“Redeeming Babel, founded by Russell Moore, @DavidAFrench, and @curtischangRB, took $308K from the USAID-funded Rockefeller Foundation and $200K from @BillKristol’s Defending Democracy to push The After Party curriculum in churches. The leftist infiltration is fully exposed.”
“Let’s talk about the import of what @JoshDaws uncovered here. What he found is that @BillKristol’s explicitly partisan, anti-Trump organization, Defending Democracy Together, gave $200k to Redeeming Babel, which developed @drmoore @DavidAFrench and @curtischangRB’s church curriculum to help “reframe Christian political identity.”
How did they go about executing this reframing among Christian voters during an election year?
Let’s take a look…”
—
“At the start of an election year, @cccuorg encouraged its 185 member schools (and roughly 520,000 students), including @WheatonCollege @biolau and @Baylor, to use the After Party curriculum in their chapel services, discipleship groups, theology and pastoral classes, and in student book clubs. Many of these Christian schools offered chapel credit for attending After Party lectures.
Wheaton held an After Party event featuring Chang and Atlantic writer, @TimAlberta. Many other schools like Baylor and @ACUedu also welcomed The After Party to campus to speak to their students about politics.
Many large churches all across the country also hosted The After Party to speak to their congregations about how they should think about politics.”
—
“Then there was Christian media’s role.
Ray Ortlund, president of Renewal Ministries and a @TGC Emeritus Council member also participated in After Party events.
The ostensibly non-partisan @trinityforum was also a major booster.
But perhaps no outlet promoted the program as aggressively as @CTmagazine. This means that Russell Moore did not simply participate in The After Party as an independent project. He integrated it into his work as editor-in-chief of Christianity Today. (We’ll discuss why that matters in a moment).
Now, I knew when I wrote my book, Shepherds for Sale, that The After Party was exclusively funded by secular left foundations. But I did not know then that Kristol’s organization was one of them as they had not yet filed their 2023 taxes.
So who is Defending Democracy Together and why does it matter that they bankrolled nearly half of The After Party’s funding?
Let’s see…”
—-
“Kristol and a group of Never Trump allies founded Defending Democracy Together in 2019 for the express purpose of opposing Donald Trump. One of its first initiatives was “Republicans for the Rule of Law.” DDT spent a million dollars in campaign ads to pressure Republican lawmakers to condemn Donald Trump’s famous “perfect” phone call with Zelensky, which led to his impeachment.
(@shellenberger has covered how the CIA used a USAID-funded media organization to claim that Trump pressured Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden. Essentially, the same regime change tactics the CIA has used overseas.)
And DDT’s efforts to defeat Trump continued from there…”
—
“In May 2020, DDT launched Republican Voters Against Trump, spending $10 million on a campaign to convince GOP voters to choose Biden over Trump. They especially targeted swing states like Michigan, Pennsylvania, Florida, Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Arizona.
By the end of that election the non-partisan campaign, finance watchdog Open Secrets had called DDT one of the “top dark money spenders” of 2020.
When Trump lost the 2020 election, DDT continued to spend additional millions to boost midterm candidates who voted to impeach him.”
—
“As the 2024 election season approached, DDT continued their efforts to defeat Trump, pouring millions in dark money into the effort, according to Open Secrets.
And now we know that at least $200k of what the hyper-partisan Kristol and DDT spent for the 2024 election cycle went to a political bible study curriculum that was brought into hundreds of Christian schools, churches, and ministries all across the country.
But for Christianity Today, it is an even bigger breach of ethics…”
—-
“Because as their editor-in-chief, Russell Moore, was taking money from Kristol’s anti-Trump political organization to develop and promote a Christian political curriculum that teaches that white conservatives lack empathy and that Christians must use their vote to end alleged systemic racism, he was overseeing Christianity Today’s political coverage, which the outlet claims is non-partisan.
This means Moore was formally partnering with a hyper-partisan group and promoting the material he developed from that partnership to Christianity Today’s readers and podcast listeners.
This is an even greater ethical breach than the CT staffers who donated to Democrats while covering politics. It is a greater breach that merely taking the money of the hard-left, secular Rockefellers. Moore was taking partisan money to create material for churches and ministries and using his magazine to promote that political material without disclosing that it had been financed by an anti-Trump political group.
Do we really believe that after all the spending DDT has done to defeat Donald Trump this wasn’t its aim in funding The After Party? Is it any wonder then that in the run up to the election CT was white-washing Kamala Harris’ record and encouraging Christians not to vote?
Whatever the purpose was for the $1.8 million listed as government grants on CT’s 2023 tax return, this alone is damning stuff.”
Snakes and wolves is an apt description. A few months ago I spent over an hour listening to David French and Curtis Chang explain their ‘curriculum’ of helps for pastors which purported to do the ‘heavy lifting’ so busy pastors don’t have to. French explained Just War theory fairly well, but when he got to how it applies today he simply said ‘like Ukraine’, period. No critical analysis, no depth, no nothing. I realized then that this program was just designed to propagandize pastors who can then propagandize their congregations. Shameful.
Besides funding the overthrow of governments abroad, the Deep State sluch fund of USAID was targeting Pres. Trump and funding regime change in the USA! Isn’t this the biggest political scandal of our time?
The funniest part of this is that Maxine Waters has repeatedly stated that asking for IDs is racist, yet here she is demanding it, after already being shown the ID.
“Democrats are attempting to storm the Department of Education in a political stunt and are furious a security guard is preventing them from entry. They harass the man for protecting the building.”
One can fairly disagree with some of those mentioned above — on the issues and with debating specific accusations — and do so without the personal ridicule, put-downs and name calling.
Debra, my concern is only that we can become so blinded by partisan politics that we forget the gospel and how we are called to behave. I believe this was established as a Christian site?
My point, I hope, was respectfully made, I didn’t mean to provoke you or others.
A good example of how to disagree with a fellow believer, even over very important matters, is how Paul confronted Peter over Peter having refrained from eating with the Gentile believers when some fellow Jewish believers came to visit. Paul was adamant about his stance, but without impugning Peter’s character or calling him names.
Ok, this is also not a political comment, but have you ever thought about starting a separate thread for these kind of practical christian issues? It might be more interesting and less annoying for everyone involved. I don’t know if AJ is up for it, but even if he isn’t you know you can start a blog fairly easily. You need not post on it every day, just when you have something you want to say. And you could link it here. Kizzie’s Korner. Has a ring to it. Think about it.
Debra – (re: 4:21) – When we do share an article or an opinion, we are very often insulted for it.
As believers, we are supposed to encourage each other to live and respond in a biblical manner. Reminders, like DJ’s, are needed, should not make us the enemy.
I only chimed in in defense of DJ. I am now going back to not commenting on the news thread anymore.
It’s interesting to see how many Christian books are coming out right now on how to biblically disagree with others — it’s a problem, Debra, and we believers apparently aren’t handling it too well. (See this thread on most given days.)
Tripp has a good one that I’ve found helpful. You and AJ and others may be helped by it as well.
~ “Reactivity”: Digital media and technology are altering the way people act—and react—toward each other. Criticism, outrage, and controversy dominate social engagement and unfortunately many Christians have joined in the chaos. This book instructs believers to view digital media and technology through the lens of the gospel and points them toward a biblical framework for communication. ~
As for political opinions, yes, I have some, somewhat lightly held these days and hardly worth mentioning here without a frying pan coming down on my head; I am mostly just watching the passing parade for now (not all that thrilled, to put it mildly, with what I see in the trio of Trump/Musk/Vance — or maybe Musk should be listed first? But the fallout from all of this will be interesting to watch as there will be a fallout).
One encouragement for me is there may be a Chuck Colson who comes out of the ruins. God does amazing things with ruins and shipwrecks though they may not make many headlines.
Stay grounded, don’t get carried away. Politics is fleeting. “Winning” (or the temporary perception of it) even more so. It also all can be spiritually dangerous. See the book we all claim to follow.
And in the words of a once-popular song, we “meet the new boss” only to find out he’s just like the “old boss.”
And I haven’t heard someone say to me “Shame on you” in, well, a lot of years (I was maybe 8? Younger?), and it would have from been a parent who had that acknowledged authority.
But no, discussion on this thread — unless you’re part of the far right wing echo chamber — is not even feasible for some of us anymore. The Christian fellowship here pretty much stands broken.
I recall some slamming on the book “Shepherds for sale” especially by Warren Cole Smith. I happened to find the book refreshingly honest and well written.
Nowhere was this more obvious than in her criticism of Russell Moore (now CT’s editor-in-chief), whom she accused of being missing in action following the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade. The obvious implication, in Basham’s view, is that Moore had gone soft on the issue.
“For weeks after the most important legal decision pro-life Christians would see in their lifetimes, he published no essays, recorded no episode for his podcast, posted nothing on social media,” Basham writes.
Moore has been one of the nation’s most vigorous pro-life advocates for decades. During his tenure as president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), he led the Evangelicals For Life group. By the time of the Dobbs decision, he had become the director of the Public Theology Project at Christianity Today.
So why was he silent in those fateful weeks during the summer of 2022? Was he secretly disappointed by the court’s decision? Downplaying his beliefs for his new audience? No, he was traveling in Europe and intentionally off the grid with his family, in part to unplug from American politics and social media. His first newsletter for CT upon returning addressed the Dobbs decisionand what would come next for pro-lifers. He also addressed the life issue…
DJ, I have the same authority here to say ‘shame on you’ that you have to lecture me. It’s mutually granted authority. I’m truly sorry that you feel the Christian fellowship is broken. It’s not broken on my end. And if the only way it can not be broken on your end is for me to agree with you, then I’m not sure how one could call that ‘fellowship’ anyway.
Debra, where was I lecturing? I made a point. Why did you take that so personally?
You sounded angry and that surprised me because you’re usually quite reasonable. (BTW, I find “Shame on you” comments offensive coming from someone who doesn’t know me and seeing as how, well, I am an adult and you have no status over me. Maybe it’s me, but now you know for the future. I doubt I’m the only adult who would feel that way.)
I’m not angry. I’m just saying the tenor of some posts here is way over the top, clearly always one-sided, and not reflective of a Christian attitude — and yes, I think that’s an internal problem we should be aware of, it’s a poor reflection for nonbelievers, but also I would say strikes many believers as uncalled for. A copy-cat of X pretty much and I don’t read X for a reason. It’s become a wasteland to be avoided.
A secular political blog also would be easy to start up. No rules or moral restrictions there.
Politics brings no shortage of hubris as we’ve all seen through the years. This administration appears to be no different and perhaps worse on that front. We will see but it’s not a good start. In my opinion. Power corrupts and this group feels they have (all) power. They will be surprised all in good time, but for now we are all under that iron fist they think they have.
As I said, books will be written, ruins will be left behind. But out of that God has his purpose, either we will “like” that purpose or it will be a hard providence for the nation to endure, God’s people included.
Meant to mention also that Colson’s book “Born Again” is a good look at the fallenness and hubris inherent in politics and how corrupting it can be to our souls — for those directly involved in it but also those who put too much importance on it from afar.
Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde’s sermon to President Trump during an inaugural prayer service, coupled with her church’s advocacy for humanitarian immigration programs, reveals a striking hypocrisy — one that could be seen as self-serving and even a conflict of interest.
That’s because the federal contracting arm of the church, Episcopal Migration Ministry (EMM), is paid to bring in people on resettlement programs that Trump has temporarily paused and targeted for re-evaluation.
EMM budget figures for 2024 are not available yet, but in 2023 it earned $53 million from various taxpayer-funded government programs to resettle 3,600 individuals.
Just as you don’t think you need to be told shame on you, many don’t feel they need to be lectured by you about getting along with others here, DJ. We get along just fine even though we don’t always agree. So you can lecture and I will shame-on-you each as we believe to be appropriate.
You obviously see more problems on the blog and take offense far easier than I, but maybe that is because we expect different things here. The ‘politics’ of how christians get along is not usually what I’m looking for on the politics thread. However, perhaps we/I should just acknowledge that it’s going to be part of the thread going forward since you, and perhaps others, are insistent that it must. Carry on. :–)
After telling people to resist in every way, including ‘getting out in the streets’, these congressional activists have no business anywhere near the executive offices of any department.
What a difference an administration makes. Tennessee lawmakers passed a law banning transgender surgeries for people under 18 or 19. The last administration was suing my state to overturn the law. Trump’s DOJ has just announced it’s dropping the suit.
” (Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s administration told the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday that Tennessee’s Republican-backed ban on gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors is not unlawful, reversing the position taken by the government under his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden.
The justices heard arguments on December 4, with conservative justices signaling their willingness to uphold the measure. Those arguments came in an appeal by Biden’s administration of a lower court’s decision upholding Tennessee’s law.
It will be up to the Supreme Court to decide how to proceed. In a letter to the court, Deputy Solicitor General Curtis Gannon suggested that the justices press ahead and decide the case anyway, rather than dismiss it.
The Biden administration and other challengers had argued that Tennessee’s law violates the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment promise of equal protection.
“Following the change in administration, the Department of Justice has reconsidered the United States’ position in this case,” Gannon wrote in his letter.
Gannon said the department has now determined that Tennessee’s law “does not deny equal protection on account of sex or any other characteristic.”
The new administration’s shift in the case reflects the Republican president’s hard-line stance toward transgender rights. Trump began his second term as president on Jan. 20.
Tennessee’s law bars medical treatments such as puberty blockers and hormones for people under age 18 experiencing gender dysphoria, the clinical diagnosis for significant distress that can result from an incongruence between a person’s gender identity and the sex assigned at birth….”
I do feel that the continuing references to “remember that we are Christians here” is a form of subtle shaming, but I guess it is seen by those who do it to be an effort at diplomacy.
I think the root problem is with the expectations people have of what they want to see here.
in my opinion, perhaps people should use the time honored tradition of “scroll on by”. We all put our monikers up. I have a few folk I have scrolled past and maybe still do. But I want to see what DJ and Kizzie and Debra say on here. And I think talking about Christianity on the politics thread is very wise. As well as differing political views.
Wandering Views 
Oh look.
The grifter formerly known as David French had his filthy little fingers in the taxpayers pocket too.
He’s such a principled conservative Christian, no?
Note Russell Moore getting his cut too.
https://x.com/JoshDaws/status/1887240422063227375?t=DT5nPxeL_TgBhtN2GTE1dw&s=19
“Redeeming Babel, founded by Russell Moore, @DavidAFrench, and @curtischangRB, took $308K from the USAID-funded Rockefeller Foundation and $200K from @BillKristol’s Defending Democracy to push The After Party curriculum in churches. The leftist infiltration is fully exposed.”
—-
https://x.com/megbasham/status/1887690285120983165?t=kgB7GWEHhM9MWRAnc_KGng&s=19
“Let’s talk about the import of what @JoshDaws uncovered here. What he found is that @BillKristol’s explicitly partisan, anti-Trump organization, Defending Democracy Together, gave $200k to Redeeming Babel, which developed @drmoore @DavidAFrench and @curtischangRB’s church curriculum to help “reframe Christian political identity.”
How did they go about executing this reframing among Christian voters during an election year?
Let’s take a look…”
—
“At the start of an election year, @cccuorg encouraged its 185 member schools (and roughly 520,000 students), including @WheatonCollege @biolau and @Baylor, to use the After Party curriculum in their chapel services, discipleship groups, theology and pastoral classes, and in student book clubs. Many of these Christian schools offered chapel credit for attending After Party lectures.
Wheaton held an After Party event featuring Chang and Atlantic writer, @TimAlberta. Many other schools like Baylor and @ACUedu also welcomed The After Party to campus to speak to their students about politics.
Many large churches all across the country also hosted The After Party to speak to their congregations about how they should think about politics.”
—
“Then there was Christian media’s role.
Ray Ortlund, president of Renewal Ministries and a @TGC Emeritus Council member also participated in After Party events.
The ostensibly non-partisan @trinityforum was also a major booster.
But perhaps no outlet promoted the program as aggressively as @CTmagazine. This means that Russell Moore did not simply participate in The After Party as an independent project. He integrated it into his work as editor-in-chief of Christianity Today. (We’ll discuss why that matters in a moment).
Now, I knew when I wrote my book, Shepherds for Sale, that The After Party was exclusively funded by secular left foundations. But I did not know then that Kristol’s organization was one of them as they had not yet filed their 2023 taxes.
So who is Defending Democracy Together and why does it matter that they bankrolled nearly half of The After Party’s funding?
Let’s see…”
—-
“Kristol and a group of Never Trump allies founded Defending Democracy Together in 2019 for the express purpose of opposing Donald Trump. One of its first initiatives was “Republicans for the Rule of Law.” DDT spent a million dollars in campaign ads to pressure Republican lawmakers to condemn Donald Trump’s famous “perfect” phone call with Zelensky, which led to his impeachment.
(@shellenberger has covered how the CIA used a USAID-funded media organization to claim that Trump pressured Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden. Essentially, the same regime change tactics the CIA has used overseas.)
And DDT’s efforts to defeat Trump continued from there…”
—
“In May 2020, DDT launched Republican Voters Against Trump, spending $10 million on a campaign to convince GOP voters to choose Biden over Trump. They especially targeted swing states like Michigan, Pennsylvania, Florida, Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Arizona.
By the end of that election the non-partisan campaign, finance watchdog Open Secrets had called DDT one of the “top dark money spenders” of 2020.
When Trump lost the 2020 election, DDT continued to spend additional millions to boost midterm candidates who voted to impeach him.”
—
“As the 2024 election season approached, DDT continued their efforts to defeat Trump, pouring millions in dark money into the effort, according to Open Secrets.
And now we know that at least $200k of what the hyper-partisan Kristol and DDT spent for the 2024 election cycle went to a political bible study curriculum that was brought into hundreds of Christian schools, churches, and ministries all across the country.
But for Christianity Today, it is an even bigger breach of ethics…”
—-
“Because as their editor-in-chief, Russell Moore, was taking money from Kristol’s anti-Trump political organization to develop and promote a Christian political curriculum that teaches that white conservatives lack empathy and that Christians must use their vote to end alleged systemic racism, he was overseeing Christianity Today’s political coverage, which the outlet claims is non-partisan.
This means Moore was formally partnering with a hyper-partisan group and promoting the material he developed from that partnership to Christianity Today’s readers and podcast listeners.
This is an even greater ethical breach than the CT staffers who donated to Democrats while covering politics. It is a greater breach that merely taking the money of the hard-left, secular Rockefellers. Moore was taking partisan money to create material for churches and ministries and using his magazine to promote that political material without disclosing that it had been financed by an anti-Trump political group.
Do we really believe that after all the spending DDT has done to defeat Donald Trump this wasn’t its aim in funding The After Party? Is it any wonder then that in the run up to the election CT was white-washing Kamala Harris’ record and encouraging Christians not to vote?
Whatever the purpose was for the $1.8 million listed as government grants on CT’s 2023 tax return, this alone is damning stuff.”
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Note also Christianity Today and their unethical actions as well.
These people are snakes, wolves among the sheep using Christianity, churches, and so called Christian publications to target Trump.
These are hardly Christian acts. French, Moore, and their ilk are a cancer on Christianity and America.
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And where were these “Christian” efforts ever brought to bear against pro abortion, pro perversion of all sorts Democrats?
They never put these efforts in against what they should be fighting, not once, and their financial disclosures over the last decade prove it.
As does their CT editorials, and the curriculum they fed the college kids.
Only Trump. Odd, no?
Just one more thing….
If it wasn’t for X, we wouldn’t know any of this. The MSM hasn’t uttered a peep about this scandal, and it is a scandal.
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Snakes and wolves is an apt description. A few months ago I spent over an hour listening to David French and Curtis Chang explain their ‘curriculum’ of helps for pastors which purported to do the ‘heavy lifting’ so busy pastors don’t have to. French explained Just War theory fairly well, but when he got to how it applies today he simply said ‘like Ukraine’, period. No critical analysis, no depth, no nothing. I realized then that this program was just designed to propagandize pastors who can then propagandize their congregations. Shameful.
Debra
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😂🤣😂🤣😂
https://x.com/ProfMJCleveland/status/1887887155894104223?t=5eo0N5soO8-SuWP8qtLPjg&s=19
“By next week, Left will be begging Trump to abandon his current plans and instead implement Project 2025.”
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It would appear so… 😅
https://x.com/bonchieredstate/status/1887868006111334875?t=1gQE7ZgvIa4hLCIJgoNeHw&s=19
“I was promised ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ and all I got was an end to the government subsidies of press outlets and border enforcement.
Did Democrats mislead me?”
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“From Canceled Media Contracts to Lawsuits to Expected Layoffs, the USAID News Continues”
https://x.com/townhallcom/status/1887897864279380007?t=JbYSpdeGWobu3Q8-WVEv_g&s=19
—
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/rebeccadowns/2025/02/07/from-canceled-media-contracts-to-expected-layoffs-the-usaid-fallout-continues-n2651828
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Besides funding the overthrow of governments abroad, the Deep State sluch fund of USAID was targeting Pres. Trump and funding regime change in the USA! Isn’t this the biggest political scandal of our time?
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The funniest part of this is that Maxine Waters has repeatedly stated that asking for IDs is racist, yet here she is demanding it, after already being shown the ID.
https://x.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1887895151571267756?t=sHVJUDlcILGPciGUBgTbhA&s=19
“Democrats are attempting to storm the Department of Education in a political stunt and are furious a security guard is preventing them from entry. They harass the man for protecting the building.”
—
https://x.com/alx/status/1887894607070900481?t=hECNH5MZOlEAu80WhpXNkQ&s=19
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Tychicus,
Indeed it is. But they bought the media, so it won’t be mentioned.
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One can fairly disagree with some of those mentioned above — on the issues and with debating specific accusations — and do so without the personal ridicule, put-downs and name calling.
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Feel free to do so.
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Debra, my concern is only that we can become so blinded by partisan politics that we forget the gospel and how we are called to behave. I believe this was established as a Christian site?
My point, I hope, was respectfully made, I didn’t mean to provoke you or others.
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A good example of how to disagree with a fellow believer, even over very important matters, is how Paul confronted Peter over Peter having refrained from eating with the Gentile believers when some fellow Jewish believers came to visit. Paul was adamant about his stance, but without impugning Peter’s character or calling him names.
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Do you guys EVER have an actual political opinion? Or is it just your hobby to critique he personal expressions those of us who do? Shame on you.
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Ok, this is also not a political comment, but have you ever thought about starting a separate thread for these kind of practical christian issues? It might be more interesting and less annoying for everyone involved. I don’t know if AJ is up for it, but even if he isn’t you know you can start a blog fairly easily. You need not post on it every day, just when you have something you want to say. And you could link it here. Kizzie’s Korner. Has a ring to it. Think about it.
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Debra – (re: 4:21) – When we do share an article or an opinion, we are very often insulted for it.
As believers, we are supposed to encourage each other to live and respond in a biblical manner. Reminders, like DJ’s, are needed, should not make us the enemy.
I only chimed in in defense of DJ. I am now going back to not commenting on the news thread anymore.
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Kizzie’s Korner. You have something to give. Think about it. Seriously.
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It’s interesting to see how many Christian books are coming out right now on how to biblically disagree with others — it’s a problem, Debra, and we believers apparently aren’t handling it too well. (See this thread on most given days.)
Tripp has a good one that I’ve found helpful. You and AJ and others may be helped by it as well.
~ “Reactivity”: Digital media and technology are altering the way people act—and react—toward each other. Criticism, outrage, and controversy dominate social engagement and unfortunately many Christians have joined in the chaos. This book instructs believers to view digital media and technology through the lens of the gospel and points them toward a biblical framework for communication. ~
As for political opinions, yes, I have some, somewhat lightly held these days and hardly worth mentioning here without a frying pan coming down on my head; I am mostly just watching the passing parade for now (not all that thrilled, to put it mildly, with what I see in the trio of Trump/Musk/Vance — or maybe Musk should be listed first? But the fallout from all of this will be interesting to watch as there will be a fallout).
One encouragement for me is there may be a Chuck Colson who comes out of the ruins. God does amazing things with ruins and shipwrecks though they may not make many headlines.
Stay grounded, don’t get carried away. Politics is fleeting.
“Winning” (or the temporary perception of it) even more so. It also all can be spiritually dangerous. See the book we all claim to follow.
And in the words of a once-popular song, we “meet the new boss” only to find out he’s just like the “old boss.”
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And I haven’t heard someone say to me “Shame on you” in, well, a lot of years (I was maybe 8? Younger?), and it would have from been a parent who had that acknowledged authority.
But no, discussion on this thread — unless you’re part of the far right wing echo chamber — is not even feasible for some of us anymore. The Christian fellowship here pretty much stands broken.
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I recall some slamming on the book “Shepherds for sale” especially by Warren Cole Smith. I happened to find the book refreshingly honest and well written.
Nowhere was this more obvious than in her criticism of Russell Moore (now CT’s editor-in-chief), whom she accused of being missing in action following the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade. The obvious implication, in Basham’s view, is that Moore had gone soft on the issue.
“For weeks after the most important legal decision pro-life Christians would see in their lifetimes, he published no essays, recorded no episode for his podcast, posted nothing on social media,” Basham writes.
Moore has been one of the nation’s most vigorous pro-life advocates for decades. During his tenure as president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), he led the Evangelicals For Life group. By the time of the Dobbs decision, he had become the director of the Public Theology Project at Christianity Today.
So why was he silent in those fateful weeks during the summer of 2022? Was he secretly disappointed by the court’s decision? Downplaying his beliefs for his new audience? No, he was traveling in Europe and intentionally off the grid with his family, in part to unplug from American politics and social media. His first newsletter for CT upon returning addressed the Dobbs decision and what would come next for pro-lifers. He also addressed the life issue…
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DJ, I have the same authority here to say ‘shame on you’ that you have to lecture me. It’s mutually granted authority. I’m truly sorry that you feel the Christian fellowship is broken. It’s not broken on my end. And if the only way it can not be broken on your end is for me to agree with you, then I’m not sure how one could call that ‘fellowship’ anyway.
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Debra, where was I lecturing? I made a point. Why did you take that so personally?
You sounded angry and that surprised me because you’re usually quite reasonable. (BTW, I find “Shame on you” comments offensive coming from someone who doesn’t know me and seeing as how, well, I am an adult and you have no status over me. Maybe it’s me, but now you know for the future. I doubt I’m the only adult who would feel that way.)
I’m not angry. I’m just saying the tenor of some posts here is way over the top, clearly always one-sided, and not reflective of a Christian attitude — and yes, I think that’s an internal problem we should be aware of, it’s a poor reflection for nonbelievers, but also I would say strikes many believers as uncalled for. A copy-cat of X pretty much and I don’t read X for a reason. It’s become a wasteland to be avoided.
A secular political blog also would be easy to start up. No rules or moral restrictions there.
Politics brings no shortage of hubris as we’ve all seen through the years. This administration appears to be no different and perhaps worse on that front. We will see but it’s not a good start. In my opinion. Power corrupts and this group feels they have (all) power. They will be surprised all in good time, but for now we are all under that iron fist they think they have.
As I said, books will be written, ruins will be left behind. But out of that God has his purpose, either we will “like” that purpose or it will be a hard providence for the nation to endure, God’s people included.
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Meant to mention also that Colson’s book “Born Again” is a good look at the fallenness and hubris inherent in politics and how corrupting it can be to our souls — for those directly involved in it but also those who put too much importance on it from afar.
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From NYP
Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde’s sermon to President Trump during an inaugural prayer service, coupled with her church’s advocacy for humanitarian immigration programs, reveals a striking hypocrisy — one that could be seen as self-serving and even a conflict of interest.
That’s because the federal contracting arm of the church, Episcopal Migration Ministry (EMM), is paid to bring in people on resettlement programs that Trump has temporarily paused and targeted for re-evaluation.
EMM budget figures for 2024 are not available yet, but in 2023 it earned $53 million from various taxpayer-funded government programs to resettle 3,600 individuals.
https://nypost.com/2025/01/31/opinion/episcopal-bishop-lectures-trump-while-earning-taxpayer-millions-to-bring-migrants-into-us/
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Just as you don’t think you need to be told shame on you, many don’t feel they need to be lectured by you about getting along with others here, DJ. We get along just fine even though we don’t always agree. So you can lecture and I will shame-on-you each as we believe to be appropriate.
You obviously see more problems on the blog and take offense far easier than I, but maybe that is because we expect different things here. The ‘politics’ of how christians get along is not usually what I’m looking for on the politics thread. However, perhaps we/I should just acknowledge that it’s going to be part of the thread going forward since you, and perhaps others, are insistent that it must. Carry on. :–)
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After telling people to resist in every way, including ‘getting out in the streets’, these congressional activists have no business anywhere near the executive offices of any department.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/waters-house-dems-ripped-unhinged-confrontation-security-guard-education-dept
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What a difference an administration makes. Tennessee lawmakers passed a law banning transgender surgeries for people under 18 or 19. The last administration was suing my state to overturn the law. Trump’s DOJ has just announced it’s dropping the suit.
” (Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s administration told the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday that Tennessee’s Republican-backed ban on gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors is not unlawful, reversing the position taken by the government under his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden.
The justices heard arguments on December 4, with conservative justices signaling their willingness to uphold the measure. Those arguments came in an appeal by Biden’s administration of a lower court’s decision upholding Tennessee’s law.
It will be up to the Supreme Court to decide how to proceed. In a letter to the court, Deputy Solicitor General Curtis Gannon suggested that the justices press ahead and decide the case anyway, rather than dismiss it.
The Biden administration and other challengers had argued that Tennessee’s law violates the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment promise of equal protection.
“Following the change in administration, the Department of Justice has reconsidered the United States’ position in this case,” Gannon wrote in his letter.
Gannon said the department has now determined that Tennessee’s law “does not deny equal protection on account of sex or any other characteristic.”
The new administration’s shift in the case reflects the Republican president’s hard-line stance toward transgender rights. Trump began his second term as president on Jan. 20.
Tennessee’s law bars medical treatments such as puberty blockers and hormones for people under age 18 experiencing gender dysphoria, the clinical diagnosis for significant distress that can result from an incongruence between a person’s gender identity and the sex assigned at birth….”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-backs-off-contesting-tennessee-202549081.html
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I do feel that the continuing references to “remember that we are Christians here” is a form of subtle shaming, but I guess it is seen by those who do it to be an effort at diplomacy.
I think the root problem is with the expectations people have of what they want to see here.
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in my opinion, perhaps people should use the time honored tradition of “scroll on by”. We all put our monikers up. I have a few folk I have scrolled past and maybe still do. But I want to see what DJ and Kizzie and Debra say on here. And I think talking about Christianity on the politics thread is very wise. As well as differing political views.
mumsee
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