A few things online that caught my attention this week: “When politicians claim professors like me are the enemy, what are they really attacking?” Collective narcissism Matthew Levey reviews Roosevelt Montas, Rescuing Socrates: How the Great Books Changed My Life […]
Archives for November 2021
Conservative counterrevolutions
For a nation founded on Enlightenment ideals, there has always been a significant number of Americans who don’t like change. As John Huntington and Lawrence Glickman point out, “each time political minorities advocate for and achieve greater equality, conservatives rebel, […]
Joe Biden told Pope Francis a story about Satchel Paige
Check out Carmen M. Nanko-Fernández‘s great piece at Commonweal on the importance of story-telling. Here is a taste: Lost in threads of contested interpretations on social media was the fact that Biden was speaking to Pope Francis in one of […]
David and Tim Barton think Jefferson was a “real Christian.” But could he be an elder in their church?
Here is the Wallbuilders Facebook page: The strange part of this post is that the Bartons are promoting Jefferson as a real Christian, but if he applied for the elder or deacon board at their church his application would be […]
Louisiana College is changing its name to Louisiana Christian University
The Southern Baptist College in Pineville, Louisiana is changing its name. Here is the Associated Press: Louisiana College in Pineville will formally announce its new name — Louisiana Christian University — on Nov. 16 during a meeting of the Louisiana […]
The voters in the York Suburban (PA) school district reject Trumpism
It is good to see the people of the York Suburban district reject the craziness. Sometimes democracy works. Here is Mike Argento of the York Daily Record: The York Suburban School Board race was, by any measure, a messy affair. […]
What is popular this week at Current?
Here are the most popular features Current: Vincent Bacote, Wide Awoke at Wheaton John Fea, Canceling Jon Meacham John Fea, What Carl Trueman Gets Right About the American University Felicia Wu Song, Locked In, Cradle to Grave David Tucker, The Right […]
“Democrats are misreading the room to an astonishing degree”
Here is a New York Times reader from Georgia responding to this New York Times op-ed: Democrats are misreading the room to an astonishing degree. Let this sink in: my Mexican yard man likes Trump. Although immigration laws should be […]
Conspiracy or Hoax?
The fading of a republic yields harbingers aplenty
Ex-Mets manager loses his bid to become mayor of Stamford, CT
Bobby Valentine is now hinting that there was election fraud in the Stamford, Connecticut mayoral race. Here is NJ.Com: Bobby Valentine added one more loss to his record on Tuesday night. The former New York Mets manager was defeated in his bid to […]
The Author’s Corner with Fay Yarbrough
Fay Yarbrough is Professor of American History at Rice University. This interview is based on her new book, Choctaw Confederates: The American Civil War in Indian Country (University of North Carolina Press, 2021). JF: What led you to write Choctaw Confederates? […]
Evangelical roundup for November 4, 2021
What is happening in Evangelical land? Fifty-seven percent of white evangelical Christians indicate they’d prefer the U.S. be a nation primarily made up of people who follow the Christian faith. Liberty University president Jerry Prevo says he is going to […]
Canceling Jon Meacham
Sadly, Samford University’s decision to uninvite Jon Meacham was the right thing to do
Did Abraham Lincoln break the Constitution?
Harvard law professor Noah Feldman believes that he did, and it had little to do with his support of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendment. Here is a taste of his recent piece at The New York Times: In April […]
The editors of The Christian Century ask: “Why do we need to teach history?”
The Christian Century tackles a Texas bill that forbids the teaching of critical race theory and the 1619 Project. Here is a taste of its editorial: How should the story of our country be told? It says that schools should […]
Rick Santorum lands at Newsmax
CNN fired him after he gave a lecture to the Young America’s Foundation and said, “We birthed a nation from nothing. I mean, there was nothing here. I mean, yes, we have Native Americans but candidly there isn’t much Native […]
Current is looking for help with web design
The Current editorial board made a few decisions about our web platform this past weekend and we are putting out an open call for someone to help us with some design changes. Here is what we need: We want to change our […]
QAnon fans wait for JFK Jr. to appear at Dealey Plaza and announce the second coming of Donald Trump
Yes, stuff like this actually happens in the United States of America these days. Yesterday hundreds of QAnon supporters gathered in Dallas at the site of John F. Kennedy’s assassination because they believed that John F. Kennedy Jr. would appear […]
Episode 26: “Evangelicals Remember Ronald Reagan”
Former president Ronald Reagan died on June 5, 2004. Evangelicals were eager to reflect on the role he played in the rise of the Christian Right. Episode 26: “Evangelicals Remember Ronald Reagan” dropped last night. Subscribers to Current at the Longshore level […]
Listening in Loud Times
As the Birmingham campaign shows, listening and confrontation go hand-in-hand