According to an Reuters-Ipsos poll 43% of Americans said they are “familiar” with critical race theory. 30% have never heard of it. Other findings from this poll: 24 % of Americans know about the 1619 Project. 22% know about the […]
Archives for July 2021
David Brooks asks: “How racist is America?”
For Blacks, this country is still pretty racist. For Hispanics, things are getting better. Here is Brooks: How high are the barriers to opportunity for different groups? Do different groups have a fair shot at the American dream? This approach […]
Why is this pandemic still going?
Here is a taste of David Frum’s piece “Vaccinated Americas Has Had Enough“: In the United States, this pandemic couldāve been over by now, and certainly wouldāve been by Labor Day. If the pace of vaccination through the summer had […]
National Trust for Historic Preservation will award $3 million to landmarks of Black history
The money will go to Houston’s Freedmen’s Town, Martha Vineyard’s African American Heritage Trail, Historic Athens (Georgia), Denver’s Black American West Museum and Heritage Center, Cherokee State Resort Historical Park (KY), Fort Monroe (VA), Asbury United Methodist Church (DC), Roberts […]
Do you have a summer cold?
I do. Now I know I am not alone. Here is Tara Parker-Pope at The New York Times: Yes, the summer cold and cough season really is worse than usual. āIāve had bad colds, but Iāve never experienced a virus […]
What is popular this week at Current
Here are the most popularĀ CurrentĀ features of the last week: Jeremy Sabella, The Prosperity Gospel President John Fea, Still Evangelical John Fea, Reforming Evangelicalism John Ragosta, Is Separation of Church and State a Two-Way Street? Michael Kazin, Evangelicals and Racism: Is […]
Can We Get Better Jeremiads?
George Packerās catastrophism is bankrupt
Evangelical roundup for July 22, 2021
What is going on in Evangelicalland? Owen Strachan is worried about changing “biblical commas”: Beware of former Obama adviser Michael Wear. š Why evangelicals still love Trump. With COVID-19 on the rise among the unvaccinated, this evangelical commentator and former […]
Reforming Evangelicalism
Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) recently released its 2020 Census of American Religion. It revealed that white evangelical Christians have been in a nearly continuous state of decline since 2006. In that year they made up twenty-three percent of the […]
Episode 14: “What’s the Matter with Kansas?”
“Marriage Protection Week” comes to the Great Plains. Episode 14: āWhat’s the Matter with Kansas?ā dropped last night. Subscribers toĀ CurrentĀ at the Longshore level and above receiveĀ this narrative history podcast. (No teaser this week). Listen to Episodes 0, 1, and 2 here. […]
The mind of Bob Gorinski
I can’t remember when I met Bob Gorinski (I am writing here about Bob Walter Gorinski, not to be confused with his father, the former Minnesota Twins designated hitter). I am guessing it was sometime around 2007 or 2008, but […]
The Prosperity Gospel President
How the evangelical faithful embraced Donald Trump as a man of God
Are you a hedgehog when it comes to race?
I am not sure Lance Morrow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center fully understands critical race theory. In his recent Wall Street Journal piece he seems to equate the theory with a “single-minded ideology” that “sees racism in every […]
Matt Taibbi: “NPR has not run a piece critical of Democrats since Christ was a boy”
For a similar analysis, check out Tim Larsen’s May 17, 2021 piece at Current: “NPR Insults the Prophet Muhammad?“ Here is a Taibbi at his Substack newsletter: Yesterdayās NPR article, āOutrage As A Business Model: How Ben Shapiro Is Using […]
Trump supporter Tom Brady jokes with Biden: “4o percent of people still don’t think we won”… the Super Bowl
When you lose Tom Brady: Jonathan Chait tells us what this means here.
Did Mary’s dress “wave,” or did it “sway”?
Apparently it swayed.
Olympics in Wartime
Which soaring ideals survive?
Evangelical roundup for July 19, 2021
What is going on in Evangelicalland? Despite new data, Robert Jeffress thinks evangelicalism in America is alive and well. His head is in the sand. But Jeffress is trying to get evangelicals vaccinated: True: On vaccines: Stop blaming evangelicals and […]
“The disposition that constitutes the humanities is not the exclusive possession of deans and donors and hiring committees”
With the decline in the humanities at colleges and universities, it is important that non-academic institutions raise the questions that animate humanities learning. What does it mean to be human? What is truth? What is beauty? How shall we live? […]
Is Separation of Church and State a Two-Way Street?
A National Prayer Breakfast is one thing. A National Day of Prayer is another.