Evangelicals Lose Bush?

After Bush’s recent interview on Nightline, media networks have creating hype around the fact that Bush made several comments relating to the Bible that wouldn’t jive with most evangelicals.  (I’m sorry friends–it was on Fox News, so it must be true! ;o)  In fact, according to some definitions of an evangelical, Bush is officially outside [...]

Christmas Carols

I tend to be a “humbug!” sort of person when it comes to Christmas music due to its annual repetitions, but the past two years, I have paused, at least for a moment, to listen to the lyrics of the songs played in every shop and restaurant across America during this month.
Last year, I was [...]

Evangelical Politics in the South

“This is a diverse state. If you get in your car in downtown Raleigh you can be in the equivalent of Silicon Valley in 20 minutes, feel as if you are in Alabama in 25 minutes, and get a sense of Berkeley in 30 minutes. You don’t have to leave the state to find places [...]

Christians and War…A Conflicted Relationship

 
God’s people and war…what a conflicted relationship!  It’s like that couple that fights, breaks up, gets bitter, gets sad, gets back together and repeats.  We all just wish they would make up their minds and either get their act together or get on with it.  In Robert Jewett’s book, Mission and Menace, he takes a [...]

Immigrants, America, and Materialism

A very interesting chapter (ch. 7) in one of Robert Wuthnow’s books discusses how, a few years ago, the country thought that immigrants would save America from materialism.
The first time I read this chapter, I failed to make the connection between immigrants and materialism, much less the connection between how immigrants would embody the anti-materialism that the U.S. [...]

Proud to be an American

For the first time in a long time I am proud to be an American.  I watched history last night as the American people selected Barak Obama for president.  This is a step forward for a country that has in the past taken steps back.  Even if you do not agree with what Obama’s campaign [...]

What does faith have to do with it?

Within the American political landscape religion and faith are common discussions. Each candidate finds the need to align themselves with the beliefs of the American majority. The most common belief among the majority is Christianity.
To align with the Christian faith is to align with voters’ moral compass. The easiest and best way for these [...]

Jesus replied, “If you love me, you will vote for McCain”

A staunch McCain supporter, who thinks I am an Obama supporter, told me that I needed to spend more time praying about the election and about who I, “as a Christian”, should vote for. When I expressed how my disbelief that this person should appeal to my Christianity to get me to vote for [...]