Fairness - The Commentary

When the conservative Evangelical magazine Christianity Today , founded in 1956 by the late right-wing evangelist Billy Graham called this December for the removal of Donald Trump from office - describing him as “a near perfect example of a human being who is morally lost and confused” - it confirmed that many evangelicals are as others thought they were. Since the magazine is by far not the most widely read by right-wingers – it has always appeared too scholarly for many of them - the opinion raised more hackles than it changed Evangelical opinion. The magazine historically has affirmed all those early twentieth-century “Fundamentals of the Faith” formulated as a reaction to progressive scholarship, and backed about everything else theologically that Evangelicals stand for and fight over. It stands solidly for the “inerrancy of the scriptures” just like other fundamentalists. Expecting camaraderie from its like-minded believers, it’s chief executive expressed hope for m...

http://whosoever.org/the-christmas-story-is-about-whos-in-and-whos-out/

This Thanksgiving invoking the Norman Rockwell holiday - a mythological feast about pilgrims and Indians sitting down like buddies giving thanks to a version of the Christian god for a successful harvest – has passed. Add the heart-warming scene of the harmonious American family, every member home for the holiday, sitting down happily together feeling blessed by their Maker for the over-eating opportunity their country has provided. Whatever its real, less fanciful history, and however dysfunctional family get-togethers really are, this holiday season beginning with the American Thanksgiving is the perfect time to remind us  as we count down to a major election in less than a year that nations promote many myths that sustain them. In the field of religious studies, identifying a myth is not a comment on the historical accuracy of the story in question. History happened back then. But a myth is any story that says something meaningful to someone today. It can ...

The religious right-wing will continue to seek government enforcement of their religious views as long as they can. Church/State separation means little or nothing to them because they’re convinced that the U.S. was always meant to be a "Christian" (by their definition) nation. Historical argument doesn’t get through to them. They have their own pseudo historians to do just plain bad history in their favor and sectarian publishers to publish that pseudo history. They ignore fact-based historians. When we respond that such attempts are unconstitutional, we fail to recognize that they’ve intentionally packed the Supreme Court and lower courts with those who agree with them, and that it’s these very human justices that define what’s constitutional, not some nice ideal we have in our heads. Only if a majority of voters stand up, take responsibility, and vote, will this trend change since there’s big money behind right-wing sectarianism. But it will also require p...

It’s hardly news now to say that the country is polarized, that arguments with those in the personality cult of this president and those left in his party rarely hinge on facts, and that when someone cites a news source that shows presidential misconduct or worse, the automatic defense is to call it “fake news.” Though we’d prefer to believe that facts matter to people and that a good-faith conversation with those with whom we disagree will produce something constructive, the odds of so many conversations with those who disagree with us producing agreement are slimmer than ever. Over the years, book after book have appeared advising how to navigate difficult conversations. The most recent was published in September entitled How to Have Impossible Conversations: A Very Practical Guide . It’s well worth the read if you’re committed to take the time with those around you. One reality to face first is that such informed conversation attempts are unlikely to represent a two...

One of the stark revelations from the years of the Trump presidency is that he’s a member of an uber-rich class of psychopaths and sociopaths. Whether they’re his lawyers, his billionaire buddies, CEOs who benefit from his cruelty, or those whom he has appointed to his administration, they believe in a ruthless definition of success that is out of touch with the morality of everyday Americans. These are the people who’ve been admired by Capitalism for playing a rough and tumble game of high-stakes poker that takes no prisoners, leaves other players devastated, and cares nothing about any collateral damage (human or otherwise) that’s left in its wake. Progressives don’t play the game well because they’re not into amoral war games. They want authenticity, community, honesty, and shared wealth instead, and don’t even want to believe anyone would play so cold-bloodedly. But it is ruthless -- a “man’s” game. Those who won’t play it must be prepared to have their masculinity questio...

“Poisonous pedagogy” is what the late, world-renowned Swiss psychotherapist Alice Miller called dominant Western methods of child-rearing. That label has always been hard to swallow. We’d rather deny it. We’re assuming it’s getting better. But Miller was deadly serious. But are the extremes of this pedagogy what lie beneath the cult of a cruel president? Miller’s writings were extensive and important, including For Your Own Good: Hidden Cruelty in Child-Rearing and the Roots of Violence (1990), Thou Shalt Not Be Aware: Society’s Betrayal of the Child (1998), and The Truth Will Set You Free: Overcoming Emotional Blindness and Finding Your True Adult Self (2001). In each she challenged what was considered “normal” parenting in past generations. Miller called for a total revision of the methods we use and how we view children. She described how parents, who haven’t dealt with the effects of the poisonous pedagogy of their own parents, project their ideas, feelings, and dreams ...

When it comes to human rights, we’re in a very different time than ever before. LGBTQ people had made much headway, improved their positives in public polling, and convinced an increasing number that they deserve to be considered as full American citizens. But this time is dangerous: because anti-LGBTQ remains a major factor in the playbook of Republican politics as conservative politicians continue to court the extreme religious right-wing; because the Party as a result has put “the convinced” in the legislature and judiciary who actually do believe that LGBTQ people deserve a second-class status at most; and because it’s tempting to let things slide by with some false hope of future security. Likewise, many leaders who became heroes in the right-wing religious movements by gaining their notoriety with anti-LGBTQ rhetoric know that an anti-LGBTQ position is the only thing that will continue to keep them in the spotlight. To give it up is to lose attention and likely the s...