My friend David Marshall (author and blogger at Christ the Tao) emailed me this morning to let me know he had just published a new book. David began his email by writing: “Hi, Randal. We don’t seem to often agree on politics, so I thought I’d take advantage of one of those times when I […]
Donald Trump
Rebranding Donald Trump: Lessons from John Oliver
Over the last couple years I’ve been fascinated by the rise of John Oliver and his incisive Sunday night program Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. The heart of Oliver’s program is a 15-20 minute monologue which looks for all the world like a contemporary secular sermon for the millennials. With sardonic humor and a […]
Republican presidential candidates on torture: Ted Cruz really is a liar and Donald Trump is a brute
At the Republican Presidential Town Hall this week Donald Trump talked about the new moral climate that has been introduced by ISIS: “They’re chopping off the heads of people. This hasn’t happened since medieval times. We need a certain toughness….” First off, if Donald Trump believes the kind of barbarism being perpetuated by ISIS has […]
The Popularity of Donald Trump as a spiritual exam of conservative Christianity
While I’ve already blogged from the bandwagon of those appalled by Donald Trump’s popularity, I think it is worthwhile reflecting for a moment on Trump’s popularity among conservative Christians. In particular, it is worthwhile reflecting on that popularity as a spiritual exam which reveals how spiritually unhealthy large tracts of conservative Christianity are. The catalyst […]
You can dis the minorities, but don’t mess with Ted!
On Saturday night while speaking at an event in South Carolina, Donald Trump turned his criticism on Ted Cruz. He denounced Cruz for criticizing New Yorkers and their values. And he lampooned Cruz for failing to declare a 2012 loan from Goldman Sachs. One can safely assume two things about Trump’s audience: first, they are largely Christian; and […]
Disciples of the Prince of Peace are following the Hater in Chief?!
As part of their series “My Kid Would Never Do That” Dateline NBC set up situations in which children were presented with the potential threat of strangers. Most parents confidently predicted their children would detect so-called “Stranger Danger” by drawing upon years of parental wisdom. And time and again they were disappointed, if not shocked. […]
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 […]
Politicians, fascists, and used car salesmen
In the last two days Donald Trump has “crossed a new line” by endorsing the suggestion of a reporter that the government should begin to compile lists of Muslims living in the United States. Here is a transcript of one of the relevant exchanges courtesy of MSNBC: NBC: Should there be a database system that […]
