a fresh case for

Conservative Christianity as a Threat to Democracy

Image of US Flag Torn in Half Like A Broken Boat on the Ocean

Why the U.S. Is Uniquely Divided: Engaging a Scholar from New Zealand

Christianity and Politics, Evangelicalism, Gun Violence, Racial Justice / By David Gushee

My last column for BNG, “Covid Wars,” offered a lament over our divided nation. It did not propose solutions, only sorrow and grief. Of course, we must do better than that. We must try to understand how we got here and figure out what we can do about it, if anything. After my piece posted, I

Why the U.S. Is Uniquely Divided: Engaging a Scholar from New Zealand

COVID Wars: Lament over a Broken, Divided nation

Christianity and Politics / By David Gushee

I was talking with a senior Mercer University colleague yesterday about the divisions engulfing our nation over COVID vaccines and masks. Carl has served as a pastor, professor and politician. He’s a very wise man. I said: “Carl, two years ago, could you ever have imagined that we would be facing a situation like we are

COVID Wars: Lament over a Broken, Divided nation

On Afghanistan, There Were No Innocent Choices Available

Christian Ethics, Christianity and Politics, Peacemaking / By David Gushee

There were no morally unambiguous options, no innocent choices, facing President Joe Biden when it came to deciding what to do about the 20-year U.S. military engagement in Afghanistan that has cost the lives of nearly 2,500 U.S. troops, 3,800 U.S. security contractors, 100,000 Afghan civilians, some number of allied NATO personnel (a detail that never seems to

On Afghanistan, There Were No Innocent Choices Available