Public Punditry

On Friday morning, February 4, 2022, a report from CNN surfaced detailing the GOP’s plan to censure Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming) and Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Illinois) over their participation with the January 6 committee. Some members within the Republican caucus dictated the two representatives have “crossed the line,” while other RNC committee members were far more explicit in their motivations, putting it simply, “This is about them helping [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi.” Reading the headlines, your response could run in two directions. If you find yourself in the first group, whooping and hollering could be your preferred mode of expressing your emotions, shouting from the rooftops, “Ding dong! The witch is dead!” To you, this is a great day to be a member of the Grand Ole Party, turning the page and forging a new terrain for the sake of MAGA nation and upright conservatism. The old has-beens are gone, and the new patriots have won the day. 2022 looks bold and bright with election f...

It's October of last year. The trees of OBU are in color, and I am having the time of his life. I am wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt to every class. My earbuds never leave my ears, and things could not go any better, except when I have to go to Scientific Inquiry.  I have never been a science guy, and the science building is the furthest thing from home, but on the third floor of Jones Science Center, I begrudgingly make my way up the stairs as if it's just any other class period. I am by no means excited, but going through the door, I try to put on a happy face through my mask and say, "How's everybody doing?" Crickets. So, I sit down in my seat, and I lean forward to my friend Karlee, and I ask her, "Karlee, why is everyone so quiet?" She responds rather quickly, "Noah, we have a quiz. Did you forget?" Did I forget? Yes, yes, I did. It is during this process when my stomach slowly sinks and metaphorically hits the floor. I am panicking. My f...

What did it take to foil a church, sever a culture in two, and frame the message of Jesus, turning it into something to manipulate others for material gain? Was it fundamentalist legalism? Baby boomers? Abusive church leaders? Donald Trump? Nancy Pelosi? The gender revolution? We could journey through the prior decades and gives scores of potential answers, particular moments in time, individual "anti-Christ's" 1 John mentions, and deflect the personal blame for the institutional ruin the American Church has been left to deal with. But in reality, we can look to the book of Revelation where the Son of Man in a revelation to John tells the Church of Ephesus in flashing neon lights to see where white Evangelicals screwed it all up: "I know your works, your labor, and your endurance, and that you cannot tolerate evil people. You have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and you have found them to be liars. I know that you have persevered and endured ha...

In his 2012 book  The Righteous Mind,  Social Psychologist Jonathan Haidt said that religion was a product of evolution in the mind of man with the hope and intent of greater social and community connection.  That means religions like Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Christianity were only developed as an outflow of man’s evolving mind hoping to come closer and closer together with the people around them. We Christians would eye such a statement with a baffled look and a hurt spirit, saying in total confidence, “That couldn’t be true about the Church.” There are people in this country who were born into “churchgoing homes.” There are people in this country with no church concept growing up, only to be brought into the fold in their elder years. There are people in this country who in the womb were at church, and later on, they could not take the culture anymore. Still, everyone in this country has some opinion of the Church, either good or bad. The American Dream transforme...