It requires quite a feat of imagination to think that Trump will uphold and advance the major causes of the Religious Right. Having basically given up on the hope that Donald Trump could pass as a Christian worthy of white evangelicals’ support, politically conservative Protestants are now trying a new tactic: admitting that he’s not... Continue Reading →

With Hillary Clinton now the official Democratic nominee and a hard fight against Donald Trump underway, what are voters to make of last week’s revelation that the DNC tried to weaponized her former rival Bernie Sanders’ (ir)religion? According to WikiLeaks, in the middle of the night on May 5, DNC chief financial officer Brad Marshall... Continue Reading →

This weekend and then again today, The New York Post shared photographs of potential First Lady Melania Trump unclothed, taken in the mid-1990s for a now-defunct French magazine Max; some included erotic poses with another woman and suggestions of BDSM. These, like the nudes she later did for GQ, were part of her modeling career... Continue Reading →

I suggested earlier that, on the surface, Trump doesn’t seem to be a fit for evangelical voters. That assumes, though, that evangelical means his faith informs his politics. The reality is, though, that evangelicals[1] today very often do not live out a faith-informed politics. Or, to say it differently, they are people who espouse a... Continue Reading →

Theories abound to explain why so many evangelicals are now signing up to support Trump, even if they are doing so with about as much enthusiasm as Paul Ryan. Certainly the politics of resentment have much to do with it—especially as these overlap with race, racism, xenophobia, and prejudice against Muslims. Authoritarianism is also a... Continue Reading →

Donald Trump showed a rare glimmer of humility in accepting the Republican presidential nomination at this week’s Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, saying, of evangelical Christians’ support for his effort, “I'm not sure I totally deserve it ...” For a man not usually given to understatement, this was a big one. On the surface... Continue Reading →

How do I respond to students for whom the presence of a gunman triggers a PTSD flashback? I'm thinking specifically of my many Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans--I usually teach a few in every class because of my discipline--some of whom have PTSD diagnoses, but I imagine this can also apply to those who have... Continue Reading →

In Judaism, when you hear a fire engine’s siren, you cannot pray, “Please, not my house.” When you pull to the side of the road to let an ambulance pass, you cannot pray, “Please not my child.” Someone’s house is burning, and someone’s child is injured, maybe dying or already dead, and the siren has... Continue Reading →

I’m a researcher, a writer, and a teacher who is deeply committed to social justice. I’m a scholar and a teacher because I think the world needs more thoughtful global participants. I believe that scholars have a duty to make their work useful to a broad audience, which is why I write. I believe in... Continue Reading →