Reckoning with the Toxicity of Christian Nationalism
By Bill Berkowitz February 8, 2021 WN: The article highlighted below is very disturbing for followers of the one Mark Lewis Taylor dubs The Executed God (book review here, with the subtitle: The Way of the Cross in Lockdown America). I stand in perpetual amazement at how the New Testament Jesus is read to be […]
Extensive Commentary On: What white Christian support for Trump reveals about systemic racism
By Robert P. Jones | November 12, 2020 WN: Beyond tragic the pullquote to the right, this means four-fifths of American white evangelical Christians subscribe to “heresy” (an opinion, doctrine, or practice contrary to the truth—Merriam-Webster). And this not limited to America! And many religious white non-evangelicals (Catholics, mainline Protestants, other faith members, etc.) also are […]
Book Review of Christianity and Pluralism, Ron Dart and J. I. Packer, Lexham Press, 2019; 70 pages
Book Review of Christianity and Pluralism, Ron Dart and J. I. Packer, Lexham Press, 2019; 70 pages WN: This brief missive offers much to consider and chew on. excerpts: In this reviewer’s experience, there is none so fundamentalist as one who has grown to reject what once was held near and dear. (Not of course, […]
Donald Trump has made it clear: the only ‘real Americans’ are white and Christian
Donald Trump has made it clear: the only ‘real Americans’ are white and Christian In a recent tirade from his bully pulpit on Twitter, Trump revealed who he thinks belongs in the United States – and who doesn’t by Theodore R Johnson Tue 16 Jul 2019 photo above: ‘His remarks suggest that ‘real Americans’ are […]
“Fox Evangelicals” Embrace Trump’s White Nationalism
Wednesday, 27 December 2017 07:36 BILL BERKOWITZ FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT photo: Alan / Flickr [su_pullquote align=”right”]”But you will recognize them by their fruits.” – Jesus[/su_pullquote] WN: We know that the ultimate “fruit” is Love. From my Home page: Personal Mantra The Gospels indicate that the test case for love of God is love of […]
If Being a Christian Means XYZ, then I am not a Christian.
February 15, 2017 by Kimberly Stover WN: I have copied the entire posting below, with a link at the end for where you may see the original, become a “Follower” of the author, etc. Billy Graham was definitely right on in the citation below from 1981. Would that he too had stayed away form the […]
Comments On: Amazing Disgrace
By Sarah Posner Illustration above by Brian Reedy. Think of the illustration in conjunction with this hugely ironic quote, one that said far more about Christian Nationalist sentiment than the good reverend knew: “We put God right at the center of the White House.” —Paula White, speaking at an Evangelicals for Trump event at Solid […]
Book Review of: Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation
Book Review of: Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2020, 356 pages WN: This is one of the few times I also posted a book review to this Blog. This is a highly disturbing–and informative–book. In an interview with Religion […]
Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation
Book Review of: Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2020, 356 pages WN: This is one of the few times I also posted a book review to this Blog. This is a highly disturbing–and informative–book. In an interview with Religion […]
Captain America; The Armageddon Factor (Two Reviews Together)
Captain America and the Crusade Against Evil: The Dilemma of Zealous Nationalism, Robert Jewett and John Shelton Lawrence, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003, 392 pp.; The Armageddon Factor: The Rise of Christian Nationalism in Canada, Marci McDonald, Random House Canada, 2010, 419 pp. Most of us would rather not know the truth about “things”; especially the […]
Reflections on “God, Trump and the Closed-Door World of a Major Conservative Group”
By Robert O’Harrow Jr. October 25, 2021 image above: Nick Ogonosky WN: There is a telling quote in the article highlighted below: “We’ve got an amazing opportunity here,” [Jim DeMint, a former senator and tea party favorite] told them. “And it’s incredible with this president, who is the last person I ever thought would promote […]
How America Fractured Into Four Parts
By George Packer July/August 2021 Issue The Atlantic image above: Lucy Jones WN: Wow! The essay is stunning as it is brilliant. At least read my excerpts below. Better though, purchase the book it is excerpted/adapted from: Last Best Hope: America in Crisis and Renewal. It challenges understanding about America’s past and present place in […]
The Price of White Evangelical Patriarchy
By Eric C. Miller | July 7, 2020 photo above: Donald Trump stands near a statue of John Wayne during a news conference at the John Wayne Museum in Winterset, Iowa. (AP/Jae C. Hong) WN: Though not declamatory, this interview with Kristin Kobes Du Mez, author of just published Jesus and John Wayne: How White […]
If You Think Jesus Was White, Here Are Five Reasons You’re Wrong
Posted on Dec 26, 2016 By Juan Cole Jesus is the polar opposite of Donald Trump. And sadly, so are some Trump supporters opposite to Jesus, for whom another name than “deplorables” is “goats” à la Matthew 25. Jesus was however, in today’s terms neither Left nor Right, Progressive nor Conservative, and, à la Galatians 3:28, Jew […]
When Billy Graham Planned To Kill One Million People
photo above: Billy Graham visited troops in Vietnam around Christmastime 1966 and returned in 1968. His son Franklin Graham, CEO and president of the BGEA, shared: “My father felt it was important to go and minister to the U.S. Military. He went to Vietnam not because he supported the war, he was going there to […]
Book Reviews List
SEARCH and ARCHIVES options are at the bottom of all website pages. A Farewell To Mars: An Evangelical Pastor’s Journey Toward the Gospel of Peace –Brian Zahnd Against The Death Penalty: Christian and Secular Arguments Against Capital Punishment –Gardner C. Hanks A Gentler God: Breaking Free of the Almighty in the Company of the Human Jesus […]
Rwanda Dispatches May 18 to July 12, 2018
At 30 years on to this day, April 7, 2024, the Rwanda Genocide broke out, that saw more than 1 million Rwandans murdered. CBC did the interview you see below. 30 years after Rwandan genocide, Roméo Dallaire feels ‘rage’ amid global crises | Watch (msn.com) Roméo Dallaire led the UN’s peacekeeping mission when more than […]
Easter Song and Reflections on the Resurrection
***NOTE: Please check out the footnotes for additional, more detailed commentary. Also, there are poetry and songs in the final footnote; and four additional songs below that.*** Please also see two great sermons, one on Good Friday, the other on Easter Sunday, by my colleague Randy Klassen: both in the context of criminal/restorative justice. Easter […]
Is Violence Master Of Us All?
April 22, 2001; April 29, 2001; May 6, 2001 – 3 Sunday School classes image above: A History of Violence: Edge Master Class 2011 | Edge.org WN: That’s right. I presented the three papers highlighted below at three successive adult Sunday School classes. It was fun! This material with similar titles is elsewhere on this […]
Is Violence Master of Us All?: Fight, Flight or Just Peacemaking
WN: The host was the affable lawyer Gerry Palmer, quite well-known in Abbotsford for his work with numerous non-profit organizations, and an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Business at the University of the Fraser Valley. Is Violence Master of Us All?: Fight, Flight or Just Peacemaking Philosopher’s Café: Legal Grounds Coffee House, Abbotsford, April […]
Commentary on: “Gomez, painting Catholics as victims, goes after his woke oppressors”
Nov 10, 2021 by Thomas Reese, Religion News Service Opinion Politics photo above: Wikipedia WN: I felt gobsmacked by the Archbishop’s earlier speech. More: I felt embarrassed to identify as a Christian alongside such seeming anti-Christ sentiments (though I’m not Roman Catholic). As I read that article, I kept thinking, surely he’ll pull up from […]
On A letter from Hell
By Robin Schumacher, Exclusive Columnist photo above: pxhere.com WN: It is interesting that the photo chosen for the article highlighted below (not shown above) is along the lines of what Larry Dixon wrote (The Other Side of the Good News: Contemporary Challenges to Jesus’ teaching on hell 1 in apparent approval of an instance of […]
Josh McDowell steps back from ministry after controversial remarks on black families
By Michael Gryboski, Christian Post Reporter September 23, 2021 photo above: Josh McDowell speaks at Talbot Chapel at Biola University in California on January 21, 2020. | YouTube/Biola University WN: Meanwhile, 82 years and 150 books in, Christian “intellectual” McDowell has finally learned something about Black History in America? Thank God we’re never too old […]
This Is Why America Needs Catholicism
By Matthew Walther Mr. Walther is the editor of The Lamp, a Catholic literary journal, and a contributing editor at The American Conservative. image above: Vartika Sharma WN: Cogently presented and inspiring. Amen! excerpts: When I began reading through the archives of Triumph several years ago, I found these arguments striking. This was not because […]
Tucker Carlson’s Manufactured America
By Megan Garber July 12, 2021 WN: Sick . . . Please also see an earlier piece by Timothy Karr, April 27, 2021: Tucker Carlson’s Racism: Paid for by You. We read: Racism pays in America—especially if you’re the primetime host of a cable channel that panders to the country’s sizable population of white nationalists. […]
I Was a Catholic Zionist: A Biblical Challenge to Tribalism and Idolatry
WN: This review is from THE AMERICAN COUNCIL FOR JUDAISM Review: “I Was a Catholic Zionist“–An Eloquent Exploration of Judaism’s Moral and Ethical Tradition and Zionism’s Departure From It by Allan C. Brownfeld Issues Winter 2019 I Was a Catholic Zionist: A Biblical Challenge to Tribalism and Idolatry By Ted Schmidt 430 pages, $28.00 (information […]
Ron Dart Interviewed by Lauren Southern
WN: Lauren Southern is vilified by the Left because of much of her past activism: a Canadian alt-right political activist, white nationalist and YouTuber.[a] according to Wikipedia. She gave up political activism however in 2019, and is now on a deliberate life quest. Many friends from the Right cannot understand her journey. This is reflected […]
Trump loves white men. These ‘recovering Republicans’ no longer love him back.
Trump is never going to stop playing the role of the male champion on TV. But at least some men are starting to see through the lie. by Liz Plank Liz Plank, an MSNBC columnist, award-winning journalist and author, was the host of “Positive Spin.” Her book, “For the Love of Men: A New Vision […]
In a polarized world, dialogue is a radical act
Julie Schumacher Cohen Julie Schumacher Cohen is Director of Community and Government Relations at The University of Scranton. She is the former Deputy Director of Churches for Middle East Peace, Senior Fellow for the Telos Group and a facilitator for Soliya’s Connect Program. December 03, 2019 photo above: iStock WN: A very wise and hopeful […]
The Journey to the East by Herman Hesse (1956): Part I/The Journey to the East: Part II
WN: My friend Ron Dart is a prolific writer with wide-ranging subjects and invariably demonstrable wisdom. These two reflections again attest to that sagacity, and are posted with his permission. The Journey to the East by Herman Hesse (1956): Part I Herman Hesse (1877-1962) was one of the most conscious spiritual seekers in his time […]
Anti-Semitic Violence Erupts in America
Anti-Semitic Violence Erupts in America By Joseph Kishore October 29, 2018 photo above: Reaction to anti-Semitic violence in Pittsburg, October 2018 WN: World News Daily Information Clearing House tends towards right wing distortion. But it carries as well great analysis such as that highlighted below. excerpts: Eleven people were killed in the slaughter in Pittsburgh, […]
‘Preaching Is More Than Words’: Rev. William J. Barber II Delivers Soaring Sermon in Honor of Martin Luther King Jr.
‘Preaching Is More Than Words’: Rev. William J. Barber II Delivers Soaring Sermon in Honor of Martin Luther King Jr. “To preach is to see the people who are crying out and the systems that are crushing them. It is to say, ‘Somebody’s hurting my people and it’s gone on far too long and we […]
Pope revises catechism to say death penalty is ‘inadmissible’
Commits the church to working toward its abolition worldwide1 Aug 2, 2018 by Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service Theology photo above: Pope Francis gestures before speaking about the death penalty at an event marking the 25th anniversary of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, at the Vatican in this Oct. 11, 2017, file photo. […]
Enough Bombs Bursting in Air. We Need to Love One Another.
By William Rivers Pitt Truthout, Published July 4, 2018 WN: I love it when people not necessarily in the faith reflect back to us Jesus’ central message to “love one another”. And I think it singularly sobering that they remind people of faith about its central tenet. Would that the white evangelical majority everywhere in […]
How Martin Luther Paved the Way for Donald Trump
To understand why evangelicals support the president, look to the first Protestant. By Michael Massing April 19, 2018 illustration above by Sabine Formane WN: This article draws a fascinating direct line from Martin Luther in the early 16th century to Donald Trump in the 21st. There is likewise a fascinating/tragic direct line to be drawn […]
The Doctrine of Discovery, Manifest Destiny, and American Exceptionalism
Posted on July 21, 2015 by christian hegemony Challenging Christian Hegemony Practical tools for recognizing and resisting Christian dominance WN: Every time I read an essay so well presented as that highlighted below (and so beyond tragic!), as a committed follower of Jesus, I know that I don’t have to wear the blame, but I […]
Deuteronomy, Jewish Prophets and the Sermon on the Mount: Moral Formulas, Comedy and Tragedy: Monophony or Polyphony?
photo above: Ron Dart, amongst many scholarly pursuits and prolific writing, is an enthusiastic mountaineer! WN: Ron sent me this outstanding article on Deuteronomy. It is an amazing reflection on the tensions between the prophetic and the nationalist ethics of ancient Israel, what authors Robert Jewett and John Shelton Lawrence dub “zealous nationalism” versus “prophetic […]
White Supremacy Is Anti-Gospel. I’m Glad the Southern Baptist Convention Agrees
WN: I copied the entire article below. It is about an historic decision by the Southern Baptist Convention. Russell Moore has been the head of the (SBC) Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission since 2013. As you can see from the links, he has been an amazing voice within those ranks for actually […]
For America’s Sake, We Need Answers about Russia. Now.
Why we must now ask famous questions that so bedeviled Richard Nixon: What did Donald Trump know and when did he know it? Published on Tuesday, February 14, 2017 by Common Dreams By Michael Winship image above: Russian President Vladimir Putin. ‘The bottom line is that Putin is far shrewder than Trump,’ writes Winship. (Image: […]
Hugh Hewitt Questions Ben Carson If He Was Ruthless Enough to Kill Thousands of Innocent Kids in War
December 16, 2015 Watch Full Show DemocracyNow! WN: The audience booed when conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt asked evangelical neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson (likely now to be a cabinet member in the Trump administration), December 15, 2015, if he was ruthless enough to kill thousands of innocent kids in war. Think of it!: Hewitt was […]
The Myth of Religious Violence and Migrations of the Holy
The Myth of Religious Violence and Migrations of the Holy My thanks to Oxford University Press for a review copy of the first book, and to Eerdmans for a review copy of the second. I learned of the first publication and that reviewed below in following through on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s “After Atheism” Ideas […]
WAR AND HELL – and Exception-Clause Footnote Theology
WN: War and Hell is an interactive essay with a movie and a book. The movie: Saving Private Ryan. The book: The Other Side of The Good News: Contemporary Challenges to Jesus’ Teaching on Hell, Wheaton: Victor Books, 1992 (later published by one other at least). The current iteration of this document was prepared for […]