Today, my favorite conservative Christian Trump supporter posted the following tweet: If we're afraid to fight for our liberties today, our children will not enjoy them tomorrow. — Dr. Michael L. Brown (@DrMichaelLBrown) June 9, 2018 The irony is impossible to miss. Brown is concerned about protecting religious freedom for his community including, for example, […]
democracy
God Bless the Peaceful Protesters
Over the last two nights protests have erupted in several American cities in response to the shocking election of Donald Trump. We can all agree that the very small minority of protesters who turned to violence should be condemned. But what about the vast majority of peaceful protesters? Not surprisingly, some Trump supporters have been […]
Should a Christian support a pro-choice candidate? Should a Christian support a pro-torture candidate?
Occasionally I encounter Christian conservatives who insist that a Christian should not support a pro-choice political candidate. As a pro-life Christian, I agree with those Christian conservatives that Christians ought to be pro-life. But I don’t agree that a politician’s position on abortion can serve as a litmus test for a Christian’s support or opposition. In Canada’s most recent national […]
Should a Christian support Donald Trump for President? Of course not. Can they? I don’t think so.
Donald Trump raised eyebrows today with his statement that several black pastors were supporting his candidacy for the Republican nomination to run for president. It turns out that those pastors were not in fact endorsing Trump. They were just meeting with him. The eyebrow raising seems to have been largely directed at the fact that […]
Can we handle the truth? A reflection on Lincoln Chafee’s bizarre honesty
Yesterday’s Democratic debate was a surprisingly engaging affair … even without Donald Trump. If the highlight came with Bernie Sanders’ quip that folks were sick of hearing about Clinton’s “damn emails” (a line that gave Clinton a smile bigger than the Cheshire cat), the lowlight came when Anderson Cooper asked Lincoln Chafee about his vote […]
How much freedom would you surrender to live comfortably?
This is a follow-up to my article “Is Edward Snowden a traitor?” The main critique of Edward Snowden is that NSA surveillance curtails terroristic activity and makes citizens safer. That is, the government monitoring and logging all your communication exchanges with other people makes you safer. And Snowden screwed it all up. Well if this […]
Is Edward Snowden a traitor?
Is Edward Snowden a traitor to the United States? The United States government thinks so. Today Secretary of State John Kerry labelled him a “traitor to his country.” Really? Consider Jan. She is best friends with Susie. Now Susie has started dating Troy. Susie thinks everything is fine with their relationship. What she doesn’t know […]
Why was Tsarnaev not read his Miranda rights? And how amazing that anybody should care to ask.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the remaining suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing, was taken into custody last night. Since then I’ve heard many discussions, and read many opinions, over the fact that he wasn’t read his Miranda rights when he was taken into custody. The initial justification given was a Supreme Court decision that the reading of […]
Why (most) political advertising should be illegal
Yesterday Glen Stassen of Fuller Theological Seminary provided the annual Wahl Lectures at Taylor Seminary. Professor Stassen’s father was Harold Stassen, Governor of Minnesota (1939-43), President of the University of Pennsylvania, and perennial candidate for US president. During the Eisenhower administration Stassen worked closely with the president. According to Glen (who shared this anecdote at […]
The Wikipediazation of the World
While digging through old notes for a new semester I came across this graphic that I had found somewhere at some time in the dim past. I don’t actually think “postmodernism” is the issue here. But the graphic does effectively capture the “Wikipediazation” of discussion and debate, particularly in the internet sphere. And it alludes to […]
