America contributing editor Bill McCormick S.J. writes on a recent Marjorie Taylor Greene interview with Michael Voris from an organization called “Church Militant.” A taste: For many Catholics, there was no real story in Marjorie Taylor Greene’s recent interview with Michael Voris...
anti-intellectualism
How one small Eric Metaxas comment sums-up the current state of evangelical thinking
In yesterday’s Evangelical roundup I posted and commented on evangelical conspiracy theorist Eric Metaxas’s interview with fellow evangelical conspiracy theorist and Pennsylvania state senator Doug Mastriano. Here is the interview: At the 1:25 mark, Eric Metaxas says: There was just...
Should the first 50 pissed-off people to get to the microphone at a school-board meeting be running our schools?
Rich Lowry of The National Review writes: To paraphrase Bill Buckley, it’d be better if the schools were run by the first 50 pissed-off people standing in line to get to the microphone at a contentious school-board meeting than by the...
Robert Jeffress introduces Eric Metaxas as the “Francis Schaeffer of our generation”
Eric Metaxas spoke at First Baptist Church on Sunday. Jeffress introduced him as “one of the premiere Christian thinkers of our day” and “the Francis Schaeffer of our generation.” Jeffress has always been prone to hyperbole, but his comments about...
Why some evangelicals won’t take the COVID-19 vaccine
Last week I told Yonat Shimron of Religion News Service that I was not surprised so many evangelicals are wary of taking the COVID-19 vaccine: “There’s a long history of anti-science within American evangelicalism…It goes back to the Scopes trial...
Evangelical pastor, author, and theologian Timothy Keller published a tweet on critical race theory. Look what happened:
On Friday, Tim Keller, founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, wrote a post about critical race theory: Critical race theory is not the Gospel, but it can certainly help Christians understand our current moment. It has been useful...
Franklin Graham “shames” the ten Republicans who voted to impeach Trump
Evangelicalism is an activist faith. Historically, evangelicals have preached a life-changing gospel. They have done amazing acts of service and justice in the world. We can’t ignore these things. Evangelicals have been a source of good. At the same time,...
The debate over critical race theory in the Southern Baptist Convention (and beyond) is heating up
Who is afraid of critical race theory (CRT)? The Southern Baptist Convention is. A denomination founded on racism, slavery, and white supremacy has become the center of opposition to a theory that helps us to better understand the consequences of...
How John MacArthur politicizes science
Last Sunday John MacArthur, the pastor of Grace Community Church in Los Angeles, told his congregation that “there is no [COVID-19] pandemic.” The congregation cheered. Watch: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nI4X7svEhlw&w=560&h=315] Notice that MacArthur says that he is not giving a “political speech.”...
Watch the “My Pillow” guy try to defend his miracle cure for COVID-19
Just watch: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHtC4KIXmEk&w=560&h=315]...
What COVID-19 exposed about the United States
All of these points come from Ed Yong’s recent piece at The Atlantic: “How the Pandemic Defeated America.” We under-fund public health. Our health-care system is weak. Too much of what we do spend on healthcare is wasted. We have not...
Sean Wilentz on Richard Hoftstadter
In the Sean Wilentz interview I posted about yesterday, the Princeton historian told Bill Kristol that mid-20th-century historian Richard Hofstadter may have been one of the few Americans who understood the populism, paranoia, and anti-intellectualism that we see today on...
Are white evangelicals equipped for a conversation on race?
Robert Vischer is dean of the University of St. Thomas Law School in Minneapolis. His piece at Religion News Service is titled “Will the death of George Floyd sway white evangelicals on race?” I like this piece because Vischer points...
Should we believe Dr. Anthony Fauci or former gameshow host Chuck Woolery?
Chris Cuomo sums it up pretty well: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLGHTfSmmbQ&w=560&h=315] Read this....
As November approaches, Trump releases his “greatest” hits album
The coronavirus is spiking again. The country is in the midst of what might be an unprecedented conversation about race. And polls show that Donald Trump is trailing Joe Biden by a considerable margin. Trump is desperate. If he loses...
How Many Have Died Because of These Voices?
This reminds me of Kara Swisher’s recent piece. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAh4uS4f78o&w=560&h=315] And it doesn’t stop. Here is Laura Ingraham, TODAY: The “experts” are routinely wrong on issues big and small—on wearing masks, on reusable grocery bags…virus modeling and treatments. For years...
Is the Christian Right to Blame for the Coronavirus?
As some of you know, earlier this week I participated in a conversation with Katherine Stewart, author of The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationism. I think you can still watch the conversation here. Today at The New York...
John Wesley and the Life of the Mind
“I am an evangelical Christian, so it was nice to hear a lecture about evangelicalism that was not related to contemporary politics.” This was our intern Annie Thorn‘s response to Bruce Hindmarsh’s lecture “John Wesley, Early Evangelicalism, and Science.” Hindmarsh,...
Why Robert Jeffress Needs Socialism
This Fox News segment got some traction yesterday: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwz9lMILEqo&w=560&h=315] Comments: 1. Robert Jeffress claims that Democrats are on the wrong side of every major faith issue, especially abortion. He always pivots to abortion because he believes it is the...
The Difference Between “Intelligence” and “Intellect”
I am revisiting Richard Hofstadter‘s Pulitzer-Prize winning book Anti-Intellectualism in American Life (1963). Early in the book, Hofstadter makes a distinction between “intelligence” and “intellect.” I found it useful. Here is a taste: p. 25: Intelligence works within the framework...