Back in April 2021, I wrote a piece at Current titled, “The Education of an Evangelical Insurrectionist.” It told the story of Tyler Ethridge, a graduate of Charis Bible College who entered the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021...
evangelical Trumpism
Eric Metaxas and Charlie Kirk have a Christian nationalist meltdown in the wake of the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago
Conservative evangelicals went crazy after the FBI executed a search warrant at Donald Trump’s home in Palm Beach. (I haven’t seen much from them after we learned Trump had classified nuclear documents). We chronicled some of the initial reaction here....
“Postcards from Babylon”
During the pandemic I participated in this movie. It is now available, at least for the moment, for free. It is worth your time:...
When evangelical pastors radicalize
More on how Trumpism has found its way into evangelical churches. I have heard multiple stories similar to the ones Tess Owen tells in this piece at Vice News. Here is a taste: Pastor Ron Tucker took the stage one...
Doug Mastriano finds a place to show his campaign movie
After two sites in Lancaster County refused to premiere Pennsylvania GOP gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano’s movie “The Return of the American Patriot: The Rise of Pennsylvania,” a church in Lower Allen Township (Cumberland County), Christ Community Church, agreed to air...
Eric Metaxas keeps pushing the Big Lie
Some of the most distinguished conservative federal court justices of the past three decades just put out a 72-page report decimating claims of fraud in the 2020 presidential election. We wrote about that report yesterday. Meanwhile, most of the court...
Does the Christian Right still need Trump?
Bonnie Kristian, a columnist at Christianity Today and a fellow at Defense Priorities, does not think so. Here is a taste of her piece today at The New York Times: For many backers of former President Donald Trump, Friday’s Supreme...
Who will be the last Trump evangelical standing?
Today, after watching another day of damning testimony before the House January 6th Committee, I was reminded again of this passage from Grant Wacker‘s biography of Billy Graham: The details of the low-level crime and high-level mendacity that led to...
Is there a difference between an evangelical worship service and a right-wing political rally?
Sometimes it’s really hard to tell. Here is Elisabeth Dias and Ruth Graham at The New York Times: They opened with an invocation, summoning God’s “hedge of thorns and fire” to protect each person in the dark Phoenix parking lot....
Charlie Kirk: “Huckster. Snake oil salesman. Charlatan”
Charlie Kirk, the pro-Trump pundit who spends most of his time rallying college students to a combative form of conservative populism, regularly appears on the weekends at evangelical megachurches. He is currently visiting churches as part of his “Saving America...
This is not Christianity
Preacher Rick Warzywak prayed before a Donald Trump rally this past weekend in Washington, Michigan. Watch: For those, for whatever reason, cannot see the video, here is what Warzywak prayed: Father in heaven, we firmly believe that Donald Trump is...
Trump is keeping the court evangelicals close
The court evangelicals are back! Last Friday Trump called his evangelical disciples to Mar-a-Lago and they no doubt jumped on the first flight out of their home cities. The lunch was attended by Paula White-Cain (who organized the event), Jack...
Nyquil is “Baptist wine” and more things I learned from the recent Vanity Fair piece on the Falwells.
Check out Gabriel Sherman’s piece on Jerry Falwell Jr. at Vanity Fair. Here are a few of the new things I learned from it: Falwell Jr. claims that he is not religious: “Subconsciously, yeah, I believe that’s true,” he said,...
I was with Greg Locke for the first fifty seconds…
Watch the Tennessee megachurch pastor: Please get vaccinated and boosted! The vaccine is safe and effective....
Resounding gongs and clanging symbols at Charlie Kirk’s “America Fest”
Charlie Kirk’s pro-Trump, God and country organization Turning Point USA recently hosted a conference called “America Fest.” Thousands of college students, fresh off of final exams, showed-up in Phoenix to attend the event. Let’s see how things went: Colorado congresswoman...
Trump will celebrate Christmas at First Baptist Church-Dallas
And I am sure he will get a warm welcome from court evangelical Robert Jeffress. Here is the Dallas Morning News: Former President Donald Trump returns to friendly Texas turf Sunday in Dallas at the American Airlines Center to talk...
Tweet of the day: “They told us we were electing a president, not a pastor . . . but that president sure did disciple a lot of people”
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“Evangelical”: I want that word back!
I was recently a guest on the Truth Over Tribe Podcast. It is hosted by Keith Simon, pastor of The Crossing Church in Columbia, Missouri. Here are a few segments: Listen to the entire episode here....
CURRENT Mailbag: “My daughter has fallen into the hands of a sect with a cult of personality surrounding its authoritarian pastor”
We have posted about Jack Hibbs and Calvary Chapel–Chino Hills before. I have heard from area pastors who are concerned about his church and people who are worried about attending the Christian nationalist, pro-Trump, anti-mask, and anti-vaccine mandate congregation. Today...
Blaspheme of the day
This is from Georgia. Source...