Large families will not save humanity
Archives for June 2021
Historian Steven Mintz reimagines the U.S. survey
There is a lot in this piece at Inside Higher Ed. Here is a small taste: What should we do? The first step is to clarify, in our own minds, what students ought to get out of these survey courses. […]
Florida senator Rick Scott introduces a resolution condemning critical race theory
More of the same. Indiana’s Mike Braun and Tennessee’s Marsha Blackburn are also on board. Here is the text of the resolution. Expressing the sense of the Senate that Critical Race Theory serves as a prejudicial ideological tool, rather than […]
The ad you won’t see on Fox News
Watch: Obama has some thoughts as well:
Megachurch pastor Rick Warren is retiring.
The search for Warren’s successor at Saddleback Church has begun. Here is Jonathan Howe from Baptist Press: Pastor and best-selling author Rick Warren announced Sunday, June 6, that he is stepping down from leading Saddleback Church, the Southern California megachurch […]
What does Russell Moore’s departure from the Southern Baptist Convention tells us about the state of American Christianity?
The Southern Baptists are meeting in Nashville later this month and it is going to be a doozy! Stone vs. Mohler Critical race theory. Women in the church. Sexual-abuse cover-ups. Russell Moore. This sounds more like a soap opera than […]
Episode 8: “The Democrats Search for Faith”
The Democrats struggle to connect religion and politics as the 2004 election season begins. Episode 8: āThe Democrats Search for Faithā dropped last night. Subscribers toĀ CurrentĀ at the Longshore level and above receiveĀ this narrative history podcast. Here is a teaser: Listen […]
Out Walking
Paul Kingsnorth may have left the environmental movement. But his trek continues on.
Local journalism is “civic infrastructure”
Over the weekend I wrote a piece here at Current arguing that there was historical precedent for thinking about infrastructure development as something larger than just roads and bridges. I quoted John Quincy Adams’s first annual message to Congress. Here […]
Can we tell a more complete story of American history without making people feel guilty or being made to feel guilty?
Over at National Public Radio’s Weekend Edition, historian Julian Hayter talks with host Scott Simon about why some school districts are opposed to critical race theory. Here is a taste: SIMON: Do you think a lot of Americans view history […]
I went shopping this weekend. Why were so many people wearing masks?
I went shopping with my family on Saturday. My daughter needed to buy some things for her new apartment so we jumped in the car and headed east on the Pennsylvania turnpike. We started at IKEA in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania and […]
Evangelical roundup for June 7, 2021
What is going on in Evangelicalland? Here is the latest news from the Southern Baptist Convention. In a recently uncovered letter, Russell Moore says that SBC leaders compared sexual abuse survivors to Potiphar’s wife and called one victim, Jennifer Lyell, […]
Plantain Play
If weāve strayed from the center of the dance, an unassuming partner can guide us back
Sunday night odds and ends
A few things online that caught my attention this week: Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen reviews Alan Taylor, American Republics; A Continental History of the United States, 1783-1850 American best-sellers and the soul of the nation Critics of the 1619 Project defend Nikole […]
Last week at Current
It was another good week at Current. What did we publish? We began the week on Tuesday with a piece from Randall Balmer, one of America’s keenest observers of the evangelical landscape. The Dartmouth religion professor did not go easy on […]
Jerry Falwell says Liberty University is shaming him
As you may recall, Liberty University is suing its former president Jerry Falwell Jr. Now Falwell is asking a Virginia court to dismiss the lawsuit because he believes his former employer is merely trying to shame him. Here is the […]
Is the GOP suppressing its own voters?
According to Timothy Noah at The New Republic, the GOP obsession with restricting mail-in balloting “will likely harm Republican candidates more than Democratic ones.” Here is a taste of his recent piece: Before I dig into these numbers, let me […]
Marketing “Darkness”
Springsteen’s “Darkness on the Edge of Town” that is. Backstreets recently posted the Columbia Records’ advanced marketing plan for the album (see above). It was released June 4, 1978.
What is going on at Cairn University?
This one hits close to home. As I recently discussed in a few episodes of the A History of Evangelicals and Politics podcast, I am a Cairn University graduate. Here is Claudia Lauer of the Associated Press: A small Christian […]
What John Quincy Adams Can Teach Biden and Congress about Infrastructure
The debate in the Senate continues to rage over Joe Bidenās infrastructure plan. GOP senators resist the plan for two reasons. First, they do not want Biden to soak corporations and the rich to pay for his proposed projects. Second, […]