One of the common claims I see made on the left is false equivalency. For example, I detested the type of demonizing former President Trump used to engage in. Then on September 1st President Biden gave his famous “MAGA Republican” speech which also was a dreadful demonizing speech. I held him to the same standard I held Trump. Yet several of my more progressive friends accused me of false equivalence. They argued that it was not the same and even... Read more
So now that the SC religious liberty cases have been decided, it is time to take stock. Clearly, the Roberts court supports religious liberty. And unlike the Dobbs case, this includes Roberts as well as the other conservative justices. Let us look at the cases one by one with my nonlawyer-trained mind. First, you have Shurtleff V. Boston. In this case, the city of Boston denied Shurtleff’s request to fly a Christian flag on a third city pole, and they... Read more
This is a guest editorial by Rachel Suffern. Enjoy it as I find it insightful. Since 2016, America has gone through an unprecedented period of polarization. Politics has seemingly been brought to the forefront of nearly every aspect of life from entertainment to sportswear to family holiday gatherings. There is no great mystery surrounding this shift for most people. It can be traced fairly neatly to one event: Donald Trump’s presidency. However, few people seem to be able to answer... Read more
You ever leave a conversation and then wanted to kick yourself because you did not say something you wanted to say? I think we all have done that. Well, I can do one better than that. I have written a book coming out in March titled Beyond Racial Division. The book is written and typeset, and there can be no further changes to the book. And yet the other day, while riding my bike, I realized that I left out... Read more
Much has recently been made about the “deconstruction” of Christianity, particularly conservative Christianity. Most of this has been seen lately in a spat of new books recognized by David Gushee as representative of this desire to deconstruct American evangelicalism. Those books are: Jesus and John Wayne by Kristen Kobes Du Mez The Making of Biblical Womanhood by Beth Allison Barr The Color of Compromise by Jemar Tisby Taking America Back for God by Andrew Whitehead and Sam Perry Worldview Theory,... Read more
Recently there has been a lot of talk about Christian nationalism. This discussion may have surged due to the rise of Trump since some have argued that the former president drew support from a rise of Christian nationalism. Christian nationalism has also been tied to problems such as racism, sexism, and authoritarianism. So, it is expected that many individuals would look to Christian nationalism as a source of many social problems. But do we know what Christian nationalism is? To... Read more
Last year I wrote an assessment of DiAngelo’s White Fragility. Clearly, I was not very supportive of that work and I used my assessment to address some of the problems I see within antiracism. At the time it was not only the most popular antiracism book in the United States, it was topping the best seller chart for all books. The second most popular book was Kendi’s How to be an Antiracist. I decided to go after the most popular... Read more
I have had a little theory about support for antiracism. My theory is that it is not a philosophy relatively popular with African-Americans, but rather it is a philosophy relatively popular with the highly educated class. However, I did not know of a way to test this theory. I could not find a national probability data set that allowed me to compare antiracist beliefs with different demographic groups. And then it hit me. I had already done that test. I... Read more
If you recognize that line then you know the show it came from. Hogan’s Heroes and Sergeant Schultz right? The joke is that the evidence is clearly in front of him but he refuses to see it. It was a funny gag in the sitcom. Not so funny in real life. The latest example of this not being funny in real life was illustrated by Professor Eddie Glaude in his encounter with Rod Dreher on the Morning Joe show. Dreher... Read more
Why is Trump president? That is a serious question for me. I mean I know that he is president because he received more electoral votes than Hillary Clinton. But what skill did Trump bring to the 2016 election that led to his presidency? Part of what surprised me about his election is that I did not see any discernable skill that he contributed to that victory. I watched as Trump won primary after primary during the Republican nomination process. Then... Read more
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