#MAGA Hat Jesus, Jan. 6, 2021 (photo Tyler Merbler, Flickr/Creative Commons) Edited copy of a blast email I sent to participants in "Sundays@6," an online adult faith formation group that Debi and I facilitate for our ELCA Lutheran parish church about the Missouri Synod's official statement on white Christian nationalism as contrary to Christian doctrine … Continue reading Citing Luther’s Small Catechism, Missouri Synod president condems white Christian nationalism as ‘evil’
Does Senator Warnock’s re-election testify to the transformative power and witness of the Black church? I think it does
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-oS1ycq9RM Segment on the 'Morning Joe' program, Dec. 7, 2022 Growing up down South in civil rights days, I was able to watch the transformative witness of the Black church in action. I watched it from a safe distance -- my home town was middle class and lily-white -- but when the high school in … Continue reading Does Senator Warnock’s re-election testify to the transformative power and witness of the Black church? I think it does
Édouard Glissant and creolization — misc. links (Notes & Quotes)
d r a f t "[...] we are all in relation with each other and we all have a chance of making our voices heard." -- Celia Britton, "Edouard Glissant" [obit], The Guardian. xxx Poetics of Space – Archipelagos and Wanderings special ed. of Karib: Nordic Journal for Caribbean Studies https://www.karib.no/collections/special/poetics-of-space-archipelagos-and-wanderings/ Collection launched: 25 Feb … Continue reading Édouard Glissant and creolization — misc. links (Notes & Quotes)
Buffalo massacre shows how widespread and dangerous white Christian nationalist conspiracy theories are becoming
Two articles by scholars published in the wake of the mass murder at the Tops Friendly Markets store in Buffalo struck me like Thomas Jefferson's fire bell in the night. The scholars are Samuel Perry, of the University of Oklahoma, and Philip Gorski, of Yale; they have written extensively about white Christian nationalism -- the … Continue reading Buffalo massacre shows how widespread and dangerous white Christian nationalist conspiracy theories are becoming
CNN newsletter highlights disconnect between ‘culture war,’ real-world problems in a time of real war
In my email on March 23, from CNN Reliable Sources <reliablesources@newsletters.cnn.com>, after this headnote: Oliver Darcy here at 10:47pm ET on Wednesday, March 23. Here's the latest on Reuters, BuzzFeed News, Fox, Meta, "Wheel of Fortune," Spotify, "Real Housewives," and more... [...] this item, which is too good to clean out of my inbox and lose forever. Darcey … Continue reading CNN newsletter highlights disconnect between ‘culture war,’ real-world problems in a time of real war
Oh, joy! Are the ‘culture wars’ taking us into a new civil war? or sectarian conflict like in Northern Ireland?
Battle of Chickamaugua, lithograph, ca. 1890 (Wikimedia Commons). Here's a cheery note: If civil war comes to America as Barbara Walter of the University of California San Diego and other scholars are now predicting, it won't involve armies marching out to Gettysburg and Chickamauga in blue and gray uniforms -- it'll be more like the … Continue reading Oh, joy! Are the ‘culture wars’ taking us into a new civil war? or sectarian conflict like in Northern Ireland?
Op ed piece connects important dots between Jan. 6, white Christian nationalism and uproar over ‘CRT’
A very useful op ed piece on the New York Times' website today connects the dots between former President Trump's violent assault on the U.S. Capitol Jan. 6, 2021; white Christian nationalist fears of being replaced and persecuted by non-Christian immigrants and secular society; and the past year's hysteria over "Critical Race Theory" and other … Continue reading Op ed piece connects important dots between Jan. 6, white Christian nationalism and uproar over ‘CRT’
Notes & quotes: Heather Cox Richardson
Verbatim quotes from interviews with Heather Cox Richardson of Boston College pointing up parallels between the 1850s and the crisis of American democracy today ... also the parallel between Christian nationalism and "illiberal/Christian democracy" in Hungary today Mass Humanities (interview) "What Was at Stake in Our History," interview with Michelle Wilson, Mass Humanities, Aug. 24, … Continue reading Notes & quotes: Heather Cox Richardson
Tucker Carlson says the quiet part out loud, echoes ‘great replacement’ conspiracy theory, nativism of 1850s
Anti-Irish cartoon by Thomas Nast, 1871 (Wikimedia) Fascinating profile of Tucker Carlson today on the Washington Post website by Michael Kranish, a national political investigative reporter for the Post who has written bios of Trump, Mitt Romney and Thomas Jefferson. Quotes sources who know the man, ranging from Al Sharpton to Bill Kristol, to make … Continue reading Tucker Carlson says the quiet part out loud, echoes ‘great replacement’ conspiracy theory, nativism of 1850s
Notes & quotes: Replacement theory and racial subtext to Trump’s speech ‘revving up’ Jan. 6 rioters; Kenneth Woodward article on evangelicals
Charles Blow: Blow's lede, "On Jan. 6, as Donald Trump was revving up the rioters who would attempt an insurrection at the Capitol, just a short distance away, he said to them: 'We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore'." It is yet another … Continue reading Notes & quotes: Replacement theory and racial subtext to Trump’s speech ‘revving up’ Jan. 6 rioters; Kenneth Woodward article on evangelicals
Ordinary Time 