Trump’s Confederate Monument Tweets are Just Alt Right Dog Whistles

Last updated on: August 17, 2017 at 9:29 pm By Shane Phipps

President Trump has been busy on Twitter lately. He is suddenly passionate about preserving our national heritage and is lamenting the removal of Confederate monuments in cities around the country. “Sad to see the history and culture of our great country being ripped apart with the removal of our beautiful statues and monuments. You can’t change history, but you can learn from it. Robert E Lee, Stonewall Jackson – who’s next, Washington, Jefferson? So foolish! Also the beauty that is being taken... Read more

Why I Do What I Do Even When I Don’t Want to Do It–Confessions of a Reluctant Political Blogger

Last updated on: August 17, 2017 at 9:24 am By Shane Phipps

If you’d have told me two years ago that I’d have signed a contract to write for Patheos’ Politics Blue channel, I’d have laughed out loud. I never thought I’d be here–for so many reasons. There was always a writer in me, scratching to get out. When I was in my teens, that’s what I thought I might do. I wanted to be the next Dave Barry, Garrison Keillor, or Calvin Trillin. But I didn’t have the gumption or the... Read more

Taking on the Sticky Topic of Removing Confederate Monuments.

Last updated on: August 18, 2017 at 12:17 pm By Shane Phipps

The issue on the surface of the terrible events in Charlottesville, Virginia is nothing new. The question of whether or not to take down Confederate monuments has been causing hot debate for long time. I wrote about this the last time it flared up, in New Orleans. This is a re-post of that article, which looks at the many complex layers of perspectives surrounding the seemingly simple question, should we take down Confederate monuments. Recently, New Orleans has been... Read more

Charlottesville, Kaepernick, and the Ongoing Battle for the Constitution

Last updated on: August 15, 2017 at 4:10 pm By Shane Phipps

As I watch our nation continue to struggle with our racial problems, the biggest part of me does so from an emotional, human level. But, always, a part of me is also analyzing the events from my more detached perch as a teacher and student of history. I tend to see the world in the bigger picture and I tend to naturally look for patterns and connections. The terrible recent events in Charlottesville, Virginia have sent my mind to spinning,... Read more

Dear Consevative Christian Friends, Can We Talk About Charlottesville?

Last updated on: August 15, 2017 at 4:11 pm By Shane Phipps

Dear Conservative Christian Friends, We need to talk about Charlottesville, Virginia. You need to hear what I have to say, even though I highly doubt you’ll agree with me, you need to hear it. Whether I am right or wrong, you need to know that I’m not the only one who thinks these things. It won’t be easy or pleasant for me to write these words and I’m sure it won’t be comfortable for you to read them. Let me start... Read more

Hitching Our Wagons to Madmen–A Prayer for Sanity

Last updated on: August 11, 2017 at 9:56 am By Shane Phipps

…for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. Matthew 5:45 KJV I am tired. I am bewildered. I am angry. We have hitched our wagons to madmen and it is getting more frightening by the moment. I am tired of it all–if I were a single man, that would be one thing–but I am a family man, the father of a 16 year old... Read more

The Wood Comes Full Circle and the Love Flows Through

Last updated on: August 9, 2017 at 4:51 pm By Shane Phipps

My life began among the pines and hemlocks on a steep mountainside in southeastern Kentucky. Today they call that area the Big South Fork, back when I was born, in the 19th century it was mostly just wilderness. I grew up there on that mountain. I lived in peace, growing to maturity, straight and tall. Then, sometime around the turn of the 20th Century, I began to hear rumblings down in the valley. A man named Justice Stearns had moved... Read more

What If It Didn’t Matter?

Last updated on: August 6, 2017 at 4:59 pm By Shane Phipps

“If a boy tells his parents he is attracted to another boy, he should be grounded immediately. Corporal punishment should be administered. If he is in public school, he should be pulled out immediately and homeschooled. The parents should receive counseling and seek out conversion therapy for the child. If he is in the youth group at church, he should be removed from the group. All of this until the child repents and turns from his rebellious ways. If he... Read more

I’m tired and numbed by the constant noise of Trump’s America

Last updated on: August 3, 2017 at 1:10 pm By Shane Phipps

With the passing of each new day, the news from the White House gets more and more surreal and bizarre. Yet, as time goes on, I seem less and less affected by it. I can’t muster the anger I should be feeling. I can’t even summon the strength to drop my jaw at the newest bit of lunacy. The circus isn’t slowing down. Abnormal has become the new normal. Every week, this administration seems to double down on what would... Read more

Fundamentalist Evangelical Leaders Need to Learn from Billy Graham

Last updated on: August 2, 2017 at 9:24 am By Shane Phipps

The headlines lately have been pretty scary. North Korea–one of the few nations on earth with a bigger wild card of a leader than the U.S.–has been active in publicly flexing its military muscle by advertising their ability to strike anywhere in the continental U.S. with an ICBM toting a nuclear payload. For years, such noise coming from North Korea was laughed off as the rantings of a mad man without any serious punch to back it up–but now, it’s not so funny. Perhaps... Read more