Given his age — and most regrettably because he’s a nice man — you’ll soon read the headline: “Billy Graham Dead.” Fact is, his life’s work is already dead. It’s been killed by the Tea Party. All that remains is the funeral and the long term discrediting of Billy’s evangelical religion now under way because of the needless and ugly politicizing of the faith he became a symbol of. Disclaimer: I knew Billy and met him as a child when... Read more
Neuroscience has proved that the brain is malleable. Evangelicals raised on magical fact-free myths are trained from birth to believe lies. Put it this way, if you believe Noah was real you’ll be more likely to believe Ted Cruise is a truth teller too. Brains change because of the environments they’re grown in. Playing a musical instrument grows a brain differently than the brain growth of non-musicians. Vets’ brains are different after the stress of combat. These changes show up... Read more
Amazon Review 5.0 out of 5 stars October 18, 2013 Dear Frank, I stayed in bed this morning because I wanted so much to finish your wonderful book, And God Said, “Billy!“ I just loved it, and now have a growing list of folks to whom I want to present it, including my dear grandson Roman, who is 20. While I was absolutely thrilled to have my name in the dedication, I confess that, when I started to read it,... Read more
Here’s my 1 hour interview with NPR host Geoffrey Riley on the now ended shutdown, President Obama’s victory over the religious right, evangelical delusion, Ted Cruz, the Tea Party, my family and the decline of the GOP, the separation of church and state… and more. Lots of good call ins, Q&A, talk and discussion. Please listen HERE. Frank Schaeffer and NPR host Geoffrey Riley Please listen HERE. Frank Schaeffer is a writer. His latest book — And God Said, “Billy!“exploring... Read more
Dear President Obama, Congratulations Mr. President. Once again you win over white bigots and other evangelical Tea Party goofs. Everyone has underestimated you since Day 1. Liberals are full of advice and conservatives… well, enough said. The economy came back, the deficit is going down, America is producing more energy than we’re importing, gay men and women have been given new dignity and rights, you ended the wars as you said you would, and the Republicans are running... Read more
How did we get to the shutdown and brink of default? It took over fifty years of bad Sunday school. Now that the Republicans have conceded defeat — congratulations Mr. President you stood tall against the fools and bigots — it’s worth figuring out how the Republicans got so crazy that they took us to the brink. It’ll happen again because ideologues never learn. Here are the four steps of why we got to the brink this time: ONE: Billy... Read more
The media is talking about the shutdown in mostly secular terms. Big mistake. This is a religion story and to ignore that aspect is like trying to report on the Taliban without mentioning Islam. The media blame the Tea Party and call them crazy. But the media has missed the real story. It’s not about the Tea Party’s politics, it’s about what made the Tea Party’s politics so crazy to begin with. This is a religion story to end all... Read more
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy Frank Schaeffer is a writer. His latest book is And God Said, “Billy!” on Kindle, NOOK and iBook for $3.99 Read more
Do you know who launched the shutdown? Hint: He’s Southern, white and an ardent evangelical who serves as an elder in his fundamentalist church. His name is Mark Meadows. Watch this news clip about him. It explains all you need to know about why it’s a bad idea to have ardent evangelicals run for national office. They just don’t live in a fact-based world. Of course America is on the brink because of religiously deluded conviction. Here’s my friend Rachel... Read more
The 2 weeks of shutdown madness has accelerated evangelical movement’s devolution by 10 years or more. The shutdown is to the evangelical establishment what that fabled 4-hour erection is to Viagra users. I predict that the unwinding of the loony literalistic evangelical “Bible-believing” movement, made respectable by people like Billy Graham and Christianity Today magazine, just took a quantum leap. American evangelicals are looking into a grim future where they’re both loathed and feared. They are already losing their young... Read more
Why I Still Talk to Jesus -- In Spite of Everything
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