Earlier today I wrote about Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson’s faith and her previous connection to an evangelical church and Christian school. In that piece I noted that Texas senator Ted Cruz had used his written questions to Jackson...
Amy Coney Barrett
Joe Biden is president-elect. What are the court evangelicals saying?
Yesterday the Electoral College made it official. Joe Biden is President-Elect of the United States. Meanwhile, Donald Trump is still tweeting about election fraud: So now that the election is in the books, what are the court evangelicals saying? (Let’s...
The court evangelicals continue to stand by Trump’s election fraud claims
Yesterday COVID-19 cases in the United States topped the 15 million mark. One of those cases is Trump election fraud lawyer and court evangelical Jenna Ellis. Joe Biden introduced his public health team. Donald Trump gave a COVID press conference,...
Why is Amy Coney Barrett’s Christian faith off limits, but Raphael Warnock’s Christian faith is fair game?
Conservative news websites are freaking-out because Georgia senate candidate Raphael Warnock decried the “moral bankruptcy” of the American church for supporting Donald Trump in such large numbers. Watch this 2016 speech at Howard University: He is right. I hope Georgia...
Less than a week to go. Let’s check in on the court evangelicals
Trump’s favorite evangelicals are making their closing arguments. Here are some of them: Franklin Graham believes that God works through the United States Supreme Court. It is also worth noting that he is bragging here about attending a super-spreader event:...
Why is the GOP rushing the Barrett confirmation? The answer is simple: the Democratic coalition is growing
Another great piece at The Atlantic by Ron Brownstein. I find him to be the most astute political analyst working today. Here is a taste: Nothing better explains the Republican rush to confirm Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court...
Here we go again with the “right side of history” rhetoric
New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof does not like Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett. That’s fine. A lot of people don’t. But please don’t invoke “the right side of history.” (The political Right does this as well). There are […]
Notre Dame professors ask Amy Coney Barrett to “halt” the nomination process until after the election
Here is “An Open Letter to Judge Amy Coney Barrett From Your Notre Dame Colleagues“: October 10, 2020 Dear Judge Barrett, We write to you as fellow faculty members at the University of Notre Dame. We congratulate you on your...
Will Amy Coney Barrett’s charismatic faith make her “less predictable” as a justice?
In a recent piece at The Atlantic, anthropologist T.M. Luhrmann argues that Amy Coney Barrett’s charismatic faith might lead here to be “less predictable than many presume.” Here is a taste: In my research on charismatic evangelical Christianity, I have...
Why isn’t Amy Coney Barrett a model for conservative evangelical women?
Katelyn Beaty writes at The New York Times: “But to set the record straight, on handmaid and beyond, conservative Christians must do their part to imagine a broader and more humanizing vision for women’s place in the public square.” Here...
Catholic University theology professor C.C. Pecknold tweeted “Ding Dong the Witch is dead” after RBG’s death
Chad C. Pecknold is a theology professor at The Catholic University of America and writer for First Things magazine. Back in 2017, we covered Pecknold’s Twitter “class” on St. Augustine. It also appears that Pecknold was not a fan of...
*The Washington Post* religion desk tackles Amy Coney Barrett and People of Praise
Here is Emma Brown, Jon Swaine, and Michelle Boorstein: While Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett has faced questions about how her Catholic faith might influence her jurisprudence, she has not spoken publicly about her involvement in People of Praise,...
Court evangelicals are getting COVID-19
Greg Laurie, the pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California, has COVID-19. I like Laurie and I have benefited from his ministry, but he has taken some really strange turns in the last decade or so. When you enter […]
Unmasked court evangelicals were at the Barrett announcement
Donald Trump has COVID-19. So does his wife Melania Trump. So does the president of the University of Notre Dame. So does Utah senator Mike Lee. So does North Carolina senator Tom Tillis. Look at these pictures from Trump’s announcement...
Notre Dame president tests positive for COVID-19 after visiting the White House
Fr. John Jenkins, the president of the University of Notre Dame, has tested positive for COVID-19. He was at the White House last week for the announcement of Amy Coney Barret as Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court. Here is...
More on charismatic Catholicism
In our continuing efforts to make sense of Amy Coney Barrett’s religious community, here is my friend Matthew Schmalz, professor of religious studies at the College of the Holy Cross, on the charismatic Catholicism that informs People of Praise. Catholic...
People of Praise and South Bend, Indiana
Over at Politico, Adam Wren writes about the relationship between People of Praise and the city of South Bend, Indiana. Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court has brought attention to this small Catholic community. Here is a taste...
Randall Balmer: Evangelicals “have been outsourcing their judicial appointments to conservative Catholics”
Back in July 2018, National Public Radio reporter Sarah McCammon asked me why there are no evangelical Christians on the Supreme Court. Here is the part of my answer that made it into her story: MCCAMMON: A major goal for...
Is Amy Coney Barrett a new feminist icon?
This is a really interesting piece at Politico. Here is a taste of Erika Bachiochi‘s “Amy Coney Barrett: A New Feminist Icon”: Barrett embodies a new kind of feminism, a feminism that builds upon the praiseworthy antidiscrimination work of Ginsburg...
What should we make of Trump’s appointment of Amy Coney Barrett?
In the last 24 hours several of you have asked me what I think about Trump’s nomination of Amy Coney Barrett. First, I think there is nothing unconstitutional about Trump choosing a nominee in an election year. Second, I think...