Last night we noted that not all conservatives are happy with Donald Trump’s GOP platform. Get up to speed here. Conservative intellectual Robert George has weighed-in: Here is George’s full statement, as posted in Denny Burk’s tweet: Every four years […]
Way of Improvement
Albert Mohler: “I want to maximize the Christian commitments of the state, the civilization”
The National Conservatives are meeting this week in Washington D.C. Speakers include Stephen Miller (Trump immigration adviser), John Eastman (indicted lawyer who tried to help Trump steal the 2020 election), Walter Russell Mead (Bard College), Megan Basham (MAGA writer), R.R. […]
Eric Metaxas on why ministers who don’t preach politics, and Christians who attend their churches, are under judgment
Billy Hallowell interviews Eric Metaxas on Christians and politics. Watch: OK, let’s break this down: 00:50: I think Metaxas really believes he is a prophet from God. He seems to know the will of the God. This makes sense, because […]
Some on the Christian Right are unhappy with the 2024 GOP platform
Today the GOP platform committee met in Milwaukee. As we noted over the weekend, there was some debate over whether the platform should have a statement calling for a national ban on abortion. Donald Trump, the presumptive nominee, does not […]
Democrats are divided on what to do about Biden
They also seemed divided in their own heads. Here is Ashley Parker at The Washington Post: The Monday after President Biden’s dismal debate, Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.) — who helped deliver the Democratic nomination to Biden four years ago […]
E.J. Dionne comes close to calling for Biden to step down
Here is The Washington Post columnist: Of course Biden remains hugely preferable to Trump. But reporters aren’t making up the alarm they are hearing from Democratic politicians. Many who worry that his candidacy is unsustainable have been holding back out […]
Richard Mouw: Theocracy and pluralism are compatible
Mouw‘s recent piece at Christianity Today is subtitled “God’s rule is inherently true and doesn’t require that we force it on anyone.” Here is a taste: Truth be told, my wife and I do belong to a pro-theocracy organization. Indeed, […]
Sunday night odds and ends
A few things online that caught my attention this week: Is America a “city on a hill?” An academic retires and reflects on the state of the academy. Can you pass a U.S. citizenship test? The guy who wanted to […]
Will the 2024 Republican Party platform ignore abortion?
Here is Heather Digby Parton at Salon: One of the more obvious signs that the Republican Party had devolved into a cult of personality came in 2020 when the party decided to abandon writing a platform in advance of the […]
“REVIVAL OR BUST”
Earlier this week, Commonweal published my piece on the way the Christian Right uses the supposed links between the First Great Awakening and the American Revolution to advance its political agenda. And then this comes across my X feed today: […]
Report: Trump paid to bury sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuits
Recently I came across Brian Stelter’s 2020 CNN interview with disgraced former Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis. (Why did CNN fire Stelter? His show was excellent!) Ellis, one of the many MAGA evangelicals in 2020, has had a rough few years […]
What is popular this week at CURRENT?
Here are the most popular features of the week at Current: Here are the most popular posts of the last week at The Way of Improvement Leads Home blog: Here are the most popular posts of the last week at The Arena blog:
Zach Bryan and Bruce Springsteen drop “Sandpaper”
It’s growing on me:
The Trump intellectuals
Many of them gather at the Claremont Institute in Southern California. Here is a taste of Ruth Graham’s New York Times piece, “Why a New Conservative Brain Trust is Resettling Across America”: The Claremont Institute has been located in Southern […]
Are Christian values American values?
Short answer: No. Short nuanced answer: Sometimes Christian values can overlap with American values. Was America founded as a Christian nation?: No Was Christianity important to the founding generation and did the founders believe that Christianity was good for the […]
Does Gettysburg have a Lost Cause problem?
Simon Barnicle believes it does. He is a lawyer and officer in the U.S. Army Reserve. Here is a taste of his piece today at The New York Times: …But for all the learning one can do at Gettysburg, there is […]
Song of the day
The South Asian boys in George Washington’s family
Here is Gillian Brockwell at The Washington Post: On Jan. 6, 1796, George Washington, the sitting president in the temporary capital of Philadelphia, wrote a long letter to his teenage step-granddaughter with relationship advice. Though Washington never had biological children, […]
The Punxsy Summit
We did not see Phil the groundhog, but we did think and dream about the future of Current. This week the founders of Current met at a small farm in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. I think I speak for my fellow founders […]
David Blight offers an “immodest proposal to resolve the current crisis of the Democratic Party.”
Here is a taste of Blight‘s proposal: …I offer the following immodest proposal to resolve the current crisis of the Democratic Party. In a matter of days, President Joseph Biden should hold a news conference, surrounded not only by his […]