• Culture,  Politics

    Kentucky Doesn’t Need Slot Machines and Casinos

    I want to share a letter that I just received about the Kentucky State Legislature’s plan to bring slot machines and eventually casinos to our state. Anyone who opposes this needs to speak up now by calling their legislators and making their views known. Please read the letter below, and use the information to call your legislator. We must not let this pass. ————— Dear Kentucky Baptists, My name is Andrew Walker and I’m a professor of Christian ethics at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. I also serve as the Kentucky Baptist Convention’s legislative agent in Frankfort, where I advocate for policies that Kentucky Baptists support. I’m writing with an…

  • Christianity,  Politics

    Roman Catholic Archbishop Admonishes President Biden over Abortion Policies

    The President of the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a pointed letter yesterday aimed at President Biden’s inauguration. After noting that Biden is the first Roman Catholic in 60 years to become President, the letter issues a stern admonition about the President’s plans to pursue pro-abortion policies. The directness of the confrontation is remarkable. Here’s the relevant excerpt: As pastors, the nation’s bishops are given the duty of proclaiming the Gospel in all its truth and power, in season and out of season, even when that teaching is inconvenient or when the Gospel’s truths run contrary to the directions of the wider society and culture. So, I must…

  • Christianity,  Homosexuality,  Politics,  Transgenderism

    Biden’s Promise to Pass “The Equality Act” in His First 100 Days as President

    President Biden promised last year to work on passing The Equality Act during the first 100 days of his presidency. If you are not familiar with “The Equality Act,” you need to be. Until the Supreme Court’s Bostock decision, sexual orientation and gender identity were not protected classes in the 1964 Civil Rights Act. But through a tortured reading of the statute, the Court decided to read those protections into the statute. It is a terrible decision that ignores what the authors of the statute meant when they wrote it. Some have argued that the passage of The Equality Act would be a moot point in light of Bostock. They…

  • Christianity,  Politics,  Social Justice

    Assessing Blame for the Insurrection without Partiality

    Christianity Today published an opinion piece on Thursday by Tish Harrison Warren addressing the aftermath of the insurrection at the Capitol. There were a handful of passages in her essay that I believe are worthy of some reflection and critical feedback. Warren writes: For me, the worst part of yesterday’s insurrection is how it represents an utter failure in the American church. This anti-epiphany reveals the horrid outgrowths of Christian nationalism, faulty spiritual formation, false teaching, political idolatry, and overriding ignorance. Though it saddens me deeply, it must be clearly admitted: Yesterday’s atrocity was in large part brought to us by the white, evangelical church in America. Further, The responsibility…

  • Christianity,  Politics

    Grief and Anger on Insurrection Day

    I don’t know if I am more angry or heart-broken after yesterday’s insurrection* at the Capitol. I felt my voice rising and cracking when I described to my wife what was unfolding in Washington, D. C. in real time—that a group of insurrectionists incited by the President had overrun security and breached the United States Capitol building. I was both mad as a hornet and sorrowful as a funeral at the desecration of our Capitol—the very seat of our democracy. A day or so after the election, an old friend warned me that this kind of mob violence would be in the offing if the President didn’t concede. I didn’t…

  • Christianity,  Politics

    What do we owe a President?

    At the end of a bitterly fought election season, it is good for us Christians to consider what we owe a president. At the very least, we owe our president a commitment to pray for him. In 1 Timothy 2:1-4, Paul writes: 1 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge…

  • Christianity,  Culture,  Politics

    A Revolution Is Underway

    Racial hatred really exists, and it really is evil. Marxist revolutionaries really exist too, and they really do mean to overturn the social order. It is happening before our very eyes. There seem to be so few who can or will see both challenges as the seeds of revolution spill out into the streets of major cities across the country. The difficult thing for Christians in our current moment is that we are told that we have to pick a side. But we can’t choose either side when biblical Christianity obliges us to oppose both racism and Marxist ideologies that contradict scripture. As Christians, we are not aiming for some…

  • Christianity,  Politics

    Roger Scruton on Marxism and Totalitarianism

    In Roger Scruton’s book A Political Philosophy: Arguments for Conservatism, he makes some trenchant observations about Marxism and totalitarianism. He writes: It is not the truth of Marxism that explains the willingness of intellectuals to believe it, but the power that it confers on intellectuals, in their attempts to control the world. And since, as Swift says, it is futile to reason someone out of a thing that he was not reasoned into, we can conclude that Marxism owes its remarkable power to survive every criticism to the fact that it is not a truth-directed but a power-directed system of thought. [p. 149] He goes on to explain Marxism’s revolutionary…

  • Christianity,  Politics

    Are policy-makers “encouraging mass civil disobedience”?

    I noted on Saturday that the Mayor of Louisville has overstepped by threatening to take down the license plate numbers of cars in church parking lots—even if citizens never leave their cars! His action is a violation of religious liberty that erodes trust. Sadly, it also squanders the community spirit that has led to the vast majority of churches suspending their in-person gatherings. A Wall Street Journal editorial today cites Louisville as an example of abuses going on around the country. An excerpt:

  • Christianity,  Politics

    Pulling the lever for pro-abortion candidates is no option for prolifers

    It seems to me that Michael Gerson has almost entirely misread the argument that Andrew Walker makes in a recent National Review column. Gerson writes: “Walker is making the following claim: If you think abortion is a matter of life or death, then you must support whoever opposes it most vigorously, even if he or she is an immoral lout.” Walker actually makes no such claim anywhere in his article. Walker is not offering an argument for voting for Trump. He’s offering a defense of religious pro-life voters who plan to vote for Trump. Walker defends them because Trump-opponents like Gerson are often treating all Trump voters as if they…