Christianity | Praxis

The Religious Right Loves Vladimir Putin More Than Donald Trump Does

One of the most notable but mostly uncovered political developments in recent years has been how enthusiastically many Religious Right leaders have embraced Russia’s anti-democratic president, former KGB official Vladimir Putin. It seems even more remarkable that the Republican Party’s presidential nominee has been lavishing praise on Putin even as Russia maneuvers to diminish America’s influence in the world. As president, Putin has consolidated his power through attacks on the independent media, the persecution of political opponents, and restrictions on civil society. He has annexed…

Whatever Happened to the Christian Intelligentsia?

As I write these words, American pundits and political junkies are struggling to come to terms with some curious, even alarming, developments. Donald Trump has claimed the Republican presidential nomination while advocating a ban on Muslim immigration to the United States and the construction of a wall along the Mexican border. While many would blame his rise on the particular dysfunction of the G.O.P. or of America’s political culture more generally, a larger context makes that view impossible. A populist and sometimes xenophobic campaign succeeded…

White Christians No Longer Are Majority of Americans

The chart below reveals just how quickly the proportions of white, non-Hispanic Christians have declined across generations. Like an archaeological excavation, the chart sorts Americans by religious affiliation and race, stratified by age. It shows the decline of white Christians among each successive generation. Today, young adults ages 18 to 29 are less than half as likely to be white Christians as seniors age 65 and older. Nearly 7 in 10 American seniors (67 percent) are white Christians, compared to fewer than 3 in 10 (29 percent) young adults. Although…

Survey Finds Many Black Religious Leaders Illegally Campaigning for Hillary Clinton

It is illegal for clergy to support or oppose political candidates from the pulpit. Houses of worship can host candidate forums and voter-registration drives; pastors and rabbis and imams can even bend the rules a little to advocate “as individuals” at conventions or other events. But for more than 60 years, religious groups have been forbidden from electioneering. Apparently, a lot of pastors don’t pay attention to this rule. According to a newsurvey from Pew Research Center, roughly 9 percent of people who have attended…

Donald Trump and the Twilight of the Religious Right

The evangelical divide over Trump has been widening for months, but it was only in recent weeks that the pro- and anti-Trump camps definitively split, with an increasing number of conservative evangelicals coming out forcefully against the candidate whom GOP consultant Rick Wilson once called “Cheeto Jesus.” The breaking point came on June 21, when Trump—ironically in an effort to appease the religious right—met with nearly a thousand evangelical leaders and announced a 25-person “evangelical advisory board” to help him reach conservative Christian voters. Almost…

Steve King Isn’t Just a Racist, He’s Completely Ignorant of the History of Western Civilization

Following a Monday appearance on MSNBC, Iowa Congressman Steve King is finally getting some of the attention he deserves. Although he supported Ted Cruz in his state’s caucuses, King is in many ways a forerunner of Donald Trump. During a panel discussion segment led by MSNBC host Chris Hayes, King was challenged by Esquire writer Charlie Pierce about the fact that delegates at the Republican National Convention were overwhelmingly older and white. The congressman took umbrage at and mounted a strange and irrelevant defense over…

Deicide and the Protestant Deformation

Matthew Rose’s great First Things essay about the infamous 1966 “Death Of God” cover story in Time magazine is only available online to that magazine’s subscribers, but I think I can quote enough of it here to give you its gist. Rose discusses the tenets of “Death Of God” theology — that is, how a group of liberal Protestant theologians in the 1960s came to believe and to proclaim that being faithful to Christ meant teaching that God is dead. The Time cover story was…

Mike Huckabee: The Religious Right Is a Giant Scam

Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee lashed out against religious conservative leaders Wednesday, accusing them of trying to bilk gullible donors out of money while actually having no desire to pursue goals like outlawing same-sex marriage and banning abortion. “A lot of them, quite frankly, I think they’re scared to death that if a guy like me got elected, I would actually do what I said I would do,” Huckabee said in an interview with Christian Right commentator Todd Starnes. “We would abolish abortion based on…

Republicans Are Courting the Jewish Vote But Are They Doing It Wrong?

On Thursday, 13 of the 14 GOP candidates for president stopped by the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual meeting, each boasting of how he or she was the best choice for adherents of the oldest Abrahamic religion. As would be expected, awkward pandering was a top priority on the agenda. “Last night, I was watching ‘Schindler’s List,’” announced former Virginia governor Jim Gilmore. It was the highest compliment a politician could give, almost a direct reference to a 2013 Pew Research poll which indicated that 73…

Understanding the present is the key to the future