"Most problems in contemporary churches can be explained by the fact that members have not yet decided to follow Christ."— Dallas Willard from "The Spirit of the Disciplines"

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The Republican Hat Trick

As a child, I never really liked “Alice in Wonderland.” Psychopathic playing cards, disappearing cats, time-challenged bunnies and mad hatters—it was all too much for me, and far too abstract. I was more of a Curious George person. A monkey in a room with a can of paint—this was something I could comprehend and relate to. Lately, though, I have found myself revisiting Alice’s Wonderland to gain some perspective on the current state of US politics. Most of the time I feel as though I, like Alice, have fallen down a rabbit hole and am now in some alternate reality where up is down, black is white and Republicans are for the working class while Democrats are for the effete, rich, snobbish elite. See? It makes no sense. Oh, there goes the rabbit! For a book I was researching once, I studied the confidence games used by hucksters throughout the centuries to separate the rubes from their money. Now, I stand at the edge of a crowd gathered around the grifter as he moves the shells b...
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Are You Better Off?

In the 1980 election cycle, Ronald Reagan asked the now famous question, “Are you better off today than you were four years ago?” If you weren’t, the implication was that you should vote for him. I’d like to pose that question to voters today. Are you better off today than you were four years ago? A large number of conservatives vote Republican for one reason only: Abortion. Since President Bush has had a Republican congress, has significant progress been made in this arena? Not really. There have been, based on averages and estimates from the Center for Disease Control, 5.5 million abortions in the United States since Bush took office. To which my conservative readers will object, “that’s because we need a few more Supreme Court justices appointed by a Republican president!” But, here’s an interesting tidbit for you to chew on: Did you know that of the 7 Supreme Court justices who voted in favor of Roe v. Wade, 5 of them were appointed by Republican presidents? Of the 2 di...
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A Challenge to Voting Christians

I don’t know about you, but I’m beginning to feel really unsettled by the direction this whole faith/politics discourse is taking. As a Christian, I’ve moved through numerous faith communities and socialized with a variety of Christians. I’ve found that as long as we agree on some aspect of the Christian faith, things are fine. Disagreement, though, can lead to calamity. Dissension is frowned upon in Christian circles. So I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by what I’ve seen recently. But, for some reason, I typically hold onto hope longer than I reasonably should. America has always been a “melting pot” of cultures and colors and convictions. Our 228 year history has seen political ideologies come and go. We’ve watched Protestant denominations split and then split again. Freedom of speech has given us the ability to share dissenting views and to shape the body politic by doing so. But a different dynamic has emerged. Since George W. Bush is seen as the anointed man of God ...
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