Dana Logan is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at UNC Greensboro. This interview is based on her new book, Awkward Rituals: Sensations of Governance in Protestant America (University of Chicago Press, 2022). JF: What led you to write Awkward Rituals? […]
Christian America
Sorry Michael Flynn, the Constitution does not mention the word “Creator” four times. In fact, it never mentions the word.
Here is Kyle Mantyla at Right Wing Watch: Michael Flynn, a right-wing conspiracy theorist who served as national security adviser to former President Donald Trump, spoke at a campaign rally Saturday for MAGA pastor Jackson Lahmeyer in Oklahoma, where he falsely claimed that âthe word âCreatorâ is in […]
From the archives: Jack Hibbs dabbles in American history and it is a disaster. We need another Dudley Rutherford moment
This post is from July 13, 2021: In 2011, Dudley Rutherford, the pastor of the Shepherd of the Hills Church in Porter Ranch, California, sat down in front of a camera and told the inspiring story behind the writing of âThe Star-Spangled Banner.â […]
A David Barton disciple, Liberty University graduate, and state legislator wants to ban 800 books from Texas public schools
His name is Matt Krause. He is a Texas State Representative and a speaker for Wallbuilders, an organization founded by David Barton that uses the American past to promote right-win political agendas. Here is Talia Richman and Allie Morris at […]
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 […]
Liberty University’s Standing for Freedom Center just released the summer issue of its journal “Reclaiming 1776.” Let’s take a look.
Liberty University president Jerry Prevo begins the journal with a quote from John Adams: Before my God, I believe the hour has come. My judgement approves this measure, and my whole heart is in it. All that I have, and […]
Recovered from the archives: “An Open Letter to the Students of Charis Bible College”
Yesterday a reader told me that he was searching for this 2016 post and couldn’t find it. It seems to have disappeared from The Way of Improvement Leads Home blog. But I managed to find it at another site on […]
David Barton and the American Restoration Tour is coming to a city near you. What if we put together a shadow tour?
David Barton, the Christian Right activist who uses the American past to advance his political agenda, is going on the road with Chad Connelly, the former chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party. They are calling it The American Restoration […]
Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?
I’ve had a lot to say about this topic in the past. Today, however, I am just going to offer some resources. For those inspired by Independence Day weekend to do some reading or viewing: Was America Founded as a […]
Anyone who wants to believe that Independence Day is a Christian holiday should read Frederick Douglass’s “What to a Slave is the Fourth of July?” David Barton speaks at First Baptist-Dallas.
Yesterday was “Freedom Sunday” at First Baptist-Dallas. I have commented on this yearly service several times. Read my commentary here and here and here. My position on these patriotic services has not changed. In the past, First Baptist-Dallas pastor Robert […]
How do Christian nationalists deal with the Establishment Clause?
Recently, a scholar in another discipline asked me how Christian nationalists who study the American past “ignore, navigate around, or distort the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.” I address this in Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?: A […]
Episode 4: The Waning of Christian America
Conservative evangelicals respond to a perfect storm capable of wiping out the Christian ideals that built their great nation. Episode 4: âThe Waning of Christian Americaâ (our fifth episode) dropped last night. Subscribers to Current at the Longshore level and above […]
Virtually every thing Jack Hibbs says in this video about Washington at Valley Forge is wrong
In the winter of 1777-1778 the Continental Army faced one of its lowest points in the Revolutionary War. British troops under the direction of General William Howe were in control of Philadelphia. George Washington’s soldiers were coming off major defeats […]