Christian nationalists certainly exist. But, as veteran religion reporter Ken Woodward writes today at The Washington Post, they are sometimes hard to find in everyday life. Here is a taste of Woodward’s piece: A year ago, after Rep. Marjorie Taylor...
Mark Noll is retired Professor of History at Wheaton College and the University of Notre Dame. This interview is based on his new book, America’s Book: The Rise and Decline of a Bible Civilization, 1794-1911 (Oxford University Press, 2022). JF: What...
Here is a taste of Tom Gjelten’s piece at National Public Radio: America, unlike some countries, is not defined by a common ancestry, nor is it tied to an official faith tradition. But it does have a distinct identity and...
As my piece today at Current suggests, I see a lot of continuity between the Obama and Biden presidencies. Obama inherited the 2008 recession. Biden inherited COVID-19, an economic recession, racial tensions, and the Trump-induced threats to American democracy. Both...
On February 3, 2021, the day before the National Prayer Breakfast, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State called for Joe Biden to endorse the separation of church at the breakfast. Here is a taste of the release:...
It’s official. The Trump presidency is over. The Biden presidency is here. Here are a few thoughts, with the help of my Twitter feed, on today’s inauguration ceremony: I began the day with a reminder. It’s been a long four...
What have Trump’s evangelicals been saying since our last update? Jack Hibbs of Calvary Chapel-Chino Hills doesn’t like masks: THEY DONT WORK. Anyone who’s been tested knows about how insane it is that they have to stick the Covid-19 Wuhan Chinese...
It is a beautiful today in south-central Pennsylvania–a perfect day to spend some time on the Gettysburg battlefield. This morning we took ten students from my Pennsylvania history class to Gettysburg. We have been reading Jim Weeks’s book Gettysburg: Memory, Market,...
Over at The Washington Post, Kimberly Winston teaches us that much of the pageantry we are seeing surrounding the death of George H.W. Bush has deep spiritual roots. Here is a taste of her piece: “The need to create meaningful rituals...
G.K. Chesterton once said that America “is a nation with the soul of a church.” Trump’s prayer breakfast speech this morning was as good as it could be in a nation with the soul of the church. The speech was...
In the movie “Concussion,” Dr. Bennett Omalu, the medical researcher who discovered chronic traumatic encephalopahty (CTE) in the brains of deceased NFL players, is told that he is going to war with a corporation that “owns a day of the...
Did your church have a patriotic worship service yesterday? I know a lot of churches will pause to give thanks for their country or acknowledge veterans on the 4th of July weekend. I am not a fan of this, but...
It’s catchy. 🙂 Performed Saturday night at The Kennedy Center event. It starts at the 34:00 mark. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVBpMC6HxBc&w=560&h=315] Have at it....
Perhaps it had its worship America Sunday morning service this weekend because Court Evangelical pastor Robert Jeffress will be busy on 4th of July weekend: DALLAS—President Donald Trump will join Pastor Robert Jeffress to honor our veterans at the “Celebrate Freedom” Concert at 8...
Thankful to have American hero @JeffStruecker and our own Ensign Phillip Metcalfe with us this morning for Freedom Sunday at @firstdallas. pic.twitter.com/s3oNNoO2Hz — Dr. Robert Jeffress (@robertjeffress) June 25, 2017 Yesterday was “Freedom Sunday” at the First Baptist Church in...
In case you haven’t seen it all over social media, today is the 152st anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. It is also Good Friday. Lincoln was killed on Good Friday in 1865, making today one of those years when the...
The editors of The Christian Century see the positive and negative affects of American civil religion. Their recent editorial was prompted by the lack of civil religiosity in Donald Trump’s inaugural address last month. Here is a taste: Theologians have long...
Philip Gorski is Professor of Sociology at Yale University. This interview is based on his new book, American Covenant: A History of Civil Religion from the Puritans to the Present (Princeton University Press, 2017). JF: What led you to write American...
Watch it here: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q89iGlKLbZI&w=640&h=360] At the 11:25 mark he thanks Senate Chaplain Barry Black and says “I am appointing you for another year, what the hell.” 12:32: Trump starts talking about how bad “The Apprentice” is now that Arnold...
In his review of Lin Manuel-Miranda’s Broadway hit “Hamilton,” Peter Manseau, the new curator of American religious history at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, writes: “Miranda’s ingenious retelling of Revolutionary-era U.S. history studiously ignores common eighteenth-century notions of...
