On God and the Pandemic
- November/December 2020
- November 1, 2020
As these words key into the computer file, I see off to the side news updates on the latest deluge to hit the Gulf Coast. Déjà Vu was never so debilitating. Again! Again! And are the still-smoldering fires out west just the latest in an ever-accelerating burnoff of the world as we know it? We
READ MOREWhen Thomas Paine died in 1809, Quakers, whom he identified with, refused his wish to be buried in one of their graveyards. Their refusal stemmed from Paine’s attacks on organized religion in general and Christianity in particular. Instead, this best-selling pamphleteer, whom John Adams called “the father of the American Revolution,” without whose “pen” “the
READ MOREA Book Review . . .Reaganland: America’s Right Turn, 1976-1980. Rick Perlstein. Alarmed at what they saw as the decay of morality in the nation, religious fundamentalists John Conlon and Bill Bright in 1976 organized a group of activist protestants entitled the Christian Freedom Foundation. Previously the Southern Baptist Association sought to keep religion out
READ MOREThough not exactly known for this theological acumen, British Marxist Terry Eagleton did hit on something with this prescient quote: “There is a document that records God’s endless, dispiriting struggle with organized religion, known as the Bible.” Eagleton does have a point regarding what has been deemed, usually despairingly, “organized religion” (though what do you
READ MOREOn May 1, 2020, my wife and I flew to Sacramento, California, to pray for our state and to demonstrate our right to peaceably assemble and stand up for what we knew was an abomination to God. Nearly 2,000 others joined us in a peaceful patriotic assembly on the steps and the lawn of our
READ MOREIn early America dissenting Baptists played a key role in the fight for religious liberty and the disestablishment of state churches. But while many Baptists fought for liberty for themselves, only a few fought for religious liberty for everyone. John Leland was one of those few. Leland was not only the most prominent Baptist but
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