My thoughts and prayers are with the shooting victims and their families in San Bernardino. — Dr. Ben Carson (@RealBenCarson) December 2, 2015 In the wake of the mass shootings on Wednesday, social media was predictably filled with politicians and others saying that their “thoughts and prayers” were with the victims’ families. But that prompted a fierce … More “Thoughts and Prayers”
When it was first posted last month, I had little desire to respond to a blog post in which Oklahoma Wesleyan University president Everett Piper railed against “victimization” culture on American college campuses. To an anonymous OKWU student who was apparently upset that a recent chapel talk about love (1 Cor 13) “made him feel bad for not … More This is Not Leadership: A Response to Everett Piper’s “Day Care” Post
As the debate over refugees, terrorism, and Islam continued to swirl yesterday, some of you probably saw this story pop up on social media: Christian groups break with GOP over Syrian refugees https://t.co/irrUcDTv5v | AP Photo pic.twitter.com/cc2ZkYxRgw — POLITICO (@politico) November 18, 2015 “Christian groups break with GOP over Syrian refugees,” claimed the headline of … More What Do Evangelicals Actually Think about Refugees?
Cross-posted from AC 2nd At last night’s GOP presidential debate several candidates used our friends in the discipline of philosophy as a punch line. Most memorably, Sen. Marco Rubio (FL) claimed that “Welders make more than philosophers. We need more welders and less philosophers.” Or as he put it today at an event in Iowa: “You deserve … More How about Historians and Welders?
What do these people have in common: Korie and Sadie Robertson of Duck Dynasty, Christian music star David Crowder, Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson, conservative pundit William Bennett, and presidential candidates Ben Carson and Bernie Sanders? Yes, all will speaking this fall at Liberty University’s thrice-weekly convocations, “the world’s largest weekly gathering of Christian young people.” One … More Coming to Liberty University This Fall: Bernie Sanders
This 4th of July weekend I’m feeling more patriotic than I have in years, thanks to two speeches by Pres. Obama. First, his speech this past March at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. Obama remembered the civil right activists who fifty years earlier had been brutally attacked during their peaceful march to Montgomery: As … More Patriotism, Love, and Grace: An Independence Day Meditation
When the editorial staff of The New Republic resigned last year in a clash with new ownership, I pretty much resolved never to read the venerable magazine again. But I’ve found myself clicking those links again, most often when they address a topic that was never exactly a strength of the old TNR: religion. Most of this is thanks to … More Is Cornel West (or Michael Eric Dyson) a Prophet?
Last month I spent spring break visiting my parents in southwestern Virginia. Thanks to bad weather in Roanoke, our plane was diverted to nearby Lynchburg, where I walked out of the terminal and saw a sprawling university campus a stone’s throw away: Liberty University. Liberty’s president — Jerry Falwell, Jr. — has ambitious goals, reports Slate staff writer Betsy Woodruff: “Falwell … More Is Liberty University the “Protestant Notre Dame”?
As I mentioned in a former post, I just wrapped up a class on the history and politics of the Middle East, a class I have taught for a number of years now. One of its goals is for students to wrestle with the complexities of revolutionary movements in the Middle East, the most recent and particularly … More How to Spark Islamic Revolution
Recent months have seen increased coverage of Muslim radicals in the Middle East, presidential statements about what is and what is not “real” Islam, and new articles on where groups like ISIS fit in the Muslim faith, if at all. I have also just finished teaching a class called “Islam, Politics, and the Middle East.” So this … More Why We Need to Stop Trying to Identify “True” Islam
The Pietist Schoolman 