Haidt's use of that word "righteous" is primarily, almost entirely, negative, implying a kind of self-righteousness or a sense of self-justification. This is righteousness as rectitude, as uprightness, or moral purity and correctness. It is righteousness as the acquisitive and proprietary possession of truth. This form of righteousness is not a virtue, but it's what American Christians have learned from their American Bibles. Read more
I'm a big fan of Marie Callender's frozen dutch apple pies. Please consider this an open thread to recommend any other variety of prepared pies and/or simply to escape the heated arguments and hordes of trolls likely to surface in comments to the previous thread about you-know-what. Read more
Accepting the premise of abortion-as-murder provides no justification for forming a partisan voting bloc in the hopes of one day perhaps changing the composition of the Supreme Court. That would be an utterly, miserably, monstrously inadequate response. The implications of John Piper's suggestion that this should make us "single-issue voters" is reprehensible -- akin to suggesting that we should willingly collaborate in the Holocaust 364 days a year, while on that one other day voting for the reformist elements of our Vichy Republic in the hopes of eventual change. Read more
Christianity Today interviews Nate Parker about his film "The Birth of a Nation," which is, among other things, one of the most Bible-saturated movies of all time. Plus: Donald Trump's ever-shifting history on Iraq; 23 years of tax returns; and the Train Job in India. Read more
This is a world in which mothers don't just urge their college-bound children to eat right, get enough sleep, keep up with their studies and avoid the party crowd. They also warn their children against the imminent One World Government, quiz them on the seven bowls and the seven seals, and offer words of encouragement about the birth of a red heifer. They do this "All the time." Read more
The popular right-Reformed, anti-feminist Christian-gatekeeping website The Gospel Coalition ran a painfully earnest piece by a Very Nice White Lady struggling to come to grips with the spiritual challenge of "When God Sends Your White Daughter a Black Husband." It did not go well. Also: Donald Trump under oath; the Clinton Rules; a Texas execution; and the Storehouse Theory of weather. Read more
White evangelicals vote based on the Supreme Court. The best that can be said for this voting strategy is that it intended to produce an overturn of Roe v. Wade but instead, accidentally it produced the Roberts Court's ruling in Shelby County, ripping out the guts of the Voting Rights Act. That may be overly generous, though. If we consider the real history of the religious right, it seems Shelby County was the real goal of this Supreme Court voting strategy all along. Read more
It would be really strange if every mention of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation implied that it was something sinister and a dark stain on Gates' legacy. It would be really weird if dozens of voices were hinting that they were going to expose the real truth of what that foundation really does while at the same time never ever mentioning, even in passing, any of its actual programs, efforts, successes or achievements. Can you imagine? Read more
After the death of Elie Wiesel, thousands of people shared an inspiring quote from him on social media. But I do not know quite how to be inspired by it -- I do not know what it is that it should inspire me to do or to advocate that others do on my behalf. Read more
A Virginia Grand Wizard is speaking out in favor of Wayne Grudem's moral imperative: "The reason a lot of Klan members like Donald Trump is because a lot of what he believes in, we believe in." Plus: The Birchers are making a comeback, my "Stranger" theory, and Facebook says it hates clickbait almost as much as it hates blogs. Read more
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