It is getting scary out there. Here is Reuters: Reuters documented the intimidation through contacts and interviews with 33 board members across 15 states and a review of threatening and harassing messages obtained from the officials or through public records requests. […]
masks
The voters in the York Suburban (PA) school district reject Trumpism
It is good to see the people of the York Suburban district reject the craziness. Sometimes democracy works. Here is Mike Argento of the York Daily Record: The York Suburban School Board race was, by any measure, a messy affair. […]
Is there a link between complementarianism and the proper evangelical response to mask wearing?
Some evangelical groups facing mask mandates in their local school districts are sharing sample religious exemption forms that their fellow evangelicals can use. Here is one that came across my feeds today: I, _________, hereby state that I have chosen […]
Tweet of the day
From a Seminole County, Florida school board meeting: Based on what he says here, Michael Beck should be pro-choice on abortion, but something tells me he is not. Here is his entire speech. It picks up at the 1:48:10 mark:
What happens when an Illinois middle-school history teacher wears a pro-vaccine mask to a “meet and greet” with parents?
I have been working with and training K-12 teachers for nearly two decades and Matt Lakemacher is one of the best middle school history teachers I know. His passion for the study of the past is contagious and his creativity […]
Are COVID masks and vaccination mandates a form of Christian persecution?
Short answer: No. Yesterday Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf issued a mask requirement for schools. I spent my evening talking/e-mailing with three different evangelical Christian friends who were upset about this. Two of the three people I communicated with were also […]
University of Georgia professor quits mid-class after student refuses to properly wear her mask
His name is Irwin Bernstein. Here is Danie Kalaji atThe Red & Black: A University of Georgia retiree-rehire professor resigned on Tuesday after one of his students refused to properly wear a mask in an upper division psychology seminar class […]
Members of the Liberty University community speak-out about COVID-19 spike and move to online learning
Last night we posted about the rise in COVID-19 cases at Liberty University and Cedarville University. Here is how students and other community members are responding to Liberty University’s “temporary period of mitigation.” Nearly 500 students and employees are in […]
COVID-19 cases on the rise at Liberty University; classes move online.
Here is the press release: As part of its ongoing monitoring of positive COVID-19 rates on campus as well as active community cases and local hospital capacity, Liberty University administration announced on Thursday that it is enacting a temporary mitigation […]
Tocqueville said that “selfishness originates in blind instinct: individualism proceeds from erroneous judgment.” Both are at work in our mask wars.
What is happening to America? The Donald Trump presidency is primarily responsible this mess. He lifted the veil of civility and empowered the kind of people you see and hear about in the video I posted below. If the republic […]
Do Americans still believe in the common good?
It’s a fair question. Here is Kentucky-based writer Silas House at The Atlantic: Refusing to sacrifice for the common good is an American problem, not just a Kentucky one; opposition to masking and vaccination is happening in such disparate places […]
Megachurches with celebrity pastors like John MacArthur led the way in the evangelical resistance to COVID-19 mandates
We’ve written a lot on this subject. See, for example: “What is going on with John MacArthur and Romans 13?“ “Evangelical pastor John MacArthur suggests churches that remain closed during COVID-19 are not ‘true’ churches“ “The Falkirk Center on the […]
Is this what Ronald Reagan meant by a “shining city on a hill”?
Today as I read New York Times writer Jamelle Bouie’s recent column on vaccines, I was struck by these words. Is it any surprise that millions of Americans treat this fundamentally social problem — how do we vaccinate enough people […]
The United States of America: Are we reaping what we’ve sown?
Don’t mess with the rights of Americans. We are individuals. We are free. Mask and vaccine mandates are tyrannical. They are un-American. Don’t people know that the Bill of Rights is divinely inspired? I am not convinced that the kind […]
Evangelical activist Shane Claiborne is going to Greg Locke’s church on Sunday. He will wear a mask.
Claiborne is looking for people to join him on Sunday at the Global Vision Bible Church in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee. At the very least, you might get a meal at Waffle House out of it: After reading Claiborne’s Twitter feed, […]
The “Monsters of Maple Street” were out last night in Franklin, Tennessee, one of the “top 10 places to live in America.”
Franklin, Tennessee has the highest per-capita income in the entire state. The median income is $75,871. The city is located about 20 miles south of Nashville. According to Wikipedia, it is the home of NFL quarterback C.J. Beathard, governor Bill […]
YouTube suspends Rand Paul
We covered this last week. It seemed like only a matter of time before social media responded to Paul’s comments about masks. Here is Forbes: YouTube barred Sen. Rand Paul from uploading new videos to the site for seven days, […]
Rand Paul: Biden administration is “plucking kids” with COVID-19 from the border and “seeding” the country with the delta variant
Yesterday we wrote this about Paul’s Fox News op-ed: What does “resisting” or “standing-up for freedom” look like in this case? An armed rebellion? More riots? Another tea party? Whatever Rand thinks his words mean, his followers will interpret this […]
Regrets, I’ve had a few…
Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson now regrets signing the state’s mask mandate into law. Here is Richard Fausset at The New York Times: In March, with the number of new coronavirus cases plummeting in Arkansas, Gov. Asa Hutchinson let expire the statewide […]
Kentucky Senator Rand Paul tells Americans to resist mask mandates: “They can’t arrest us all”
Here is Paul’s op-ed at Fox News: Resist. They can’t arrest us all. They can’t keep all your kids home from school. They can’t keep every government building closed – although I’ve got a long list of ones they should. […]