The Passing of the Christian Right

By John W. Whitehead
02/05/08

We are witnessing the end of an era. The deaths of Jerry Falwell (May 15, 2007) and Dr. D. James Kennedy (September 5, 2007) augured a decided downward shift in the Christian Right's steady march to power. Yet long before these men were laid to rest, the movement they helped energize had begun its steady decline.

In the early 1980s, an emergent generation of evangelists lit up television screens, appeared on university campuses, and infiltrated syndicated radio waves. Among these leaders were Falwell, Kennedy, James Dobson, and Pat Robertson, evangelical figures who both predicted and embodied the formation of a new political religion that has transformed the national political scene. More.

The Secrets of Jay Sekulow

from Legal Times

By Tony Mauro
11/01/05

Just the week before, Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice, had cheerfully predicted that Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers had "turned the corner" and would never withdraw her name from consideration.

Now, a few hours after Miers proved him dead wrong, Sekulow sounded as upbeat as ever. "She did the noble thing," Sekulow told the million-plus people listening to his daily radio show on Christian stations last Thursday, adding, confidentially, "I saw this coming." The next nominee, he predicted, would be a sitting judge just as worthy of support as Miers. More.

Am I a Liberal?

Confessions of an irenic iconoclast

By Charles Strohmer
08/10/05

"Liberal" on the lips of some conservative Christians, if it is not labeling an enemy, has become a term of contempt. Is this grace-speech seasoned with salt? I have a hunch about how this mocking spirit got into Christian attitudes. First it worked its way into the broadcast studios within the vast and hugely popular network of politically conservative Talk Radio programs, which millions of conservative Christians listen to and absorb every day in America as if they were hearing Jesus himself speaking to them. Like fire, which never says "Enough!" now this mocking spirit is applying for residency status in American Radioland's emerging political left programs, which are being funded and aired to ensure equal time for its own constituency. There is nothing redemptive, however, about a spirit that evokes exclusivist attitudes fostering the kind of "othering" that divides our already divided nation. Christians, of every sort, need to ask: Is this an attitude consistent with the gospel? More.

Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis

An interview with Bat Ye'or

By John W. Whitehead
06/09/05

"I wrote these books,” said Bat Ye’or, “because I had witnessed the destruction, in a few short years, of a vibrant Jewish community living in Egypt for over 2,600 years and which had existed from the time of Jeremiah the Prophet. I saw the disintegration and flight of families, dispossessed and humiliated, the destruction of their synagogues, the bombing of the Jewish quarters and the terrorizing of a peaceful population. I have personally experienced the hardships of exile, the misery of statelessness−and I wanted to get to the root cause of all this. I wanted to understand why the Jews from Arab countries, nearly a million, had shared my experience.”  More.

Rock and Roll or Christianity?

By Jayson Whitehead
03/10/05

When Richard Land, moral issues spokesman for the Southern Baptist Convention, uttered his remarks at the Reclaiming America for Christ Conference last month, he echoed a celebratory tone currently held by many conservative Christians. For them, the assault on Judeo-Christian principles initiated by the hippies and their ilk is finally being repealed. And while his slap at the counterculture was issued broadly, it could easily have been aimed at John Lennon’s infamous invective. Middle America and, in particular, those below the Mason-Dixon line—aka the Bible Belt—reacted with fury in 1966, stomping and burning Beatles records with irate zeal. Land is old enough to have lived through Lennon’s evolution from the foremost mop top into a world-class Atheist; from “She loves you” to “Imagine there’s no heaven.” More.

Book Review:

Gilead
By Marilynne Robinson
Farrar, Straus & Giroux

Reviewed by Joshua Seth Anderson
01/21/05

"I told you last night that I might be gone sometime, and you said, Where, and I said, To be with the Good Lord, and you said, Why, and I said, Because I'm old, and you said I don't think you're old. And you put your hand in my hand and you said, You aren't very old, as if that settled it." With these words, John Ames, an elderly Iowa pastor, begins a series of letters to his young son that make up the new novel, Gilead , by Marilynne Robinson. More.

The Reverend Sun Myung Moon:

The "King of Peace" or the "King of Hustlers"?

By David McNair
09/03/04

In March 2004, the Rev. Sun Myung Moon and his wife were crowned the "King and Queen of Peace" in the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C. At least a dozen members of Congress, religious leaders from all major denominations, U.S. ambassadors and other distinguished guests gathered to honor Rev. Moon for his efforts at unifying all the world’s religions and trying to establish a new United Nations dedicated to peace. In addition, several members of Congress received "Ambassadors for Peace" awards, including Democratic Sen. Mark Dayton of Minnesota, Democratic Reps. Danny K. Davis of Illinois, Harold E. Ford, Jr. of Tennessee and Sanford D. Bishop, Jr. of Georgia, as well as Republican Reps. Roscoe G. Bartlett of Maryland, Christopher B. Cannon of Utah and Curt Weldon of Pennsylvania. More.

God So Loved the World that He Gave Us World War III

An interview with theologian Barbara Rossing about the "rapture burrito"

By John W. Whitehead
07/02/04

In her most recent book, The Rapture Exposed: The Message of Hope in the Book of Revelation (Westview Press, 2004), Barbara R. Rossing, an associate professor at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, challenges the violent interpretation of the book of Revelation as it is presented in Tim LaHaye’s widely popular Left Behind series, and all it presumes to communicate about the future of the world, by offering a positive interpretation of Revelation in which the world is not "left behind." More.

Jesus Vs. Dr. Atkins

A Christian Argument For The Ethical Treatment of Animals

By Joshua S. Anderson
06/18/04

Our country has always been a nation of meat-eaters. In fact, specific meats are synonymous with each of our national holidays?burgers on Independence Day, turkey on Thanksgiving and ham on Easter. Americas? obsession with meat, however, may have reached something of a historical high in recent years through a combination of efficient production, inexpensive prices and the increasing popularity of the "Atkins diet." Meat is cheap, patriotic and best of all, we now find, good for us in massive quantities?and its consumption has established sound financial footing for the growth of meat manufacturers and veritable pork, chicken and beef factories. More.

Book Review:

The Market Driven Church
By Udo W. Middelmann
Crossway Books, $14.99, 208 pages

Reviewed by Joshua Anderson
05/07/04

In the span of eight chapter essays, Middelmann outlines an American church that has increasingly capitulated to the secular culture around it by offering a version of Christianity that accentuates "personal" truth at the expense of universal realities, experiential evangelism instead of well-reasoned arguments for faith, and a (sub) cultural influence that is expanding more because of the lax theology of its consumers than any real creativity. More.

Waging War Against the Barbarians

An interview with Gary Bauer

By John W. Whitehead
04/27/04

John W. Whitehead first encountered Gary Bauer at a meeting on Capitol Hill in the mid-1980s when the young Rutherford Institute founder noticed that the equally youthful Reagan staffer had copies of Whitehead's books in his executive office. The two talked at length about many of the issues they were trying to impact. Nearly 20 years later, the president of American Values continues to display a steadfast commitment to the core beliefs that he fought for and saw fulfilled politically under Ronald Reagan. Today, Bauer is a loyal defender of the current president, and strongly emphasizes the need for Christian involvement on Capitol Hill. At the same time, he stresses that Christians must be careful to "separate the cause of Christ from the political aspirations that people have in both political parties." In this frank conversation with Whitehead, Bauer strikes a consistent balance between his need to influence national politics and follow his personal beliefs. More.

Taking Care of the Least

Susan Pace Hamill's odyssey to reform Alabama's tax code

By Jayson Whitehead
02/20/04

At the close of 2003, The New York Times named ?Biblical Taxation? as one of the year?s most important ideas. The recognition capped a tumultuous year-and-a-half period for University of Alabama law professor Susan Pace Hamill, whose argument for tax reform based upon Christian principles galvanized debate?first in her native Alabama and then nationally. More.

Book Review:

American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon

By Stephen Prothero
Reviewed by Joshua Anderson
01/15/04

The story of Jefferson’s bible begins Stephen Prothero’s rollicking American Jesus, an expansive exploration of our nation’s 250-year-long interaction with the Son of God. Touching on phenomena as varied as the Jesus Seminar (which Prothero compares to Jefferson’s project), the Great Awakenings, the Jesus Movement and the “seeker-sensitive” movement, American Jesus examines the unique ways that Americans have interpreted, marketed and worshiped Jesus. For while all Americans have seen Christ through the lens of their own diversity, what they usually have seen is a reflection of themselves. More.

Christians Under the Scripture:

A Lecture by Dr. Francis Schaeffer
Notre Dame University, April 1981

Commentary by John W. Whitehead
12/23/03

The long shadow cast by Francis Schaeffer over today’s evangelicals is as complex as it is significant—his words and ideas have not dimmed in the two decades since his death at age 72 in 1984; rather, they have sharpened. Although the lecture at the center of the discussion that follows was delivered in 1981, it still serves nevertheless as a penetrating analysis of our culture’s competing worldviews and as a prophetic call to authentic Christian action. More.

Naked Christs and Balaam’s Ass

A blueprint toward a renewed Christian aesthetic

By Joshua S. Anderson
11/10/03

Christians are a people of the book. Our religion relies on God-inspired language to govern our theology, to pattern our worship, and ultimately to tell us who we are and what God does. With this in mind, it is significant that the Christian religion contains no divinely inspired images. Like children lying in bed as our father reads aloud to us, we are told the story, but allowed to imagine it as we like—and much can be learned from that imagining. God has given Christianity its words, but men have made its images. More.

Is the Bible Still Relevant?

By Joshua Seth Anderson
09/30/03

The emergence of a distinct adolescent culture in America over the last 50 years has had many implications for our society, but one of the most obvious ones is this: what’s “cool” if you’re an adult probably isn’t “cool” if you’re 13. And as the marketing department of Thomas Nelson, an evangelical publishing house, discovered when it surveyed teenage girls last year, reading the Bible isn’t exactly a ticket on the adolescent hip train these days because, as the girls reported with typical youthful bluntness, “It’s too big; it’s freaky; and it doesn’t make sense.” However, as Thomas Nelson found out, it’s not impossible for a teenage girl to be a bookworm—especially when it comes to popular magazines like Cosmo, Glamour or Seventeen, which the girls said they loved. More.

EDITORIAL

Where’s the Compassion?

09/02/03

This week, Attorney General John Ashcroft continues his 20-city tour to promote the Patriot Act and its proposed sequel, the so-called Victory Act. Critics have assailed the Attorney General for his shameless promotion of the far-reaching law and rightly so. As a man who is prone to singing self-penned hymns, Ashcroft is clearly guided by the fierce anger of Jehovah rather than the love of Christ. His tenure so far has been marked by a particularly ham-fisted approach that is fueled by the sort of righteous indignation found in the Old Testament. Sure, he will punish the evil, but with the wide nets he casts, how many marginal or even innocent are wrongly punished? Nowhere is this principle better illustrated than in the federal government’s war against medical marijuana. More.

Or Prohibiting the Free Exercise Thereof

Why the First Amendment doesn't protect Rastafarians

By Jayson Whitehead
08/27/03

To be a Rastafarian in America is to practice one’s religion under the constant threat of prosecution. The federal government condemns virtually all marijuana use and Attorney General John Ashcroft and the drug enforcement authorities have made its eradication one of their top priorities. A laughable campaign to link marijuana to terrorism as well as an assault on medical marijuana, whose development and use in some manner have been ratified by ten states, illustrate the federal government’s antipathy toward the herb. More.

EDITORIAL

Crusaders in Alabama

08/25/03

Judge Roy Moore and Governor Bob Riley are two Alabama crusaders. One is fighting to keep a 5,300-pound stone monument of the Ten Commandments installed in the Alabama Judicial Building; the other is fighting to save Alabama from financial ruin. Like good Southern Baptists who believe in the "priesthood of all believers," both men have proudly and publicly cited their personal faith as motivation for their public actions. Moore says the controversial monument must stay as an acknowledgment of God's influence on the moral foundation of American law; Riley says the tax burden must be lifted from the shoulders of the poor and laid more heavily upon the wealthy because it's the "Christian thing to do." Unfortunately, it seems the crusade to save the stone monument has excited more passions and garnered more support among Christian leaders than the crusade to help the poor and needy of Alabama. More.

In a Leaking Life Raft

Pat Robertson's curious relationship with Liberia's Charles Taylor

By Jayson Whitehead
08/05/03

In 1998, the same year that Charles Taylor entered into business arrangements with al Qaeda, Freedom Gold Limited was incorporated in the Cayman Islands with Pat Robertson listed as its president and sole director. In May 1999, Robertson signed an agreement with Charles Taylor and select members of his cabinet to allow Freedom Gold the mining rights to explore for gold in southeastern Liberia. More.

Lowered Expectations

American evangelicals' love affair with their President

By Joshua Seth Anderson
07/02/03

When George W. Bush found himself the winner of the two-month post-election scramble in the winter of 2000, the Christian Right basked in the light of their collective victory. Jerry Falwell commented to his church and TV audience after returning from the inauguration of our 43rd President, “I want to stop right here and now and say thanks and congratulations to Bible-believing Christians nationwide…I wish all of you could have been in Washington last week. Jesus Christ was honored.” More.

Harry Potter and the Christian Cauldron

An interview with Potter apologist Connie Neal

By Jonathan Whitehead
06/25/03

Since the initial publishing of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in 1997, over 25 million books in the Harry Potter series have been sold in the U.S. in hardcover alone, with the fourth book in the series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, boasting sales of over 8 million. With the fervor for the upcoming release of the fifth book in the series, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, at an incredible high, there is no doubt that author J.K. Rowling has created a phenomenon in Harry Potter. But one thing she probably did not count on was the hatred the books have drawn in certain religious circles. More.

The Wreckage of Desire

An interview with the Anti-Christ

By David McNair
04/21/03

If the daily news is any indication, there seems to be no end to the violence, cruelty, greed and corruption in the world of politics, business and culture. It is enough for even the most devout believer to wonder if humanity has perhaps been forsaken by God. It’s also enough for a journalist to wonder if there might be a malevolent force behind it all.
Several months ago, I posted an announcement on our website and an ad in several national newspapers in which I asked the Anti-Christ to reveal himself by agreeing to an interview. At the time, I was only half-serious. I just wanted to see what would happen. Did the Anti-Christ really exist? If so, would he agree to an interview?. More.

"Conversion Is Always Difficult"

An interview with Lauren Winner

By Jayson Whitehead
03/10/03

Born to a Jewish father and a Southern Baptist mother, Lauren Winner was raised Jewish because of an agreement her parents made when they married. Although her parents were basically lapsed in their beliefs, Winner was drawn to religion from an early age. When her parents divorced, she moved in with her mother and continued her Jewish education. But because of her mother’s Gentile heritage, Winner was not technically considered a Jew until she formally converted to Judaism at the end of high school. More.

Thomas Jefferson and the Wall of Separation Between Church and State

An interview with Author Daniel Dreisbach

By John W. Whitehead and Casey Mattox
10/28/02

In 1802 Thomas Jefferson penned a letter to the Danbury, Connecticut, Baptist Association in which he described the First Amendment as erecting a "wall of separation between church and state." That phrase, largely forgotten for nearly 150 years, was reintroduced to our lexicon in 1947 by Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black in his opinion in Everson v. Board of Education, a case holding that state funded transportation of all students to and from their schools, including parochial schools, was constitutional. The wall metaphor has since been accepted by most Americans, and many jurists, as the authoritative description of the interaction between religion and civil government countenanced by the First Amendment. In his latest book, Thomas Jefferson and the Wall of Separation Between Church and State, Daniel Dreisbach exposes the history of the wall metaphor and argues that the wall is rooted in anti-Catholicism and the fear of religious influence on public life. More.

Turning Back to the Things of God

An interview with conservative commentator Cal Thomas

By John W. Whitehead
10/21/02

Syndicated columnist Cal Thomas has been called a "gay-bashing, low-life, neanderthal, Republican slime-ball," "hypocrite, disgusting coward," "idiot," and "lying, narrow-minded, bigoted, ratty twerp." And this is just a sampling from hate mail posted on his own website, Calthomas.com. Often grouped with commentators like Rush Limbaugh, Thomas is a less sensationalistic, more thoughtful antidote to the talk radio host. While his following has grown from an initial column in the Los Angeles Times in 1984 to a current weekly syndication in 540 newspapers, his opinions on what America should be doing both abroad and at home still earn him the weekly ire of left-leaning readers. "I can’t judge myself," he says. "I have to leave that to God." The one-time political pundit seems to be doing just that, replacing his faith in government with a belief in God. "During my years of hands-on political activism, I never converted anybody to my point of view," Thomas says. "However, I did have, and have had, and am having on many occasions the privilege of leading somebody to Christ." Breaking from the penning of his latest polemic, Thomas talks with John W. Whitehead about the state of Christianity, its innocuous involvement in politics, and how real change can be wrought. More.

Spiritual Light for a Dark Generation

New letters of Thomas Merton

By Tanya Stanciu
09/23/02

Every generation has its spiritual classics, the books people turn to over and over again for hope and inspiration. A list of modern classics might include C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity , Henry David Thoreau’s Walden , and even Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead . Occasionally a classic arises from a completely unlikely location. This was certainly the case with Thomas Merton’s The Seven Storey Mountain, the spiritual autobiography of a 33-year-old Trappist monk that continues to draw readers all over the world who are interested in spiritual questions. Since Merton’s death in 1968, his journals, letters, and various incidental writings have been published, and new material is emerging even now. This year Merton fans can enjoy a new volume of letters, Survival or Prophecy? The Letters of Thomas Merton and Jean Leclercq (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002, edited by Brother Patrick Hart). More.