Category: culture wars

https://www.facebook.com/peter.ellertsen/posts/2808921899368838 This morning Andrew Koppelman, a law professor at Northwestern, weighed in on the U.S. Supreme Court's April 9 decision invalidating a California public health department restriction on indoor gatherings. While some of his rhetoric was.uh.-- shall we say? -- more flamboyant than professorial, he raised some important issues. So I shared it to social … Continue reading Does a theory of Philip Gorski’s shed light on a troubling Supreme Court decision on church-state relations?

https://soundcloud.com/theucipodcast/uci-podcast-the-new-american-political-sectarianism Podcast of psychologist Peter Ditto at Cal Irvine (cite below) Editor's (admin's) note: One of two posts today that were prompted by Nate Cohn's op ed piece “Why Political Sectarianism Is a Growing Threat to American Democracy” in the New York Times. Link HERE for my notes & quotes from a 2017 article on … Continue reading Notes & Quotes: Sectarianism, culture wars and polarization in the 1850s, 2020s

George Bancroft, History of the Colonization of the United States, Vol. 1, 17th edition, Perseus, p. 375 (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2001.05.0326%3Achapter%3D13%3Apage%3D375) Chapter IX At a time when Germany was the battle-field for all Europe in the implacable wars of religion; when even Holland was bleeding with the anger of vengeful factions; when France was still to go through the fearful struggle with bigotry; when England was gasping under the … Continue reading George Bancroft on Roger Williams

Two essays Lee Drutman, "How Much Longer Can This Era of Political Gridlock Last?" FiveThirtyEight, March 4, 2021 https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-much-longer-can-this-era-of-political-gridlock-last/. History holds, at best, a half lesson here. This current period of partisan stalemate stands out in a few respects when we consider America’s long history with partisan conflict. For starters, the period we find ourselves in … Continue reading Negative partisanship: Analytical essays, links in FiveThirtyEight

Chosen Nation: Christianity, Politics, and American Destiny Faith Angle Forum, a A program of the Ethics & Public Policy Center. From the May 2017 Forum in Miami Beach, Florida DR. CATHERINE BREKUS, CHARLES WARREN PROFESSOR OF THE HISTORY OF RELIGION IN AMERICA, HARVARD DIVINITY SCHOOL Today we know it as American exceptionalism but not many of us … Continue reading Forum on Chosenness, church and state in America

Michael Jensen, "The Problem Isn't One Insurrection: It's Mass Radicalization," interview with Zack Stanton, Politico, Feb. 11, 2021 https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/02/11/mass-radicalization-trump-insurrection-468746. [From the intro to an interview that appeared in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol}: Historically, mass radicalization took time,” says Michael Jensen, an expert on extremism who leads the … Continue reading Interview on mass radicalization, Jan. 6 insurrection at US Capitol

Sarah Posner, "'Unholy' Examines The Alliance Between White Evangelicals And Trump," interview by Terry Gross, National Public Radio, July 8, 2020 https://www.npr.org/2020/07/08/888906337/unholy-examines-the-alliance-between-white-evangelicals-and-trump. [Connects dots, demonstrates intersectionality between evangelicals, fear of people outside the religious community and school segregation. Posner is author of Unholy: Why White Evangelicals Worship At The Altar Of Donald Trump -- link HERE … Continue reading Susan Posner on Trump, evangelicals, Brown v. School Board, church-state separation; Madeline Albright on ‘us-vs.-them thinking’