Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, right-wing pundit and evangelical Christian Charlie Kirk has not used the word “peace” or “prayer” on his Twitter feed. Instead, he has tweeted: Meanwhile, Kirk made an argument in Newsweek today that Satanists do...
first amendment
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...
The Supreme Court is far more likely to rule in favor of religious rights
Perhaps those concerned about religious liberty as it relates to The Equality Act should consider this. Here is a taste of Adam Liptak’s parsing of a recent essay to be published in The Supreme Court Review: “For many today, religious...
Newseum’s First Amendment monument will move to Philadephia’s Constitution Center
Here is Stephen Salisbury at The Philadelphia Inquirer: The Newseum, an interactive museum in Washington, D.C., devoted to journalism, is gone, succumbing to financial woes. It closed at the end of 2019. But while the building on Pennsylvania Avenue has...
Missouri Senator Josh Hawley loses book deal
The New York Times is reporting that Simon & Schuster canceled the publication of Hawley’s forthcoming book after the Missouri senator objected to the results of 2020 Electoral College. Hawley’s book was titled The Tyranny of Big Tech and it...
The Falkirk Center on the John MacArthur controversy. Or how culture warriors write.
Some of you have been following the situation at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California. For the past two Sundays, pastor John MacArthur has held religious services in defiance of California’s COVID-19 regulations. MacArthur said: “We will obey...
Monday night court evangelical roundup
What have Trump’s evangelicals been saying since our last update? Mike Pence’s nephew hosted a court evangelical conversation with Paula White, Johnnie Moore and Samuel Rodriguez. This is an event sponsored by the Trump campaign. Watch: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znrLg80dxjQ&w=560&h=315] At the 5:30...
Ideals are Important. So is Life
Some folks on the Left do not want Samaritan’s Purse, an evangelical organization that only uses Christian health care workers and volunteers, to have a coronavirus field hospital in Central Park. They say that Samaritan’s Purse discriminates against the LGBTQ...
Donald Trump is Threatening James Madison’s Vision of Religious Freedom
I haven’t had a chance yet to read Steven Waldman‘s new book Sacred Liberty: America’s Long, Bloody, and Ongoing Struggle for Religious Freedom, but I have heard good things about it. I was hoping to catch him next month at the...
The Author’s Corner with Steven Green
Steven Green is the Fred H. Paulus Professor of Law and Affiliated Professor of History and Religious Studies at Williamette University. This interview is based on his new book, The Third Disestablishment: Church, State, and American Culture, 1940-1975 (Oxford University Press,...
Winnifred Sullivan on the Masterpiece Cakeshop Case: What is Religion?
Indiana University religion professor Winnifred Fallers Sullivan wants to know how the Supreme Court defines religion. Here is a taste of her piece at The Immanent Frame, “Is Masterpiece Cakeshop a Church?“: Let us weigh in where angels fear to...
Trump: “You know why I do it? I do it to discredit you all and demean you all so when you write negative stories about me, no one will believe you.”
When Lesley Stahl asked Donald Trump in an off-camera meeting to explain “his barrage of insults aimed at journalists.” Trump responded: ‘You know why I do it? I do it to discredit you all and demean you all so when...
Tweeting the History of Slavery at the University of Virginia
The Daily Progress has a nice piece on Kirt von Daacke, Professor of History at the University of Virginia and the university’s co-chairman of the President’s Commission on Slavery, who has been tweeting the results of his research. Check out...
Is the Trump Wiretapping Accusation an Impeachable Offense?
I don’t know. But Bloomberg columnist and Harvard Law School professor Noah Feldman thinks it might be. Here is a taste of his recent column: The sitting president has accused his predecessor of an act that could have gotten the past...
Peter Steinfels on the Russian Dossier and the Press
Over at dotCommonweal Peter Steinfels has some good thoughts about the way the press has handled the entire Russian dossier affair. A taste: Donald Trump is who he is. Despite all the wishful thinking, there is no inner “presidential” Trump...
Cruz: "I Am Not Running for Pastor-in-Chief"
Here is Ted Cruz talking with David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network about his so-called “God Talk.” (I am having trouble embedding the video. Watch it at the link above). Cruz is a master politician. This is a very...
Do GOP Candidates Want Religious Freedom or the Closing of Mosques? They Can't Have Both
We shopped this piece around a few weeks ago, but it never found a home. It is slightly outdated as far as the news cycle goes, but I am glad that History News Network has decided to run it. Here...
Did Madison and Jefferson Influence the First Amendment Religion Clauses?
James Madison In a recent article in American Political Thought which I have yet to read, Mark David Hall argues that there is little evidence to support the claim that the men who ratified the first amendment were influenced by James...
Mark Chancey on How to Teach the Bible in Public Schools
I met Mark Chancey a few years ago in Durham, NC. I was speaking at a conference he helped organize at Duke University on the Bible in the public square. Since then I have turned to his work for help...
How Far Should We Go With the Separation of Church and State?
Elmwood Church A few weeks ago I did a post and an episode of the Virtual Office Hours on the controversy over whether or not the Ground Zero Cross should be displayed at a publicly funded museum devoted to the...