A guide for the perplexed
Archives for July 2023
Baraye: song of the day (or maybe the century, so far)
I think of this as the song of the century thus far (or one of them). It comes from the protests in Iran in 2022 sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini who had been arrested for improperly wearing her […]
Have you seen Joe Biden’s brilliant Marjorie Taylor Greene campaign ad?
Here was Georgia congressperson Marjorie Taylor Greene at Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA conference last weekend: The Biden campaign responded with this: Brilliant!
Before the “nones” there were the “nothingarians”
Here is Thomas Kidd at The Panorama: One of the most common news topics on American religion in recent years has been the rise of the “nones,” or the religiously unaffiliated. News stories from the Pew Research Center and similar outlets constantly […]
Wesleyan University ends legacy admissions
Good for Wesleyan. I guess Lin-Manuel Miranda‘s kids will not get a special advantage at the Connecticut liberal arts college. (But something tells me that they will probably won’t need such an advantage!). Here is Vimal Patel at The New […]
Joyce Carol Oates on writing, memory, Twitter, and identity politics
At age 85, writer Joyce Carol Oates has “so many ideas.” Check out David Marchese’s interview with Oates at The New York Times. Here is a taste: How does support for the idea that diverse voices should be given primacy […]
The Author’s Corner with R. Douglas Hurt
R. Douglas Hurt is Professor of History at Purdue University. This interview is based on his new book, Agriculture in the Midwest, 1815–1900 (University of Nebraska Press, 2023). JF: What led you to write Agriculture in the Midwest, 1815-1900? DH: […]
Witherspoon, Pelosi, and Fasces in the 21st century
Clashing appropriations of an ancient symbol underscore the extent of our contemporary crisis
Unschooling: homeschooling gone wild(er)
A few years ago, there was a massive row among the parents in one of the local homeschool co-ops we knew about, and it ended with the dissolution of the group. I heard about it a while later from one […]
Is former Maryland governor Larry Hogan running for president?
Back in March he said he wasn’t running. About two hours ago he posted this: If he does run, will it be as a Republican or the candidate of the “No Labels” movement? You may recall the recent rumors about […]
Trump indictment #3 is coming soon. How are people (including a few evangelicals) responding?
This time the indictment is for January 6th. (Still waiting on Georgia). CNN has some good coverage. The indictment is probably coming, perhaps in days. It looks like Trump is going to spend most of 2024 in court. Here is […]
“America’s commitment to independence shaped how Americans utilized the Bible from the very beginning.”
When you hear presidential candidates like Tim Scott and Mike Pence quote the Bible on the campaign trail for the purposes of advancing their political agendas, please realize that this is not a new thing. Here is a taste of […]
James Carville: “The only thing that Dr. West’s candidacy can do is help elect Donald Trump”
No one expects Cornel West to become the next president of the United States, but Anderson Cooper’s recent interview with West reveals why it is hard for a candidate of moral purity and prophetic sensibility to govern. Politics almost always […]
Should American historians seek to emulate Howard Zinn’s approach to popular history?
As some of you know, I am working on a three-volume project, geared to a general reading audience, on evangelicals and politics in the twentieth-first century. Sometimes I don’t know if I am doing journalism or writing history, but I […]
The Kings College is still open
Faculty are leaving and others are getting cut, but it looks like the The Kings College is still alive. Here is Meagan Saliashvili at Religion News Service: The last remaining evangelical Christian college in New York City, The King’s College, […]
REVIEW: Progressives, Old and New
The divide between them is wider than you might suspect
Is homeschooling abusive?
Homeschooling is much in the news these days, for a variety of reasons. The relationship between the broad public and homeschooling has changed recently in three ways: As a historian of American education and a mother of four, I am […]
Jack Hibbs: “If we were writing the Bible today, George Washington would be included”
In this video, podcast the pastor of the Calvary Church-Chino Hill (CA) reveals just how the Christian Right manipulates the past to promote its political agenda. I can’t tell whether these pastors are just ignorant or they are deliberately lying. […]
She helped Trump try to overthrow the 2020 election. Now she is supporting Ron DeSantis because Trump is too liberal
Some of you may know the name Jenna Ellis. If you read this blog regularly, you know that she was the lawyer who assisted Rudy Giuliani in trying to prove that there was widespread election fraud that allowed Joe Biden […]
“There’s a wall up and we can’t come in” and other things that happened at this weekend’s Charlie Kirk Trumpfest
It was called the “Turning Point USA Action Conference” and it was, in essence, a celebration of Donald Trump, Trumpism, and all things MAGA. I didn’t get a chance to watch much of it beyond Trump’s speech, but several people […]