Anyone other than an editor of a major centrist media outlet might have decided that in July 2019, the jeremiad-over-evanglelical-hypocrisy think piece should be considered passé. So of course Peter Wehner recently published just another such lament in The Atlantic. Don't get me wrong; I'd rather have pundits criticizing conservative, mostly white evangelicals for their hypocrisy … Continue reading We are Not a Crisis: Lament the Problems of the Church If You Must, but Stop Erasing Ex-Evangelicals
The Last Temptation of American Journalism, or, Michael Gerson is Not a Hero
If there's one temptation America's major newspapers and magazines seem unable to resist, it's the temptation to normalize America's white Christian extremists--including traditionalist Catholics, yes, but especially Evangelicals. On the whole, this 81% Trump-voting population represents a clear and present danger to American democracy and the future of human rights, but time and again The … Continue reading The Last Temptation of American Journalism, or, Michael Gerson is Not a Hero
More Evangelical Purges Come to Light – Why are Some People Surprised?
No, seriously. The question in the title of this blog post is not rhetorical. I would really like to understand not only why outside observers of Evangelical subculture, such as Emma Green, seem surprised at the extent to which Evangelical institutions discipline their members to keep them on message, but also why some people who … Continue reading More Evangelical Purges Come to Light – Why are Some People Surprised?
Eric Metaxas and the Christian Right’s “Alternative Justice”: When “Fighting Nazis” Means Supporting Authoritarianism
It feels good to position yourself against universally recognized bad guys. Nazis make the easiest historical bugbears to oppose, being so widely reviled that even their most obvious heirs, such as white nationalist Richard Spencer of “Hail Trump!” fame, often reject the label. In fact, the use of anti-Nazi rhetoric is so powerful, that authoritarian leaders … Continue reading Eric Metaxas and the Christian Right’s “Alternative Justice”: When “Fighting Nazis” Means Supporting Authoritarianism
Not Your Mission Field 